ARE THE INCOME AND
SOCIAL SECURITY TAXES LEGAL?
(see Spotlights below)
The federal income tax and social security tax are unconstitutional and
illegal; the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (the income tax amendment)
never even came close to being ratified in 1913; federal
income taxes are voluntary, not compulsory, and there is no law
that requires citizens to file and pay federal income taxes or to pay into the social
security system; any such requirement would violate our 5th Amendment rights -- these are
some of the conclusions of a substantial body of very credible evidence that has been
mounting for several years. People have been focused on trying to decipher an
incomprehensible tax code; very few have noticed that the code itself is illegal. It's a
case of not seeing the forest for the trees. And experts close to the tax code, such as
tax lawyers and accountants, do not have a financial interest in looking very closely or
critically at its actual foundations, only at its details.
The most recent research on the subject was published in March, 1999,
by Joseph R. Banister, a former G-Man for the IRS Criminal Investigation Division, who for
years had been enforcing the IRS Code and who had been trained to regard all tax
protestors as "kooks." His report was the result of two years of investigation
into the arguments made by tax protestors. Banister was forced to resign in February,
1999, after submitting his report to his IRS superiors.
Banister's report supports previous work done by several noted experts,
such as William Benson, William Conklin, Devvy Kidd, Larry Becraft, and Irwin Schiff, all
of whom have concluded that the federal income tax and IRS are a giant, monstrous hoax,
enforced by the government's brute intimidation of individuals by agents who themselves
are trained with false information about the legal basis of their work. The work of the
above authors has gone unrefuted.
This body of knowledge will be the topic of a symposium in July 1 and
2, 1999, at which several of the experts will present their evidence and findings, and
authoritative representatives from the federal government will be asked to disprove those
findings. President Clinton, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott and House Speaker Dennis
Hastert have respectfully been asked to identify and send to the symposium their most
knowledgeable people to represent the government.
The 1-1/2 day symposium at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
is intended to be a showdown. It will begin Thursday morning, July 1, with
"accusers" from the above group presenting their conclusions. Then, the
government's experts are scheduled to present their case. They have been asked to bring
definite evidence that the 16th Amendment was, in fact, properly ratified, that
there is a law requiring citizens to file and pay federal income taxes, and to give an
unambiguous explanation as to how one can file a federal income tax return without
surrendering one's 5th Amendment rights. They will be asked to give a clear and
unambiguous explanation as to whether the federal income tax is a direct tax or an
indirect (excise) tax. They will be asked to identify the law that requires self employed
persons and employees of private businesses to pay social security taxes. They will be
asked to clarify the definitions of a number of key terms as used in the tax code. There
will be rebuttals, counter-rebuttals, and a chance for questions.
Certain congressmen and candidates who have demonstrated their
commitment to serious tax reform have been invited to hear the "accusers" and
the administrations' response to the allegations and to offer their comments, particularly
with respect to tax-reform legislation already proposed or in the offing.
| SPOTLIGHTS (in
reverse chronological order) |
April, 2001 |
1040 People to
Surround IRS Headquarters
On Monday, April 9, 2001, at least 1040 people
will encircle the IRS Headquarters building in Washington, DC. Each
person will be wearing a navy blue windbreaker with the words
"TYRANNY RESPONSE TEAM" written on the back in large,
block letters.
Click
here to read more
New York Times:
"GOVERNMENT HAS MISHANDLED WE THE PEOPLE AND THE TAX HONESTY
MOVEMENT."
On April 5, 2001, a reporter for the New York
Times, David Cay Johnston, told a group of leaders of the tax
honesty movement that he had informed the IRS that it has mishandled
the We The People Foundation and the tax honesty movement because it
failed to address the movement's allegations of the fraudulent
adoption of the 16th amendment and the illegal operations of the
income tax system.
Click here to read more
Senate
To Hold Hearing On Our USA TODAY Ads But Does Not Want To Hear From
Us.
We Will Hold a Press Conference Outside The
Hearing Room.
A New York Times reporter, David Cay Johnston,
telephoned us after 5 p.m. on Friday, March 30, 2001, to inform us
of the fact that the Senate Finance Committee has scheduled a formal
hearing for 10 a.m. on Thursday, April 5, 2001. Mr. Johnston said
the subject of the hearing would be the full-page ads we have
published in USA TODAY and that the Committee intended to have the
ads on display during the hearing. Johnston said that our side of
the story needs to be told, that we should try to get on the witness
list and that all the major media outlets would attend any press
conference we were to hold in the hallway outside the hearing room,
if we were not allowed to testify before the Committee.
