American Tax Protesters Plan Washington March On April 9th

Mike Godfrey, Tax-News.com, New York

14 March 2001

US citizens who believe that the Federal Government has no legal basis on which it can assess Americans to income tax are planning an IRS 'Walk-Around' for 9th April. The 'We The People Foundation' (see http://www.givemeliberty.org) wants 1,040 people (the code number of the US income tax return) to encircle the IRS headquarters building in Washington.

Close examination of the facts does seem to show that US federal income tax collection has a decidedly shaky legal basis, but the US anti-tax brigade is a motley assortment of people, with genuine libertarians at one end of the spectrum and free-riding tax evaders at the other. So far the movement has been little more than an irritant to the Government, especially at a time when the IRS is short of resources and there is a massive budget surplus. But it can't continue: sooner or later the Government will have to respond, and when it does, the response will be to put in place the legislative certainty which currently seems to be lacking.

What is interesting, though, is how such a legislative endeavour would play in a divided Congress with a Republican President hell-bent on a tax-cutting agenda. Administration planners can't relish having to cope with a situation in which a bill is put forward tacitly admitting that all Federal tax collection since 1913 is possibly illegal.

This is all probably just a good game; but it could get serious!

Here is the 'call to arms' from the 'We The People Foundation':

We The People Foundation has, for two years now, been seeking the truth about the income and employment tax laws of the United States. Tax researchers have been making a number of astonishing claims, including assertions that the law does not require most citizens to pay income or employment taxes and that the 16th amendment was not legally ratified.

The Foundation has tried repeatedly to engage experts from the executive and legislative branches of the Government in an academic-type discussion or debate with the researchers in order to ascertain the truth. As you know, the government has steadfastly refused to participate, or even to respond, to several invitations that were respectfully delivered to our governmental leaders. They did not respond to a Remonstrance hand-delivered to them last April by a delegation representing all 50 states. We have published full-page messages in newspapers of national circulation to publicly extend our invitations, not only to government officials, but also to any other experts who could express or represent the views or position of the government.

We have held five conferences in Washington over the past 20 months, four of them at the National Press Club (two blocks from IRS headquarters) and the most recent one in Arlington - all in the government's own back yard to make it convenient for them to attend. As you know, no one has accepted the challenge. We have had to ask: "At what point does evasion amount to admission that the researchers are right?" [For further details on these attempts and these conferences, see articles on our web site.]

The IRS refused to respond to the report of one of their own fraud investigators two years ago that the conclusions of the researchers were correct. Instead, they "encouraged" him to resign. That's the story of Joe Banister.

The government has avoided addressing the findings and allegations of fraud made by Bill Benson with regard to the ratification of the 16th amendment in 1913 by Secretary of State Philander Knox. The Supreme Court said in 1986 that it was a political question for Congress to deal with. The IRS has declined to reply, except in their short pamphlet, "Why Do I Have To Pay Taxes?" in which they simply said the 16th amendment was ratified on February 3, 1913 and then repeated the words of the amendment. Besides not answering the allegation, they got
the date wrong - it was February 25, 1913.

This leads to our next question: "What must a free people do when faced with a government that has apparently stepped outside the boundary drawn around its taxing power by its own laws and by the people's constitution (thereby, taking possession of a boundless field of power no longer capable of definition), refuses to justify its behavior, evades all requests by concerned individuals and businessmen to answer llegitimate questions, and uses a heavy handed, steel- fisted approach to enforcement of the income tax -- as though payment of the income tax
by most Americans were compulsory when, in fact, most citizens apparently are not liable?"

Answer: We the people must educate one another about the discrepancies between the way the Constitution and the tax law are written and the operations of the IRS. Knowledge is power. Only a well-informed people will bring the federal tax policies and programs back under the control of the people and their constitution.

Education can take many forms.

The use of the print and broadcast media and other instruments of communications is one approach to educating one another about the problem. We The People Foundation has already initiated Project TOTO, as you have read in our newspaper messages recently in USA TODAY and the Washington Times.

To complement this, we believe we need to conduct a "WALK-AROUND."

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.

While Congressional leaders have also ignored our requests to send their experts, it is felt that the IRS headquarters is the appropriate and most symbolic site for the WALK-AROUND.

This is the vision. On April 9, 2001, at 9:00 am, at least 1040 people meet at the Jefferson Memorial. There they put on navy blue windbreakers, which have three words written in large gold letters on the back: "TYRANNY RESPONSE TEAM" (TRT). Then, walking two abreast, with a yard between pairs, they walk down Constitution Avenue to the corner of the IRS Headquarters Building. Then they walk around the IRS building a number of times, stopping occasionally to brief the press and to hand out press releases, with the underlying message: "Dear Government: Why Won't You Answer?" At the head of the column are the likes of Bill Benson, Joe Banister, Sherry Jackson, John Turner, John Kotmair, Irwin Schiff, Larry Becraft, Larken Rose, Devvy Kidd, Ed
Rivera, Otto Skinner, Dave Bosset, Dick Simkanin, Nick Jesson, Al Thompson, Leonard Roberto and scores of others who, for years have been courageously confronting the apparent income tax hoax, each in his or her own way.

It is most important that we the people who participate in the WALK-AROUND do so in a respectful, well-mannered way. What is needed is a pro-active, non-violent mass-movement. America will be watching through their TV screens, much the same way it watched the well-dressed, well-mannered, somber group of people walk two- abreast over the Selma bridge years ago. (Note: America also saw the government turn on the Selma walkers with hoses and dogs. Americans all over the country were aghast at the behavior of the government, and their
sympathies went with the people. The event went down as another milestone and a turning point in we the people's struggle against unjust and uncivil government and laws.)

Again, we would like at least 1040 people to participate. We need at least 1400 people to completely encircle the building, walking two abreast with a yard between pairs.

To help ensure our objective of a non-violent, well-mannered WALK-AROUND, we are requesting all those who wish to participate to register for the event.

Bob Schulz
Chairman
We The People Foundation
for Constitutional Education
2458 Ridge Rd.
Queensbury, N.Y. 12804
(518) 656-3578 Phone
(518) 656-9724 Fax
http://www.givemeliberty.org/
acta@capital.net

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