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Scams > Tax
Protestors > Anti-IRS
Theories
Introduction
We preface this by stating that the purpose of this page is not
to defend the IRS (it must defend itself). Rather, the purpose
of this page is to make clear to you the non-effectiveness of
certain theories and methods which are based on recent public
criticism of the IRS.
Various persons and groups are actively marketing and selling
a variety of information, legal products, and financial products
based on interpretations of the U.S. Constitution as it relates
to the Internal Revenue Code, and indeed the Internal Revenue
Service itself.
The arguments advanced by these groups include:
-
False arguments that the 16th Amendment to the Constitution
(authorizing the income tax) was not properly ratified
-
False arguments that the Internal Revenue Code was not
properly enacted by Congress
-
False arguments that the Internal Revenue Service was not
properly constituted by either Congress or the Department
of the Treasury (and is therefore operating as an "illegal"
entity)
-
False arguments that "income" cannot be defined,
and therefore cannot be owed
-
False arguments that only foreigners and citizens of the
United States (falsely limited to citizens of the District
of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, etc.) are liable to pay
income tax, and state citizens are not liable for income
tax -- i.e., false arguments that the payment of
income tax is really "voluntary" (you'd have to
be a real sucker to believe this one).
-
False arguments about a number of like subjects regarding
income tax, all of which erroneously conclude that nobody
is liable to pay income tax
These arguments are all false, and demonstrably so. Anyone who
advocates them is a liar, and anyone who believes them is either
a dullard, a sucker, or a fool.
Don't believe us? Skeptical of us? Well, before your break ends
at the tire shop, take a close look at the following:
Daniel B. Evans' The Tax Protestor FAQ
http://evans-legal.com/
dan /tpfaq.html
- and -
Joseph G. Adams' Tax Protestor Hall of
Fame -- http://politicalhobbyist.com/
debunked/
Why These Arguments Can’t
Help You
We’re going to show you here why these arguments
can’t help you -- and most likely will do you harm -- whether
or not they are true. That is, we’re going
to suppose for the sake of argument that these (demonstrably false)
theories are true: In other words, we’re going to pretend
that the Internal Revenue Code has no effect, and that all actions
undertaken pursuant to it are illegal.
The problem is that NO COURT HAS HELD OR WILL HOLD THAT
THE INTERNAL REVENUE CODE IS INVALID OR THAT THE INTERNAL REVENUE
SERVICE LACKS POWER TO LEVY OR COLLECT INCOME TAXES.
See, e.g., Joseph
Adam's The Tax Protestor Hall of Fame. Literally hundreds
of folks have tried these arguments over the last several years.
ALL of these folks have lost, and many of these folks have been
sanctioned or fined for advocating a "frivolous" theory
to the court.
So, let’s assume that you buy some of this hokey material,
and you either don’t declare your income to the IRS, under
whatever reason, or else you hide your money in a "Pure Trust"
or other fictional legal unicorn. The IRS then comes and assesses
taxes and stiff fines on you and garnishes your wages and seizes
all your assets to pay for the assessments and fines. You then
go into court and assert whatever screwy theory you’ve been
sold as your defense against the IRS. Now, you might be (in your
own mind) 100% correct. The problem is that there is a 100% chance
that the court will not agree with you, and you will lose everything
you have.
So, the upshot is: Even if you believe this anti-IRS crap, don’t
use these theories for planning because they have a 100% chance
of failure. These theories are not going to protect your assets,
period, and anyone who tells you differently is a liar. You are
going to get fined and sanctioned, and these fines and sanctions
most likely will not be dischargeable in a bankruptcy proceeding,
so they will follow you for your entire life until paid.
Zero Success Rate
These various constitutional and anti-IRS theories
have had a ZERO success rate. This is evidenced by the following:
| Taxes Saved By Type |
Dollars Saved |
Success Rate |
| Income Taxes Saved |
$0 |
0% |
| Capital Gains Taxes Saved |
$0 |
0% |
| Estate & Probate Taxes Saved |
$0 |
0% |
| TOTAL TAXES SAVED |
$0 |
0% |
|
These theories have an equally non-impressive
track record for thwarting the IRS:
| Action of the IRS |
# Actions Prevented |
Success Rate |
| IRS Seizure of Property |
0 |
0% |
| IRS Sales of Property |
0 |
0% |
| IRS Garnishment on Wages |
0 |
0% |
| Criminal Prosecution for Tax Evasion |
0 |
0% |
| TOTAL ACTIONS PREVENTED |
0 |
0% |
|
Is this really something you want to use
for tax planning or to hide your assets behind? If so, then you
need to get a refund on that lobotomy. The fact is that these theories
have not been successful in even a single case and there
is no reason to believe that they will ever
be successful.