Click here to read more
|
March, 2001 |
GROSS
INCOME AND SECTION 861: TAX
RESEARCHERS' PERSPECTIVE AND
EXPLANATION
Our full-page messages in USA Today on 2/16 and 3/2/01
(and in The Washington Times) have noted some of the evidence for
assertions by tax researchers that there is no law or regulation
that requires most U.S. citizens to pay the federal income tax or to
have income and employment taxes withheld from the money they earn
in the 50 states.
Click here to read more
The
U.S. Supreme Court, Federal Appeals Courts and State Courts Have Declared
The Income Tax to be a Direct Tax
Commissioner Rossotti Invited to Speak at IRS
Walk-Around
A formal invitation has been extended to IRS Commissioner Charles O.
Rossotti to speak to the citizens who will be participating in the IRS Walk-Around on
April 9, 2001.
The Commissioner has been respectfully requested to address the
allegations of the fraud and the illegal operations of the income tax system, to explain
the agency's position and to tell the citizens assembled when experts at the IRS will be
available to meet with tax researchers in a public forum to expose their errors and to
show them and explain the law that requires most Americans to file a tax return and to
have the income tax withheld from the money they earn.
Click here to view a
copy of the letter of invitation to Commissioner Rossotti.
April 9,
2001: IRS "WALK-AROUND"
Be There!
To educate the millions of Americans about the fraudulent
nature of the income tax system issue, the recalcitrance of the government, and the
urgency tens of thousands of concerned citizens place on the need for the federal income
tax authorities to meet with the tax researchers in a public forum, we believe a
"WALK-AROUND" the IRS headquarters building is necessary and would be effective
publicity.
Click here to read more
| Click here to register
Who was Philander Knox? Is it Credible That
He Would Commit Fraud?
Understanding a crime or a misdeed involves
learning not only what was done and who did it, but also what the motivation was. With a
clear motive, evidence of the "what" and "who" becomes much more
credible. Allegations that Secretary of State Philander Knox was not merely in error, but
committed fraud when he falsely declared the 16th amendment ratified in 1913, require us
to look at who he was to understand why he would commit such an act. The following sketch
was prepared by the We The People Foundation For Constitutional Education and is condensed
from Bill Benson's research report on the ratification of the 16th Amendment, "The
Law That Never Was," Volume II (1985), pages 122-135.
Click here
to read more.
Connecting the
Dots: The Statutory Path Leading to the Conclusion That Most U.S. Citizens Are Not
Liable For The Federal Income Tax
One of the two primary propositions discussed at the Washington Symposium was that there
is no law that requires most citizens to file and pay federal income taxes.
There is a federal law that imposes a requirement
upon some citizens and foreigners to file and pay an income tax. The big question is, of
course: to what proportion of citizens does the requirement apply? Does it apply to most
citizens, or just to a small, specifically defined subset of citizens? To answer this, we
must follow a disjointed trail of statutes and regulations to see where they lead. It is a
difficult trail to follow; it is easy to take a wrong path; and there have been few
directions or signposts supplied by the IRS.
Click here for a summary of the
key steps in this argument.
HOW SOME STATES DID NOT LEGALLY RATIFY THE
16TH AMENDMENT
Bill Benson's findings, published in "The Law That Never Was," make a
convincing case that the 16th amendment was not legally ratified and that Secretary of
State Philander Knox was not merely in
error, but committed fraud when he declared it ratified in February 1913. What follows is
a summary of some of the major findings for many of the states, showing that their
ratifications were not legal and should not have been counted.
Click here to read more...
|
February, 2001 |
OPENING
REMARKS BY BOB SCHULZ
AT ARLINGTON MEETING, 2/17/01
Good morning. My name is Bob Schulz, I'm the chairman of the We The People
Foundation for Constitutional Education, and I want to welcome you all to our conference.
It's wonderful that we have so many here today for our program concerning the federal
income tax.
Click here
to read more...
Mike Bodine's Presentation on
Project TOTO at the Arlington Meeting, February 17, 2001
Following the opening remarks by Bob Schulz , Mike Bodine provided an overview of the
public information and education plan affectionately known as Project TOTO.
Click here for Mike Bodine's PowerPoint
presentation on Project TOTO given February 17, 2001 at the Hilton Crystal City in
Arlington, Virginia.
Click here to read
more...
