by Quinton Reynolds
In an earlier http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=830, I described what is going on around Ed and Elaine Brown, including an incredible militarized buildup in response to their failure to pay income tax, or even acknowledge that the income tax should be paid.
A correspondent commented:
“How many people realize that the taxes imposed by the IRS are illegal in the first place? Look it up. The IRS can’t even produce the law which says we have to pay!! Look at Ed & Elain Brown… the IRS can’t produce the law. That proposed tax law was NEVER ratified! Look it up. We have been lied to and scammed for decades and decades. Taxes and double taxation. If more people KNEW this and stood up for their rights, we would absolutely be able to get rid of this CORRUPT organization. This is nothing more than organized crime. Don’t believe me? Spend some time and do the RESEARCH! You’ll be surprised. It is TRUE.”
I have both factual and practical responses to our correspondent’s input.
Irwin Schiff wrote a number of books detailing his theories about the income tax being invalid, including the theories put forth by our correspondent. Mr. Schiff held a number of symposia and sold hundreds of thousands of books.
He also didn’t pay Federal income tax, and encouraged others not to pay it either.
Irwin Schiff was the premier thinker along these lines. He is currently inmate #08537-014 at the Federal Correction Institution at Fort Dix, New Jersey, where he is doing thirteen years for tax crimes.
If you would like to join Mr. Schiff, the easiest way to do so is to emulate him and skip out on paying taxes. If you get sufficiently militant about it, as Mr. Brown did when he started the Constitution Defense Militia, you may likewise find yourself surrounded by a large number of armed and armored federal agents notoriously lacking in humor.
That’s pure fact. Federal courts have ruled on this matter so many times that even bringing a case along these lines will get you fined for frivolity. Income tax was paid by our fathers and grandfathers with minimal objection, and now it is the de-facto law of the land.
If you don’t like the income tax, the smartest thing you can do is vote for http://www.wvwnews.net/bsearch.php?author=Rep.%20Ron%20Paul
In purely pragmatic terms, there is absolutely nothing that can be accomplished by going down the same road as Ed Brown. Doing so needlessly jeopardizes your life and your freedom, and you won’t do anybody any good sitting in prison. So even if you are legally correct – it doesn’t matter. Taking that tack takes you beyond the level of what is politically feasible.
What IS politically feasible right now … is supporting Ron Paul, and supporting legislation to abolish the IRS. You can do both of these with no personal risk whatsoever and — even better — with far greater chance of success.