50 Days Until Capitol Hill Citizens'  Truth-In-Taxation Hearing

WTP Update:  August 7th, 2001

Preparations Proceed Full Steam

Government Announces Specific Dates & Location

The office of Congressman Roscoe Bartlett announced late Friday the specific dates and location for the Citizen's hearing.  The proceedings will commence, as expected, on September 25th in room #311 of the Cannon House Office Building on Capitol Hill.

It is expected the hearings will last at least two full days.  The  hearing room holds approximately 100 people including participants and standing room observers.

Kick-Off Meeting in Las Vegas: Organized & Ready for Battle    

45 Attorneys, CPAs, top tax researchers, information technology consultants and former government officials met in Las Vegas this past weekend to organize, plan and execute work activities in preparation for the upcoming hearing.

The two day meeting, according to Schulz and other participants "vastly exceeded expectations".  As leader of the WTP organization, Schulz was elated after observing the "who's who" of the tax honesty movement work side by side on subject matter teams to develop specific lines of inquiry and evidence for the hearing.  The all-day planning sessions went well into Saturday night and adjourned late Sunday afternoon.

Schulz and lead attorneys for the effort termed the meetings "models of productive teamwork".  Schulz remarked, "It was gratifying to see these very intelligent and strong willed individuals work shoulder to shoulder, set aside their philosophical differences and engage in a very professional manner to plan and develop the high-quality work needed for the hearing."

Overview of the Plan & Organization

The group of 45 people was organized into a number of focused inquiry teams, each responsible for a specific segment of the hearing.  The primary lines of inquiry fall into several categories including:    IRS jurisdiction; statutory and regulatory questions of liability; Constitutional questions such as the fraudulent ratification of the 16th Amendment; 5th Amendment issues (Miranda & due process rights), and 4th Amendment questions dealing with illegal IRS seizures, liens and levies lacking warrants or court orders; and a miscellaneous team covering IMF files, IRS records systems, etc.  Other team personnel were mobilized to address technology, public awareness and hearing logistics issues.

The group will be utilizing the latest information technologies to organize and communicate during the weeks proceeding the hearing.  This includes a secured, data encrypted internet based work collaboration and team communications software system.  At the actual hearing, a high-tech document management and evidence presentation system will be deployed, facilitating the rapid search, retrieval and display of regulations, publications, statutes, and supporting evidence.

The "top level" questions for DOJ and IRS generated from the planning effort will be provided to the government in a pre-hearing exchange on approximately September 10th.  The questions will also be posted on the internet at that time.  The government has committed to provide their expected rebuttal replies a week later.

Broadcast of the Tax Hearings

Because of the effective "black-out" of news coverage to-date by the dominant media, We The People has decided to proceed unilaterally to insure the public's live access to this historic hearing.  Preparations are currently being made to broadcast "gavel-to-gavel" coverage of the hearings on coast-to-coast syndicated radio and a world-wide internet video "webcast" that will include color commentaries and appropriate background information.  Preparations are also underway for video tapes of the proceedings and CD-ROMs that will have electronic copies of the inquiry, evidence, hearing transcripts and backup documentation.

Our Nation Without the Federal Income Tax

Because Schulz is convinced that "the income tax may well not survive these hearings",  a large scale public information and education campaign is under development by We The People.  The purpose of this initiative is to quell the potential, and needless fears of  average Americans that somehow modern civilized life cannot exist without a federal income tax.

Indeed, Schulz says, "Our country functioned very well without an income tax throughout most of our nation's history.  The mechanism for a peaceful and orderly transition to a non-income tax system has resided in Article 1, Section 9 of the Constitution since 1787.  It provides for Congress to pass a legislative bill for tax money to be paid by each state in proportion to its population."

Schulz continues, "Although the transition will certainly not be without some level of political pain or inconvenience at the federal level, this is how our founding fathers envisioned our tax system was to work.  The natural balance of political and financial power would be kept in check by the proximity of the people to their taxes and their government.  In our current tax system, the proper role and power of the states and local government has been largely usurped and bypassed by the direct collection of income taxes from the people by the federal government.   The unchecked growth and generally ineffective workings of the federal government are proof-positive of the inherent defects of our current tax system.

With an apportioned tax, this process would be reversed with large amounts of money (and its associated power) returning to both the states and local communities.  Local needs such as education, community development, homelessness, etc. can all be addressed much more effectively and efficiently by local governments and local representatives without the "middleman" in Washington, D.C.

The people should have no fear that our federal government cannot function without income taxes.  Because our government already receives significant income from duties, imposts and excise taxes and currently has (as discussed above) the constitutional authority to apportion direct taxes, there would be no problem defending the nation or providing for the other constitutionally mandated and basic functions of the federal government.  In short, the people should not be needlessly cajoled into accepting a replacement tax such as the 'fair tax' or a national sales tax.  Let the constitution work as it was written."