L-R: Jeff Banister (Police Officer), John Banister (Police Sgt.), Gary Banister (Police Officer Ret.), Joe Banister (Former IRS Special Agent), and Jim Banister (Fire Captain).
Posted on 06/23/2005 4:53:20 PM PDT by lainie
Former IRS CID Special Agent Joseph Banister Acquitted of Tax Fraud And Conspiracy
Government Unable To Prove U.S. Law
Requires Income Tax Withholding or Filing
Sacramento California -- On Thursday June 23, a federal jury found former IRS Criminal Investigative Division (CID) Special Agent and CPA Joseph Banister not guilty of all counts alleging criminal tax fraud and conspiracy related to actions he took on behalf of a California business owner who had openly defied the IRS over several years by stopping withholding of all income and employment taxes from the paychecks of his workers.
During the trial the Department of Justice was unable to put forth any evidence that Banister had either engaged in a conspiracy or had acted unlawfully when he shared legal research with business owner Al Thompson concluding that he had no legal obligation to withhold taxes from his workers or when he (Banister) prepared corrected tax returns for Thompson claiming his taxable income was, under U.S. law, zero.
During the trial, Banister's former supervisor at IRS’s San Jose CID office, Robert Gorini (who testified via video recording) when pointedly asked, was unable to cite any U.S. law that required Banister to pay income taxes.
Banister, who was forced to resign in 1999 after questioning IRS officials about their legal authority, gave Thompson’s worker’s a presentation in 2000 which reviewed his detailed investigative research of U.S. tax law which concluded that not only did the IRS lack any authority to impose income taxes on the workers, but there was no legal requirement for the business to withhold any taxes from the worker's paychecks.
Banister is part of a nationwide effort seeking to force the U.S. Government to respond to a series of detailed legal Petitions for Redress of Grievances directly challenging the authority of the IRS. Last summer, the We The People Foundation initiated a landmark lawsuit with 2000 plaintiffs against the government because it has refused to answer the Petitions.
BINGO!
WooooooHooooooo!!!!!!!
Whew, I'd hate to be on that jury! I bet they get a visitation from IRS, EPA, DEA, FCC, FTC, INS, etc., etc. within the next 30 days.
Here it is folks - the opening WE NEEDED. Let's put this government back into its' cage now.
This will qualify as the most under-reported story in history.
Here we have PROOF that the IRS has no chartered reality in the US Government, yet things will go on as usual. How sickening.
Disgusting, lame, weak, sheep deserve what you get.
WorldNetDaily weighs in..(and gets a whole paragraph completely WRONG -- his defense was NOT that the 16th wasn't ratified. AT ALL. but anyway.):
http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=44956
WND Exclusive
LAW OF THE LAND
Tax activist wins
in federal court
Believes Congress has no power to collect levy on income
Posted: June 23, 2005
6:30 p.m. Eastern
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com
Joseph Banister; A former IRS agent who believes citizens are not required to pay federal income taxes was acquitted today on charges he attempted to defraud the government.
Joseph Banister, a Certified Public Accountant in San Jose, Calif., had been telling his clients they don't need to file federal income tax returns because the 16th Amendment, which gives Congress "power to lay and collect taxes on incomes," was never properly ratified.
A leading figure in the "tax honesty" movement, Banister was taken into custody Nov. 19 by IRS agents and released on $25,000 bond after pleading not guilty.
A jury in the U.S. District Court in Sacramento found him not guilty on a charge of conspiracy and on all three counts of aiding and assisting the filing of false tax returns for a client.
Banister's attorney, Robert Bernhoft, told WorldNetDaily the result has no direct bearing on the legitimacy of the 16th Amendment, but he insisted the implications are bigger than the issue of taxes.
"The outcome shows that average, law-abiding, hard-working citizens are not going to criminalize speech -- they're not going to send a man to prison for asking the federal government serious questions about a serious subject," he said.
Last fall, IRS spokesman Anthony Burke insisted Banister's arguments against the federal income tax already had been thoroughly vetted.
"Many constitutional or legal arguments have been tried in the courts, and without fail, they have been held to be without merit," he told WND.
Banister's website offers a defense of his views, including an 85-page report titled "Investigating The Federal Income Tax: A Preliminary Report."
The federal indictment accused Banister and co-defendant Walter A. Thompson, of Redding, Calif., of conspiring to defraud the United States of approximately $259,669 in income and employment taxes. In a separate trial, Thompson was acquitted of conspiracy and found guilty on charges unrelated to Banister.
If Banister had been convicted of all counts, he could have been sentenced to 14 years in prison and a fine of $1 million.
Banister left public practice as a CPA in 1993 to become an armed, criminal investigator in the IRS Criminal Investigation Division. But he says he resigned after six years because he was "unable to resolve conflicts" between the way the IRS administered the federal income tax and his oath of office.
As WorldNetDaily reported in March 2004, Banister claimed the IRS was illegally using "enforcers" to monitor his political activities and build its case against him. The IRS filed a complaint March 19, 2003, and began what he calls the agency's "mission to silence and discredit me."
In 1996, while working for the IRS, Banister says his view of tax law was jolted when he heard radio talk host Geoff Metcalf interview activist Devvy Kidd on KSFO in San Francisco.
After receiving information from Kidd, Banister used his spare time over two-and-a-half years to compile a report for his superiors, telling them that if they cannot find anything wrong with his analysis, he would have to resign.
Banister said his superiors refused to respond to his report and told him they would facilitate his resignation.
"Disgusting, lame, weak, sheep deserve what you get."
Why do I detect such anger here?
L-R: Jeff Banister (Police Officer), John Banister (Police Sgt.), Gary Banister (Police Officer Ret.), Joe Banister (Former IRS Special Agent), and Jim Banister (Fire Captain).
Because real anger exists on this and many related issues, but let's not let it rule this day.
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What an emotional roller coaster day. First we have the Supreme Dorks ruling against private proptery holders. Now we have this great news that a jury of Americans have finally taken the steps to reclaim our country!
On his website there is an interesting download. I've read through a bit of it. Quite interesting. I intend to investigate it further.
This guy must lead a charmed life.
Awesome news!
Let's not get too giddy about this. The guy he supposedly helped is still doing six years in prison based on Banister's principles.
Lord, have mercy!
My God reigns!
BUMP!
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