Posted on 09/01/2003 4:10:28 PM PDT by TIElniff
JOEL BELZ
Code of silence
Why won't the IRS answer a basic question about tax law? By Joel Belz
I STILL HAVE DOUBTS WHETHER THE NAME OF VERNICE B. Kuglin, who lives in Memphis, Tenn., will someday leap off the pages of America's history books along with those of Patrick Henry, Nathan Hale, and Rosa Parks. I do know that Ms. Kuglin must be a woman of some personal courage.
Ms. Kuglin, a 58-year-old pilot for FedEx, made news a few days ago when a federal court jury found her not guilty on six charges of tax evasion and willful failure to file federal tax returns. During her testimony, Ms. Kuglin said that over the last eight years she had sent numerous letters to the Internal Revenue Service requesting that the agency tell her specifically which law in the federal code requires her to pay individual taxes.
To this day, she says, she has not received an answer to that simple question. It's not, mind you, that she has received an answer she considers unsatisfactory or unclear. It's that she hasn't received an answer of any kind.
The reason I still have doubts about Ms. Kuglin's durability as a true American heroine has to do with the methods she used to make her point. (Among other things, she claimed 99 exemptions on her W-4 form.) But after watching her case?and those of other tax protesters?for the last several months, I can't help thinking they have something of an argument. And I think the IRS continues to be extraordinarily dim-headed in its response on at least two important fronts.
First, if indeed the obligation of every U.S. citizen to pay federal taxes is legitimately codified, then it shouldn't be all that difficult for the IRS to demonstrate for a layman like Ms. Kuglin just exactly how those laws apply. For some years, some pretty smart people have put together a pretty persuasive argument that the tax laws are a sham, that they have been cobbled together in an extraconstitutional manner allowing Uncle Sam to collect huge sums of money without a clear basis in law.
If these folks are wrong, more and more taxpayers are asking, why should it be so hard for the IRS and the federal government to prove the case? Why, when a minister like Gene Chapman camps out for a "fast to the death" on the steps of an IRS building, demanding an answer to the question, "Where is my tax liability in the law?"?why doesn't the IRS just provide a simple and transparent answer?
Indeed, I have actually been skeptical in the other direction. I have regularly dismissed the so-called tax-protest movement as a group of crackpots who want so badly to prove the federal government wrong that they concoct harebrained theories that can't possibly hold water. But the longer the feds and the IRS stonewall, the less skeptical I get.
Second, why must the federal government be so heavy-handed in its response to a few of the more outspoken tax protesters? Protester Irwin Schiff finds himself in federal court in Nevada this week, fighting a possible six-month jail sentence for continuing to sell his book, The Federal Mafia. The government contends that he is engaged in commercial enterprise to encourage citizens to break the law?which means that every time Mr. Schiff does anything to sell another book, he finds himself in contempt of court.
Protester Larken Rose, meanwhile, says he isn't even trying to sell anything; without advocating any particular action, he just tells people through lectures and literature what he thinks the law really says?and for that, he claims, he has had his office and home ransacked by IRS agents.
WORLD and its board and management are not tax protesters. We take seriously Christ's command to "render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's." And we understand that in a secular society, that may often mean we end up paying taxes even for causes that we find repugnant to our consciences.
At the same time, it's altogether right for citizens in a free society to call on Caesar to tell us the truth about our obligations, and to do so in a civil manner.
In Memphis a couple of weeks ago, after the jury that had exonerated Ms. Kuglin had been dismissed, the U.S. attorney who had unsuccessfully prosecuted the case asked the presiding judge to order the defendant to file her forms, pay her taxes, and "obey the law." The judge responded discreetly by noting that such a response was outside his duties.
If the judge was simply saying, "Make your law clear, sir, and maybe the lady will obey," I think he had a pretty good point.
LOL Ya know, now that you mention it, might be fun to watch...
I too support a National Sales Tax in lieu of the income tax but it would have to be designed very carefully.
There are currently two bills in Congress on a NRST. Also two web sites supporting such a move. I'm thinking about jumping into the frey with at least one of these groups. Haven't made up my mind yet until I'm sure of how the downsides are covered. I've listed some of the benefits on this thread, but there are several others as well. My sense is that a transitional approach would be more acceptable than a complete switch at one time.
Wouldn't doubt that about embarrassing government documents. Plenty around. But I'm sure I've seen just about all of the various issues on this thread alone. So I'll pass. But good luck.
IRS management does what it wants, to whom it wants, when it wants, how it wants with almost complete immunity, retired Internal Revenue Service official Tommy Henderson told the U.S. Senate Finance Committee."
Funny that not a single decision in these 90 years has found that taxing income from salaries and wages is unconstitutional.
It took a few years for Pollock to come around. A lie no matter how long it is portrayed or believed is still a lie.
"taxing income from salaries and wages is unconstitutional".
Let me clarify one point here. Taxing salaries and wages is constitutional when levied as an excise tax through uniformity. For the millionth time it is about the application and administration of this law.
Seems that pesky old 16th has withstood the test of time.
I hope the 16th stays around forever. The understanding of it has been severely challenged in this forum.
And lets be serious and not try parsing meanings.
As you know I'm very serious. The parsing of words was and is not my doing and not even your doing.
Of course, a tax on wages is a direct tax.
Yes, again that is how it is levied as a direct tax.
But since it's also income, that old 16th permits taxation without apportionment.
Yes it is income. Yes again as an excise tax.
Where do I file for my refunds for these past years?
How about WWW.PAYNOINCOMETAX.COM. If you want a book that shows what the gubbermint has said and put in print about taxes the "Federal Mafia" is very good even if you don't agree with him. There is some awful embarrassing gubbermint documents that have been reproduced. I think I'd ban the book if I were the government. It's to revealing. If you get this book and still believe it's garbage keep it anyway. If the gubbermint allows the lifted ban to continue, well you can just sell that $38.00 book for up to $300.00 on ebay for those of you who are enterprising.
If you want historical content then the "Great Income Tax Hoax" is very good but a hard read.
But then maybe you're right.
If one thing I fault Schiff for he is eternally optimistic. I don't think anyone should jump and decide to thumb there nose at the gubbermint without understanding what they are doing or why. It may be a matter of timing. It may be that some shouldn't even try.
I do believe though that if you pay the bill you should know why. If you accept that you must go along, at least you knew there was a choice.
"Freedom is the ability to keep what you produce." Irwin Schiff.- "The Great Income Tax Hoax"
And section 861b determines how to determine taxable income within the US because some items of gross income in section 61 are not taxable by the US government because of the US Constitution.Did the IRS tell you that?I don't think so because they are decievers!Go to www.861.info for a real honest EXPOSE of the US income tax system "fraud".Watch a flash presentation of what lawyers,former IRS agents,a federal prosecutor,cpa's and many more have to say.Another 19 year vet just left the IRS because he knows they are a fraud and many IRS are getting ready to QUIT over the evidence.The IRS has Grossly changed the meaning of taxable income and there is no definition of income in the IRS manuals nor title 26 folks.Even the supreme ordered Congree Not to define income.If Congress can't define income,they have no right to your money because it's UNCONSTITUTIONAL and it's really a head tax.
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