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Tax Protestor Cases Exhibit
("Damn, We Lost Again! And why is it that people who sell
tax protestor materials file their tax returns anyway . . .")

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The U.S. Postal Service has filed a complaint of false representation against the "Revenue Resource Center" and is intercepting mail going to its Boca Raton, Fla., address. The Revenue Resource Center is the group or individual attempting to rip off taxpayers by getting them to mail $12.95 -- add $2 for rush service -- to learn the amount of their tax rebate and "to assure proper delivery" of their rebate check.

According to Lawrence E. Maxwell, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service's inspector in charge of fraud, the Postal Service filed the complaint and began holding up mail July 16. Taxpayers who send the Revenue Resource Center money to learn information that the IRS is providing for free will have their mail returned to them by the Postal Service. In the meantime the Revenue Resource Center, which has targeted taxpayers in at least six states, has opened another private mailbox, this one outside Boston. The U.S. Postal Service is amending its complaint to include a false representation order against the second address as well.

In July 19 testimony to the House Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee, which sought to publicize the scam, Maxwell said the Postal Service complaint seeks penalties for violations of the Deceptive Mail Prevention and Enforcement Act of 2000. The new law allows for penalties based on the number of mailings; penalties can range up to $1 million.

"I would call this the poster-boy fraud for that act," Maxwell said, adding that "there could possibly be criminal violations here." The subcommittee tipped off the Postal Service about the scam and set in motion efforts to shut down the operation and intercept mail going to the operation's return address, Maxwell said. So far the U.S. Postal Service has returned only a few handfuls of mail to taxpayers who otherwise would have been ripped off, but it will take another week or two to get a better sense of the number of taxpayers who would have been taken by the scheme, he said.

The U.S. Postal Service knows who is holding the boxes for the Revenue Resource Center, Maxwell told lawmakers. He said he could not yet release the source name, as the investigation is still ongoing. In the meantime the Postal Service has received its first complaint about the operation from a taxpayer. Maxwell congratulated lawmakers and the IRS for bringing the problem to the Postal Service's attention.

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