WTP PUBLISHES FIRST PROJECT TOTO AD:
February 16, 2001
On February 16, 2001, We The People Foundation for Constitutional Education, Inc.
published a full-page ad in USA TODAY. The Ad featured the photos and names of three
ex-IRS Agents who have resigned their positions and joined a growing number of former and
present IRS officers, attorneys, Certified Public Accountants and retired judges who
believe and assert that there is no law that requires most Americans to file an income tax
return or to pay the federal income tax, and that the entire income tax system is founded
upon fraud and is operated illegally.
The Ad also contained a number of "pearls" concerning the Internal Revenue
Code and some brief comments on the February 10th New York Times article.
Run the Ad in your local newspaper. Have your local newspaper click here for a free downloadable Adobe pdf
file of the Ad (please be patient ... this is a large file at 2.5MB).
|
January, 2001 |
UPDATE:
Project TOTO
Nationwide Plan To Expose and
End the Illegal Operations of the Income Tax System
Individuals are being invited to a special meeting to be held from 8:00 am to 3:00 pm,
February 17, 2001, at the Crystal City Hilton Hotel in Arlington, Va. We hope many
will attend. While the meeting is not secret, we are not seeking any media
publicity.
Click here to read more...
Tyranny Response Team News
Every unlawful act committed by the government -- whether at the local, state or federal
levels -- is an act of tyranny, and we, as responsible Americans, have a duty to respond
to acts of governmental tyranny in order to preserve, protect and enhance our rights,
freedoms and liberties. Click
here to read more...
Project TOTO:
Nationwide Plan To End Illegalities of Income Tax System
Individuals from several key Freedom groups have been working in concert
over the last several months to prepare and execute a large, coordinated, nationwide,
multi-media public information campaign to rapidly end the income tax and the IRS as we
know them.
Register here for the meeting at which the plan will be presented and
discussed
Click here to read
more... |
November, 2000 |
Comments
on New York Times Article
On Sunday, November 19, 2000, the NY Times ran an article by David Cay Johnston
under the heading, "Saying Income Tax Is Illegal, Business Owners Quit Paying."
Click here to read more...
Tyranny
Response Team News
Every unlawful act committed by the government -- whether at the
local, state or federal levels -- is an act of tyranny, and we, as responsible Americans,
have a duty to respond to acts of governmental tyranny in order to preserve, protect and
enhance our rights, freedoms and liberties. Click here to read more...
|
July, 2000 |
KEEP IT ALIVE!
The interest in our USA TODAY ad has been nothing short of phenomenal.
Now people throughout the country want to "keep the ad moving." The attitude
coming across to us here at the Foundation is, "Let's paper over the country with the
ad." The ad - which described the fraud and illegal operations of the income tax
system - is getting "legs." It is on its way to being mass-produced for the
purpose of educating more ordinary Americans on the issue of the fraudulent and illegal
operations of the income tax system. They say that repetition is the soul of advertising.
Click here to
read more or to
download the ad for publishing
We The People Places a Full
Page Ad in USA Today
On Friday, July 7, 2000, a full page advertisement appeared
nationwide in USA Today alerting and educating the public on the Legality of Income Tax
issue. The ad was sponsored by the We The People Foundation for Constitutional
Education, Inc.
Click here to read
the full text of the ad
COMING: A Citizens'
Investigatory Commission
On Thursday, June 29, 2000, We the People Foundation for
Constitutional Education Inc. held the fourth
Washington, DC conference at the National Press Club on the question of the legality of
the income tax. The Conference was preceded by two full-page center-spread ads in the
Washington Times (19 - 25 JUNE and 26 JUNE - 2 JULY).
Speaker after speaker provided enormously encouraging news and
information, to the largest audience yet, on their respective aspects of citizens'
confrontations with the federal government's abuse of its taxing power. Everyone present
felt that it was, indeed, a moving, significant and memorable day. Click here for a full update...
Click here to
order Video Tapes of the event
The Oklahoma
Protest
In 1913, Secretary of State Philander Knox proclaimed that the 16th Amendment to
the U.S. Constitution, the income tax amendment, was ratified. The Constitution requires
that three-fourths of the states ratify an amendment to make it a part of the
constitution. In 1913, there were 48 states in the Union, thus it took 36 states to ratify
this amendment. The government claims that 38 states ratified the 16th Amendment, which
was two more than necessary.
What if three or more states did not legally ratify this
amendment? Such fact would then make the number of states to have actually ratified this
amendment less than the constitutional threshold. Is Oklahoma one of those states? Click here to study more... |
June, 2000 |
Register Now for the June 29th Conference
On Thursday, June 29, 2000, the 4th Conference on the
Fraudulent and Illegal Operations of the Federal Income Tax will be held at the National
Press Club in Washington, D.C., from 9:00 am to 5:00 PM, sponsored by the We The People Foundation for Constitutional Education.
