Edited by Frederick Mann, 11/6/97
Introduction
This is the sixth in a series of articles on the Economic Means to Freedom. The first five articles are available at this website. The emphasis of the Economic Means to Freedom is on: (a) Building freedom, rather than "fighting tyranny" or "fighting for freedom"; (b) Bringing about a massive shift of economic power into the hands of individuals.
This article deals with my seventh principle of the Economic Means to Freedom: Exit tax systems to the extent you can do so "legally" -- with an acceptable level of risk; and the eighth principle: Terrocrats (coercive political agents or terrorist bureaucrats) are neither omniscient nor omnipotent.
Irwin Schiff's 'PUBLIC NOTICE'
The following paid advertisement appeared in the Las Vegas Review-Journal of November 6, 1997:
Irwin Schiff
620 South 11th St. Suite 7 Las Vegas, Nevada 89101 (702) 385-6920 FAX (702) 385-6917 Web Site: http://www.ischiff.com
An open letter to:
U.S. Senator Harry Reid
U.S. Senator Richard Bryan
Congressman John Ensign
Congressman Jim GibbonsDear Honorable Gentlemen,
During the last 20 years I have been exposing - in numerous books, publications, lectures and litigation - the unlawful activities of the I.R.S. I have also, during this time, developed procedures that allow Americans to protect themselves from such I.R.S./government behavior. Essentially, I have been doing your job which is to protect the constitutional rights of your constituents - a task for which you took a sworn oath. In conformity with that oath, l would ask you just one question, "Are there specific laws making Americans 'liable' for and/or requiring them 'to pay' income taxes?"
I am herein requesting that you, individually or collectively, provide me and your constituents with the date and time when you would be available to appear at a Town Hall meeting to be held in Las Vegas, where you would identify those laws which specifically make Americans 'liable' for and/or requiring them 'to pay' income taxes. If no such laws exist, then there is no reason why Americans should sustain the kind of I.R.S. harassment and abuse recently documented on "60 Minutes" and revealed in the recent Senate hearings.
I will assume all costs for the Town Hall meeting and further agree to pay $50,000.00 to any charity of your choice, if you can cite the specific laws as requested above.
Looking forward to your immediate reply,
Constitutionally yours,
(signed) Irwin Schiff
CC: ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX News, Wall Street Journal, API, IRS, US Attorney
Paid for by The Freedom Foundation and the Schiff For Sheriff committee
Terrocrats are Neither Omniscient Nor Omnipotent
The eighth principle of the Economic Means to Freedom is that terrocrats and their systems are often laughingly incompetent and inefficient. I don't think the IRS is any exception! There are millions of people who don't pay and who don't get in trouble.
As an informed individual, your chances of beating the IRS are very high. Tax attorney Donald W. MacPherson (Tax Fraud & Evasion: The War Stories -- 1-800-BEAT-IRS) calculates the chances of an individual being prosecuted in any given year being about 1 in 70,000; and the chances of being jailed at 1 in 146,000. As a general rule, the IRS goes after the "easy pickings."
In reality you don't deal with the "IRS monster," but with individual bureaucrats -- often not the most competent individuals. Once you know the major weaknesses of the IRS -- the soft belly of the monster -- you have little to fear. You don't have to passively submit to their "taxtortion." To the informed individual, the IRS may be a paper tiger.
The year 2000 date problem may spell the death knell of the IRS as it is now constituted. Not only do they have to review 62 million lines of computer program code, they almost certainly have to reformat hundreds of computer files and data bases. And they almost certainly have to write programs to convert their data.
But some of the IRS terrocrats do carry guns, and they can be vicious and capricious. Some of them are probably quite sadistic and may enjoy destroying your business and/or your life. So you have to be very careful!
The BuildFreedom website contains a wealth of information on dealing with bureaucrats, including "taxtortionists."
Is the IRS Dead?
"Under cross-examination by nationally prominent tax attorney Lowell H. Becraft, Jr., Ms. Jeu (expert IRS witness) conceded that the IRS uses a secret code to classify people. Mr. Long (the defendant) was classified by the secret code of the IRS as not liable to file a tax return or pay income tax." -- Recent landmark tax case lost by IRS -- #TL16F: The Becraft Landmark Case.
Many Americans May Not Be Liable for Federal Income Tax!
In the above amazing court case the jury agreed with the defendant -- prosecuted for willful failure to file income tax returns for 1989 and 1990 -- that the "income tax" is actually an excise tax and applies only to certain classes of people.
Maybe Neither You Nor Your Business Is Liable!
