I have been contemplating how to fill out the form and what the rules are. I found the following:
http://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_cens.html
The current penalty is $100 for failure to fill out the census forms.
The authority of the Congress to conduct the census in whatever way it wishes, and thus to require that the forms be filled out is found in the Constitution itself, which notes:
[The Census] shall be made ... in such Manner as [Congress] shall by Law direct.
The Congress is also authorized to ask various questions in the census aside from the basic headcount by virtue of this clause and by virtue of the Necessary and Proper Clause.
Advice to leave the form blank or to fail to fill it in may actually bring more of the government into your life than you want — as noted above, unfiled and incomplete forms will be followed-up upon by actual census workers, either in person or by telephone.
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End of excerpt. Earlier on it talked about the history of the Census and the laws made. For the first census, the names and ages of the people living in the house were recorded - that’s what I think I might do.
Still pondering it. (One other poster on another thread talked about “pick your battles”. Heck, a google search of my name would probably bring up most of the census form information anyway. Or they can look at my tax records. But, that’s not the point.
Thanks! Very perceptive remarks, especially “pick your battles.”
Since they already have this stuff nailed down with GPS (the envelopes are encoded not only with your street address, but with its coordinates) and I have lived here for several years, I’m sure they already know this stuff. This is aside from the fact that I’ve been posting on FR since the 2000 elections, so I’m sure they know everything there is to know about me by now!
I don’t like it on principle. I think it’s excessively intrusive and actually a little threatening. But you’re right, there are other, bigger battles coming up.