Click
here for Registration Form
Click here
for Agenda
The June 29th conference was originally scheduled as a
debate between experts designated by the leaders of the two houses of Congress and the
White House representing the government side vs. a panel of experts invited by the We The
People Foundation. The two sides were finally to meet in a head-to-head debate on several
issues concerning the unconstitutional and illegal operations of the federal income tax
system and the IRS...However, the government reneged on assurances made last April to send
people to participate... Click
here to read more...
We Will Plough On!
We have received hundreds of responses to our question:
"June 29th Conference. What shall we do?" We thank everyone who took the time to
respond.
HERE ARE THE TASKS THAT WE HAVE DECIDED TO
UNDERTAKE. Every task is considered to be part of our overall educational program aimed at
educating public officials and the general public about the seemingly unconstitutional and
illegal operations of the income tax system. Click here for more...
June 29th Conference: What Shall We Do?
The Executive and Legislative branches have reversed
themselves and now refuse to participate in the June 29th conference on the income tax at
the National Press Club in Washington DC.
What shall we do? Click here to read more |
April, 2000 |
Delegates Successfully Deliver Remonstrance - April 13th
Event in DC Exceeds Expectations
On April 13, 2000, delegates from all 50 states assembled in
Washington DC to deliver a Remonstrance on the
illegal operations of the Income Tax and the IRS to the leaders of all three branches of
the federal government.
The event was sponsored by the We The People Foundation for Constitutional Education,
Inc.
Professional videographers and photographers successfully recorded
the day's activities from 8am to 4pm, including the meetings at the White House and in the
Capitol, where the Remonstrance was hand delivered for President Clinton,
Speaker Hastert and Senate Majority Leader Lott. Click here to read more |
January, 2000 |
Be a Member of the Delegation to Deliver the Income Tax
Remonstrance
A Citizens' Remonstrance to end the illegal operations of the IRS was initially signed on
November 13, 1999 by 59 citizens from 16 states assembled in Washington, DC at the Citizen's summit to End the Illegal Operations of the IRS.
Since then thousands more have signed
electronically or via written letter. The Remonstrance will be delivered on April 13, 2000, to the
leaders of the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches of the federal government by a
delegation of two or more citizens from each of
the 50 states. Click here to read more or to become
a delegate. |
November, 1999 |
April
13th: Be There!
Mark your calendar. April 13, 2000. Event: a
gathering of people power to deliver the Citizens'
Remonstrance to end the illegal operations of the IRS to the leaders of the Executive,
Legislative and Judicial branches.
Click here to read more
Citizens'
Summit Held in Washington, DC
At the conclusion of the July Legality of Income Tax
Symposium it was announced that a people's congress
or summit meeting would be held in the ballroom of the National Press Club, in the fall of
1999, for the purpose of launching a nationwide plan to deal with the problem of the
seemingly unconstitutional income and social security taxes and unlawful operations of the
IRS.
This conclusion was drawn as a result of revelations to We
The People that in 1913, Secretary of State Philander Knox fraudulently proclaimed that
the 16th amendment had been properly and legally ratified, that there is no law that
requires most U.S. citizens to file and pay income and social security taxes, but when
people file they voluntarily waive their 5th amendment rights against self-incrimination.
Click here to read more
A
Remonstrance is signed at Citizens' Summit to end the illegal operations of the IRS
A Remonstrance was publicly read and then signed by scores of
individuals from many states, who attended the "Citizens'
Summit to End the Illegal Operations of the IRS," at a meeting assembled in
Washington DC at the National Press Club on November 13, 1999. This Remonstrance is being
signed electronically by Citizens everywhere. In the first two days, nearly 600
Citizens signed.
On April 13, 2000, the Remonstrance will be delivered to
the leaders of each branch of the federal government by a delegation from we the people of
America.
Interested parties are urged to read the Remonstrance and
add their voice to this effort in support of the Constitution and the Rule of Law with
respect to the taxing power of the federal government. To
read and sign the Remonstrance click here.
C-SPAN: What Happened?
We The People's July Symposium on the Legality Of The Income and
Social Security Taxes, held at the National Press Club in Washington DC, was broadcast
live on C-SPAN 2, and rebroadcast several times.
C-SPAN was contacted, thoroughly informed and enlisted to broadcast the Citizen's Summit To End The Illegal Operations Of the IRS,
which was held on Saturday, November 13, 1999, but C-SPAN was a "no-show." It
not only failed to broadcast the event live, as it did in July, but it also failed to tape
the event for later broadcast.