Imagine what your life or business would be like if you didn't have to keep records for the IRS, if you didn't have to file tax returns, if you didn't have to pay the IRS, if you didn't have to fear IRS audits. Maybe there are practical ways to effectively eliminate the IRS from your life and reduce the risk to almost zero!
What If The IRS Runs on 90% Bluff, 10% Terror, and 0% Substance?
Maybe through Freedom Technology you can acquire the KNOWLEDGE and PERSONAL POWER to call their bluff, deflect their terror, and render them harmless to you.
Many people will agree that one of the biggest indignities they suffer is having to deal with the IRS. Of course, most of all, the IRS hurts our pockets. Fortunately the IRS can be defeated, as happened in the landmark case mentioned above and described in 'Report #TL16F: The Becraft Landmark Case'.
See: Fiscal Freedom.
You may want to check out the following reports:
Safeguarding Yourself
Good-Faith Reliance Defense -- You have Sovereign Individual Rights when it comes to taxes. What if you honestly can conclude in good faith, based on expert legal advice and U.S. Supreme Court decisions, that you personally have no obligation to file returns and pay income taxes?
Of course, everyone should obey the law. Anyone who is liable to file and pay income taxes should do so. But what if you personally come to the good-faith decision that such statutes do not apply to you?
What we mean, in part, by Freedom Technology is practical methods by which to live free. What if there exists a proven, lawful method for you to be free from many taxes?
Many freedom groups through the years have offered information on tax freedom. Some of the methods advocated, while interesting, probably are not always effective. I believe the Reliance Defense Method, properly applied in good faith, is one of the most effective tax freedom strategies yet devised. It is based on U.S. Supreme Court decisions such as Cheek v U.S., 111 S.Ct. 604 (1991).
The Cheek decision says, in pertinent part: "If the defendant had a subjective good faith belief, no matter how unreasonable, that he was not required to file a tax return, the government cannot establish that the defendant acted willfully." The Reliance Defense Method is covered in detail in Report #TL16G.
Most people can probably save 1000's of dollars per year with this method. Some people can likely save tens of thousands of dollars per year. Now, it should be noted that all actions you take must be in good faith. This means you should never call yourself a "tax protester" or say that you don't have to obey the law; these statements would demonstrate bad faith.
You do not challenge the right of the Legislature to pass tax statutes and regulations. But, if after (1) getting advice letters from licensed attorneys and CPA's and (2) studying U.S. Supreme Court decisions yourself, you come personally to the honest, good faith subjective belief that you personally are not required to file and pay, you're in a position of power. This method has proven itself -- when properly applied.
The most important element of the Reliance Defense Method is that you must have at least one letter from an attorney, licensed at the time of writing the letter, addressed to you personally. In general, appellate courts have held that reliance on an attorney's professional advice (or U.S. Supreme Court decisions) absolutely shows good faith as a matter of law. 'Report TL16G' contains a listing of attorneys and CPA's willing to write such opinion letters for you, personally.
If you would like to know the bottom line of why this method is so powerful even though the tax man hates it: If you truly in good faith believe, based on expert legal advice that you don't have to file, then it doesn't even matter whether it was a reasonable belief or not! You beat the IRS because ALL YOU HAVE TO SHOW IS THAT YOU HONESTLY IN GOOD FAITH BELIEVED THE EXPERT ADVICE. This is quite effective -- all you need to learn is HOW to study and obtain advice such that you might be able to reach and hold such honest good-faith beliefs.
Note that, in his advertisement above, Irwin Schiff is offering $50,000.00 to charity, if the "honorable gentlemen" addressed are able to cite any "specific laws making Americans 'liable' for and/or requiring them 'to pay' income taxes."
Such studying and obtaining advice is a brilliant application of Individual Sovereignty that you can apply right now. The methodology meshes perfectly with my emphasis on Personal Power -- 'Report #TL10' -- in which you exercise your own personal solutions, rather than try to change the beliefs of others. After all, all that matters for you personally to use this method is that you develop a good-faith personal belief concerning the tax man. And the real bottom line is that the probability is high that you can make it work for you!
There are a number of people like Irwin Schiff, who advocate a range of different approaches to dealing with the IRS. Any of these approaches can be considerably strengthened by bolstering them with the Reliance Defense Method.
You simply cannot afford to miss out on this powerful application of Freedom Technology!
If you have any questions, or if you're an expert in this area and want to assist others to exit the tax system, subscribe to the Build Freedom and Advanced Freedom Solutions lists.
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