U.S. v. Long -- The Dead Sea Scroll of
Tax Protestors
Tax protestors will ALWAYS mention the case of U.S. v. Lloyd
Long as the "victory" which "proves" that
income taxes don't have to be paid. The truth:
-
First -- Long lost his civil case and was
still liable for his taxes. The case the protestors
stupidly refer to is Long's criminal case for tax
evasion, which he won on, essentially, the dubious theory
that he was too dumb to understand that he had to pay taxes.
But Long -- like so many others -- completely failed to prove
that he wasn't liable for his taxes.
-
Second -- In every case since Long the tax protestors
have lost. They have had NO victories since then,
and can't point to any, (not that Long can really even be
characterized as a victory since he lost his battle to prove
he wasn't liable for taxes). So if the Long case is precedent
for anything, which is doubtful, it sure isn't very good precedent
because NO SUBSEQUENT COURT HAS RELIED ON THE LONG
CASE FOR THE ABSURD PROPOSITION THAT THERE IS NO LIABILITY
FOR TAXES.
NOTE: By like token, we often get hate e-mail from tax protestors
who send us cases from around the turn of the century (i.e.,
before the 16th Amendment authorized the income tax) or from
the 1930s and 1940s (i.e., before the modern IRS code). Apparently,
they can't figure out that LAWS CHANGE. And they NEVER send
us cases from this decade -- the reason being that every case
from this decade (and the last, for that matter) has been a
loser for tax protestors.
So, if someone mentions "U.S. v. Long" to you as justification
why you should not pay your tax -- RUN!!! If Long is their basis,
then they have no basis, period the end.
Arguments that "Others Aren't
Paying Taxes, Either"
Tax protestor materials have wild quotes that there are "40
million" nonfilers, and correctly attribute this figures
to the IRS. What they don't tell you is that most of the nonfilers
eventually file, or are defunct corporations and trusts which
have a tax ID number and haven't reported for years, dead persons
who haven't been taken off the rolls, etc. After you sift
through the figures you will see that the actual number of individual
nonfilers is very low, believed to be less than 10,000 per year,
and not so large a number that the IRS can't eventually chase
them all. And many of these are persons in very low wage jobs
-- i.e., immigrant farm workers, etc. -- whom the IRS often determines
isn't worth their time to chase.
Somewhat humorously, in several cases where the IRS has gone
after promoters of "Don't File" schemes, it was determined
that the promoter -- while advocating not filing returns -- had
been filing their returns all along. This really isn't
surprising, since most of the promoters will secretly confide
that they really don't believe these theories either, but it makes
them good money.
Don’t Be A Sucker
As shown above, these wacky theories can not and will not give
you legitimate tax savings or otherwise protect your assets from
the IRS. So why buy them? The fact is that the sale of these materials
is nothing more-or-less than a scam, just like those books which
tell people how to guess which numbers will next be picked at the
lottery (and about as accurate). If you buy these materials, you
are a sucker and you've been already scammed. Don't now make the
mistake of following through on the advice, as about as likely as
not you're likely to end up in prison on charges of tax evasion.
Links to Proof of Falsity of Theories
We are not in the business of disputing these stupid Constitutional
theories -- which isn't hard to do, but instead we leave that to
others. The following several (there are more) well-researched non-government
private websites demonstrate the falsity of these wacky anti-IRS
theories and you should refer to them:
Our Tax Protestor Theories De-Bunked Page
Daniel B. Evans' The Tax Protestor FAQ -- http://evans-legal.com/
dan/ tpfaq.html
Falgoust's Tax Protestor Myths -- http://www.geocities.com/
NapaValley/ 3578 /taxmyth.html
Joseph G. Adams' Tax Protestor Hall of Fame
-- http://politicalhobbyist.com/
debunked/
Bob Sommers' The Tax Protestor Movement: Proof that P.T. Barnum
was Right -- http://www.taxprophet.com/
hot/ feb96.html
Bob Sommers' The Tax Protestor Movement: Still Batting Zero
-- http://www.taxprophet.com/
hot/ June98.html
Don’t Contact Us
For some reason, people feel compelled to call us or send us e-mail
to argue about the legitimacy of these theories. Well don’t,
because we just don’t care. As shown above,
IT DOESN’T MATTER whether you are right or
wrong because even if you are right (you're not) these theories
aren’t going to help you anyhow, since no court will recognize
these theories and they will not stop the IRS from levying taxes,
fines, and sanctions, or from seizing your property. The only
thing which matters to us is whether or not stuff works, and these
theories have proven "in spades" that they don't.
Visit Our Tax Protestor
Theories De-Bunked Page
Visit the Quatloos! Cyber-Museum of Scams &
Frauds
Tax Protestor Gallery
Know of other court opinions where these wacko theories
were pitched? Send them to us by our
online form -- we always enjoy a good laugh!
Check
out some of the more Infamous Tax Protestors in our Quatloser Gallery
