April 2002 Archives
Go figure.
I am probably not the first person in history to voice this sentiment. The reasons why the IRS sucks are, in fact, numerous. But I would like to focus on one particular reason, give you some facts and then let you form your own opinion, if you have not already done so.
I hope that history will record that legislation such as the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997, and the IRS Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998, were just the first public manifestations of a growing movement within this country calling for not only fair taxation, but the elimination of the IRS and its unConstitutional practices.
Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Chuck Grassley spent some of your tax dollars and the better part of two days holding hearings on Capitol Hill in an effort to convince the American people that any group that would have the gall to question the motivation and the tactics of our beloved IRS is simply selling snake oil. His attempt to paint those who are merely asking to be shown the law requiring Americans to pay income tax as con artists borders on slanderous.
On April 5, 2001, the Committee held a hearing entitled "Taxpayer Beware: Schemes, Scams and Cons." Ostensibly, this was to be a public service hearing to address the growing number of hucksters that are using the Internet to bilk people out of their hard earned money by promising sure-fire schemes for avoiding paying personal income taxes. I won't deny that these people exist, but one of the organizations included in this rogue's gallery was the We The People Foundation.
I won't delve into the contributions of this organization to the Tax Honesty Movement -- please visit their web site and read it for yourself -- but I have been following their exploits for a couple of years now and they offer several compelling arguments. And while it is true that they do sell merchandise on their web site, none of it is literature describing tax avoidance schemes. They are far from what I would describe as "scammers" but that didn't stop Senator Grassley from lumping them in with a whole host of tax cheats and other reprobates. In fact, the Committee went so far as to have a full-page advertisement that the Foundation ran in USA Today enlarged to poster size and exhibited throughout the hearing. When Bob Schultz, We The People's founder, requested an invitation to speak at the hearing, in defense of his organization, he was refused.
Then, just last week, on April 11, 2002, in some sort of surreal homage to Star Wars, the Committee held a sequel hearing called < a href="http://finance.senate.gov/press/pr041102b.pdf" target="_blank">"Schemes, Scams and Cons, Part II: The IRS Strikes Back," the title of which would be laughable if it were not so true. The Empire is striking back. You see, the purpose of these hearings is not to seek the truth, but merely to provide a forum for Charles Rossotti, Commissioner of the IRS, to whine about how the Internet is making it more and more difficult for him to disseminate his propaganda and practice his jack-booted thuggery.
If Commissioner Rossotti wants us all to believe in his "kinder and gentler" IRS, then he needs to start by sitting down at the table with the delegation from the We The People Foundation (as he promised to do) and providing honest answers to their 460 questions. How 'bout it, Chuck?
