And here we go

[bcj1755]

Attack on IRS part of long line of tax protesters
AP

By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER, Associated Press Writer Stephen Ohlemacher, Associated Press Writer – 10 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Joseph Stack's methods were unthinkable — he is accused of ramming a plane into an Internal Revenue Service building in Texas — but his views on taxation follow a long line of protesters who believe tax laws don't apply to them.

While their numbers aren't large, according to experts, their arguments are so enticing that the IRS has published a guide to debunk their claims. In 2008, the Justice Department was concerned enough to start the "National Tax Defier Initiative" to better coordinate prosecutions.

"You would think a little light bulb would go on in their head and they would say, 'Why in the heck is everybody else paying taxes?'" said Peter R. Zeidenberg, a former federal prosecutor who is now a litigation partner at the law firm DLA Piper in Washington. "There are people who are peddling this stuff. It's a way to get people to believe something that's too good to be true."

A 3,000-word manifesto posted on a Web site registered in Stack's name rails against the IRS and accuses the agency of ruining his life. Stack's bitter feud with the IRS apparently drove him to commit suicide Thursday by slamming his single-engine Piper PA-28 into an Austin office building where the IRS has offices.

Stack's writings suggest he was part of a loosely organized movement that stretches back to at least the 1950s. Some believe the 16th Amendment to the Constitution, which authorizes Congress to levy income taxes, was not legally ratified; it was ratified in 1913.

Others believe that paying taxes is purely voluntary. Still others believe in fictional loopholes that would exempt large groups of Americans from paying taxes if they were only in on the secret.

Believers aren't limited to anti-government militia members living off the land out West. Stack was a 53-year-old software engineer in Austin. Other followers include movie star Wesley Snipes and a decorated police detective in the nation's capital.

"They're fairly prevalent," said Mark Potok, director of the Intelligence Project for the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks extremist groups. "We've had a right wing tax protest movement going back several decades now. They were very hot in the 1990s, but they are very much still out there."

The center has documented five plots against the IRS or its agents since 1995, including one that year to blow up an IRS office in Austin. Potok said he was unsure if it was the same building Stack crashed the plane into.

In 2006, a Utah man was accused of threatening IRS employees with "death by firing squad" if they continued to try to collect taxes from him and his wife. The man, David D'Addabbo, pleaded guilty to one charge of threatening a government agent and was sentenced to five months already served.

Not all tax protesters resort to violence.

Snipes, star of the "Blade" trilogy and other films, was convicted on tax charges and sentenced to three years in prison in 2008 after claiming that Americans have no obligation to pay taxes and the IRS cannot legally collect them. The detective in Washington, D.C., Michael Irving, got a 14-month prison sentence last year after prosecutors said he fraudulently arranged for the police department to stop withholding taxes from his paychecks.

"Most of us are respectfully fearful of the IRS. Most people understand their authority," said Matthew J. Campione, a former IRS lawyer who is now a tax law specialist at the law firm of SmolenPlevy in Vienna, Va. "But you have people who are gullible, you have people who engage in wishful thinking, you have some people who are struggling to make ends meet."

In the letter on Stack's Web site, which has since been removed, Stack said he had gone to "tax code readings and discussions" where he learned about "wonderful 'exemptions' that make institutions like the vulgar, corrupt Catholic Church so incredibly wealthy." He said an attempt to claim similar exemptions inevitably cost him $40,000 and "10 years of my life."

He also complained about a 1986 change in the tax law that made it harder for engineers like himself to claim certain deductions as independent contractors, rather than salaried employees. One year, Stack wrote, he didn't file a tax return, "thinking that because I didn't have any income there was no need. The sleazy government decided that they disagreed."

The IRS has a Web site called, "Don't Fall for These Frivolous Arguments." Among them are:

_False claim: The filing and paying of tax is voluntary. IRS response: "The term voluntary compliance means that each of us is responsible for filing a tax return when required and for determining and paying the correct amount of tax."

_False claim: Wages, tips, and other compensation are not income because there is no taxable gain when a person "exchanges" labor for money. IRS response: "Congress has determined that all income is taxable unless specifically excluded by some part of the Code."

_False claim: Forming a business trust to hold your income and assets will avoid taxes. A family estate trust will allow you to reduce or eliminate your tax liability. IRS response: "Establishing a trust, foreign or domestic, for the sole purpose of hiding your income and assets from taxation is illegal and will not absolve you of your tax liability."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100220/...Fja29uaXJzcA--

Now it seems the "fair and impartial" media is implying that anyone who protests against the IRS is now a threat. I guess that would include people that go to TEA parties because I seem to recall that some of them think that taxes are too high. Make sure you never say anything negative about the IRS now, or you're a threat

We should all be cheerful when paying our tithes to our lord and messiah King-Emperor Barack I.

[topper]

Our society as a whole has, IMO, been 'conditioned' to believe in the lies that the government is here to serve us. What a bunch of bunk. "The people should control and support the government, NOT the government controlling and supporting the people". So, therefore I am under the understanding that income taxes and for most other taxes are simply collected by instilling fear into people by using bullying tactics like audits and threats of prison to achieve the end result...collecting taxes. We the people, have no say about how our hard earned money is taken and spent. So in essence it is a form of taxation without representation. That is what the early american colonists fought so hard against and eventually won and now it has raised it's ugly head again. Why was Income tax and SS tax instituted without being voted on by the people? Because it would surely fail and the government could not allow their 'cash cow' to die. All manner of taxation should be voted on by the people, not forced on us by a bloated, money hungry, power drunk government that has no accountability to the people.

[pickenup]

topper,
Thanks for saving me all that typing.
Or.........oh.......ah.......
+1
What he said.