Click here to read more. |
October, 1999 |
Who was
Philander Knox? Is it Credible That He Would Commit Fraud?
Understanding a crime or a misdeed involves
learning not only what was done and who did it, but also what the motivation was. With a
clear motive, evidence of the "what" and "who" becomes much more
credible. Allegations that Secretary of State Philander Knox was not merely in error, but
committed fraud when he falsely declared the 16th amendment ratified in 1913, require us
to look at who he was to understand why he would commit such an act. The following sketch
was prepared by the We The People Foundation For Constitutional Education and is condensed
from Bill Benson's research report on the ratification of the 16th Amendment, "The
Law That Never Was," Volume II (1985), pages 122-135.
Click here to read more.
Connecting
the Dots: The Statutory Path Leading to the Conclusion That Most U.S. Citizens Are
Not Liable For The Federal Income Tax
One of the two primary propositions discussed
at the Washington Symposium was that there is no law that requires most
citizens to file and pay federal income taxes.
There is a federal law that imposes a requirement
upon some citizens and foreigners to file and pay an income tax. The big question is, of
course: to what proportion of citizens does the requirement apply? Does it apply to most
citizens, or just to a small, specifically defined subset of citizens? To answer this, we
must follow a disjointed trail of statutes and regulations to see where they lead. It is a
difficult trail to follow; it is easy to take a wrong path; and there have been few
directions or signposts supplied by the IRS. Click here for a summary of the key steps in
this argument. |
September, 1999 |
Legality
of Income Tax Summit Meeting Agenda Set
At the conclusion of the July Legality of Income Tax Symposium,
and in light of the preponderance of the evidence that the income tax is unlawful, it was
announced that citizens and representatives of taxpayer, liberty, good-government,
rule-of-law and constitutionalist organizations from all 50 states would be invited to
attend a people's congress or summit meeting at the National Press Club this fall, for the
purpose of launching a nationwide plan to deal with the problem of the seemingly
unconstitutional and unlawful income tax.
The summit meeting has been scheduled. It will take
place on Saturday, November 13, 1999 at the National Press Club in Washington
DC, which is one block from the headquarters of the IRS.
Click here to
view the Agenda
Click here
to Register Now!
(space is limited). |
August, 1999 |
The
Government's Deaf Ear: This Wasn't the First Time
An invitation was issued to President Clinton,
Senator Lott, Speaker Hastert and Commissioner Rossotti, to identify their most
knowledgeable people and have them participate in the July 1st and 2nd Legality of Income Tax Symposium to argue against
the conclusions of William Benson, Joseph Banister, William Conklin and Lowell Becraft.
Those invitations were not acknowledged or accepted. This wasn't the first time the
government has decided to turn a blind ege and a deaf ear to the hard evidence and the
truth regarding the legality of the 16th Amendment.(more
...)
What Now? Technology to the
Rescue
Since the C-SPAN broadcast of the income tax
symposium we sponsored at the National Press Club we have received hundreds of inquiries.
Thank goodness for the Internet. We decided to establish an eGroup to enable people to freely discuss the issue of
the legality of the income tax and to share information on the subject. Our "Legality of Income
Tax" eGroup is proving to be a successful, low-cost and efficient way to link
people interested in the subject. On August 12, 1999, after reviewing and analyzing the
first 186 messages, Bob Schulz posted a message entitled, "Overview
of the Group's Position".
What Does the
Government Say to the Allegations?
The government has been aware for a number of years of the
mounting questions and allegations against the income tax, i.e., the 16th amendment
argument, the "no-statute" argument, and the 5th amendment argument. The Government's Position provides some of the government's
written responses that have been acquired in the course of gathering information on both
sides of the issue, along with comments and rejoinders that have been made.(more...) |
July, 1999 |
Symposium
Held to Debate Legality of Income & Social Security Taxes
The "Are the Income and Social Security Taxes
Legal?" symposium was held on July 1-2 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
The Event was sponsored by the We The People Foundation for Constitutional Education
as an informational and educational undertaking in order to examine all sides of the
question.(more...)
GOVERNMENT SENDS NO ONE TO REFUTE THE
ALLEGATIONS OF ILLEGALITY
Read
Invitation To President Clinton
BROADCASTED LIVE ON CSPAN-2
FOLLOW-UP PLANS UNDERWAY
Read articles by David Franke of WorldNetDaily titled "Is income tax legal? Evidence suggests 16th
Amendment never ratified" and "What
recourse for tax protesters? When writing to Congress doesn't do any good"
|
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