[obxned]

Even IRS people can't figure out what the tax code actually means. How can anyone be sure they are not in violation of some sub-section or revision? A politically favored few can pay their taxes when or if they feel like it, while the rest of us could loose everything we have worked for and even our freedom based on how some bureaucrat interprets an obscure line in the tax code on a particular day.

The question isn’t can this bunch of thugs cause so much frustration in a citizen that he feels the only reasonable way out is a suicidal attack, but why it doesn’t happen more often.

[larryg]

Abolish the IRS, Lets go with the FairTax. This would get rid of the IRS as it exists. Individuals would no longer file taxes, just document family size.

[walien]

Now it seems the "fair and impartial" media is implying that anyone who protests against the IRS is now a threat.

Really, where exactly do you see that? I skimmed through the article and didn't see anything like that. Also, one person doing an opinion piece doesn't mean that he represents the overall opinion of the media.

I read a full newspaper today and went through two news sites and didn't get any overall idea that anyone who protests against the IRS is now a threat. By the way, flying a plane into a building is not a protest, but an act of terror. There's a rather stark difference between that and any group getting together to protest or vote en masse in one direction.

Our society as a whole has, IMO, been 'conditioned' to believe in the lies that the government is here to serve us.

I don't know, it seems a majority think it is broken....

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/02/...ex.html?hpt=T2

[bcj1755]

walien,

We know that you agree that anyone who disagrees with the IRS an evil, right-wing extremist. We also know that anyone who won't bow down and worship your messiah Obama is an evil right-wing extremist. And we know that you agree with Biden that paying taxes is a patriotic duty and we should happy to do it. There, I just said everything that you would say in any relies you'd make, so I saved you some time.

You'll notice that the Southern Poverty Law Center is quoted in this article as a group that tracks extreme organizations. So now the SPLC is tracking tax protesters as a threat? You'll remember that the SPLC is one of the groups that equate disagreeing with Obama with being a member of the Klan or a right-wing militia.

Oh, by the way...did i speel thaat rite? iz mi gramur corewreck?

[bcj1755]

Oh yeah walien,

Since you repeatedly claim not to be a liberal (but yet you seem to support every left-wing, marxist, liberal, progressive idea spewed forth by King-Emperor Barack I), then maybe you could tell us why you post here? You do realize that this is a firearms forum, right? So how many guns do you own? What kind? How often do you shoot? Which is your favorite? How long have you been shooting?

I'm expecting you to not even bother answering this one because you're a liberal troll who's only purpose here is to stir up trouble and to "teach" and "educate" us about the glory of The Great Hussein, King-Emperor Barack I, His Great Awesomeness and All-Knowing Teleprompter.

Until you answer this question, I will ignore you for being the troll that you are.

[red14]

I don't know if the fair tax is the right thing to do. But, I do like the concept of FAIR. The only true, fair tax , is one that applied equally, all the time. IF there is a tax, that can be fair it is a sales tax. Of course, that is usually a state tax. I always thought national taxes were temporary?

[topper]

The only "fair tax" , IMO, is a national sales tax on all products, except food items for human consumption. The sales tax also means that the super rich, tax evaders and other 'tax cheats' will be required to pay tax on what they buy. States should also elimanate all state income taxes and use only sales taxes for income. Income tax is just unfair, but sales tax is fair to all.

[Terry_P]

The fair tax is grossly unfair to seniors. We have worked all our lives and paid our fair share and now you want us to pay your share as well. Once you retire your income is much less and now having a 35% cost increase on every item we purchase is obscene. I'm 62 and plan to live a lot more years but not in poverty because others don't wish to pay their fair share.

[topper]

I am retired and on a very limited income and not able to work either because of a physical handicap, but I would much rather pay a sales tax on items I buy rather than play the stupid IRS game of income tax every year. Either we scrimp and save throughout the year and get back a big refund or get more monthly on retirement and owe the government at the end of the year. Some choice. Sales tax will go up, no doubt, but it is happening with income tax, it goes up also and is not a fair type of tax to the poor and middle class, IMO, only the rich benefit because they can find loopholes in the tax code and tax shelters and reduce their taxes. It is just not right that the government tax it's citizens on income earned. That income is what I worked for and I don't think the government has any right to it. Sales taxes everyone has to pay, rich and poor alike, but if ya buy more, then ya pay more, simple as that. But it will probably never happen because congress won't kill off the cash cow they have now.



We need another 'Tea' party.

[Terry_P]

If you can't afford to pay 10% or 15% on taxable income how will you afford to pay 27%-35% on everything you buy? Don't believe the proponents that say it won't be on food or items like that. The government will use it to put forth their agenda. Soda's with sugar, chips, beer, taxable, anything the govenment doesn't like put a tax on it. Plus how will anyone afford to buy anything when this crashes the economy such that you will think we are in good times right now.

[larryg]

I am not an expert on the FairTax but I have read a lot on it. There is definitely a lot of misunderstanding of it. I will try to explain a few things here and answer any questions I can.

As proposed it will tax every new item including food, drugs, housing etc. There will be a monthly prebate of the FairTax based on Family size and poverty level. This will remove the tax from essential items without the games that are played on food, drugs etc with state sales taxes.

The current FairTax rate is 23%. Personally I think they made a mistake in quoting this as an inclusive tax rate which was done to match the way income tax is done. However this confuses people, even the FairTax public speakers have a hard time explaining this. If the quoted exclusive rate like sales tax it is closer to 30% which is easier to understand.

The FairTax replaces all federal income, social security, medicare and inheritance taxes on individuals and businesses

All items are only taxed once so used items are not taxed.

Prices will not go up as much as the tax as businesses no longer pay income tax or the large compliance cost either and competition will force them down.

FairTax will not take effect until the income tax amendment is repealed.