It's probably Brent's sidekick in crime - Lee Parker.
Cox News Service
January 25, 2002 Friday
SECTION: Domestic; Non-Washington; General News Item
HEADLINE: Seminars promise freedom from taxes, but the IRS disagrees
BYLINE: Lori Cumpston
DATELINE: GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.
Roby Nichols of Grand Junction has worked his entire life to obtain the few things he has: a double-wide mobile home, acreage for his horses and a comfortable life.
"There are times, when like every other citizen in this country, I feel like I am being overburdened," said Nichols, 70, who is retired from the Navy. "I'm an elder senior citizen, I am alone in this country, I am alone in the world."
Nichols lost his wife of 48 years last January after a lengthy illness. He was looking for a way to protect his assets for his two sons.
Mike Chambers, 43, of Mack, Colo., was looking for a way to legally drive without having a driver's license.
His license was revoked for nonpayment of child support. He has been on disability since August of 2000 after his hand was cut off in an oil rig accident.
"I understand that if I would have run over somebody, but this is ridiculous, " Chambers said.
Chambers' right to bear arms also was taken away after he was convicted of growing marijuana in his basement.
He now runs an international bank debenturing business. "Two of the companies that I am involved in are trusts," Chambers said. "They make so much money, it's almost like printing money. It's the same thing the rich people do all day long."
Enter Brent Emory Johnson, the founder of Freedom Bound International. The Oregon-based company boasts of ways to free yourself from government regulation.
Johnson and his partner, Lee Parker, were in Palisade, Colo., Dec. 8 teaching seminar participants, including Nichols and Chambers, how to stop paying income and Social Security taxes, eliminate property taxes, set up common law pure trusts to protect assets and stop the Internal Revenue Service from seizing their property.
Seminar participants paid $75 at the door and signed a waiver stating they did not work for the government or were a law enforcement officer before being allowed to enter the room.
Participants were instructed to pay in cash or money order only and to leave the "pay to" line blank for products and services they purchased.
Johnson's activities go way beyond seminars.
Johnson, who was in the Montrose, Colo., area for a brief time during the mid-'90s, maintains a "boycott," "traitors" and "violations" list on his Web site. Some of the more recognizable names making the list include former Montrose Police Chief Gerald Hoey, the Montrose Police Department and former Seventh Judicial District Attorney Michael Stern.
Johnson's allegations include threats to arrest citizens for driving without a driver's license and a refusal to prosecute complaints filed by citizens against members of the police force _ even colluding to cover up a murder by one of their own.
The "murder" he is referring to is the death of Carol Thompson. The Montrose woman died in June of '95 after her car collided with a speeding police car.
Johnson likens the anti-government movement to a war.
"We are in a war for our liberty," he said. "People in government, either intentionally or by following higher-ups, control people. Nothing is more sacred than our freedom."
"In this country, we the people are really and truly the nobility," Johnson said. "Government is our servant and government has no authority to act in any manner that violates our rights."
Johnson said the biggest myth about government is that government is our friend. He travels the country preaching his gospel under the guise of freedom seminars.
"I will teach you that if you work in the private sector, you do not have to pay the income tax and that doing so is an unpatriotic thing to do," Johnson said. "The reason I made the statement is because 100 percent of the income tax goes to the Federal Reserve and through them to the International Monetary Fund _ not one penny goes to any government services."
Johnson is not the first to strike that nerve.
John Harrison, a special agent with the IRS Criminal Investigation Division, said the Western Slope is a prime target for scam artists who prey on baby boomers and retirees because they are in possession of the nation's accumulated wealth.
Scams to hit the area in recent years include foreign debenture bonds, interest-bearing bonds that claim to give the investor millions of dollars in interest over and above the principal amount that was invested; defunct railroad bonds where the interest and principal are calculated for a tidy sum when cashed in but the bonds can't be cashed in; and untaxing packages where the public is encouraged to invest in domestic or foreign trusts for the sole purpose of tax evasion.
Harrison would not comment on whether Johnson or his company was under investigation by the IRS.
"One of the first victims in a fraud scam is the fraudster himself," Harrison said. "They've got to believe what it is they're pitching to the public. They reshape, reframe or redefine their view of the laws and they give their own interpretations ... those are not legally binding. We look to the courts and we look to the law for that type of interpretation."
With the April 15 tax deadline looming, millions of Americans are looking for ways to reduce their tax liability, either legally or illegally.
According to a recent national survey by ABC News, 38 percent of those polled said they trusted Washington to do the right thing "when it comes to handling social issues like the economy, health care, Social Security and education."
In an effort to crack down on the number of nonfilers, the IRS launched an aggressive campaign to debunk the myths being circulated by unscrupulous promoters.
Here are a few of the more common myths, according to the IRS:
Paying taxes is voluntary.
The use of the word "voluntary" means that taxpayers have the right to calculate their own taxes and file a return rather than have the government do it. It doesn't mean that a taxpayer can ignore the rules without paying a penalty.
The 16th Amendment was never properly ratified.
Income tax opponents argue that the 16th Amendment to the United States Constitution was not properly ratified, making federal income tax laws unconstitutional. They also contend that the 16th Amendment does not authorize a direct nonapportioned federal income tax on United States citizens. Federal courts have rejected both arguments.
Wages, tips and other compensation received for personal services are not income.
This argument asserts that wages, tips and other compensation received for personal services are not income because there is no taxable gain when a person exchanges labor for money. According to federal law, gross income means all income from whatever source derived and includes compensation for services.
Conflicting definitions of the word "taxpayer."
Some people claim that they have rejected citizenship in the United States in favor of state citizenship, relieving them of their federal income tax obligations. Another variation of this argument is that a person is a free-born citizen of a particular state and was never a citizen of the United States. The 14th Amendment establishes simultaneous state and federal citizenship. The courts routinely have rejected arguments by individuals who claim that they are not citizens of the United States but are solely citizens of a sovereign state.
Untaxing packages or trusts provide a way to permanently avoid filing returns or paying taxes.
Promoters teach individuals how to remove themselves from the federal tax system on the basis that payment of federal income taxes is voluntary, that there is no requirement for a person to file federal income tax returns and that there are legal ways to not pay income taxes. Promoters selling these schemes have been slapped with criminal penalties. Taxpayers who have followed their advice have been subject to civil penalties for failure to pay their taxes or file a return.
The Internal Revenue Service is not an agency of the United States.
This argument states that the IRS is a private corporation because it was not created by positive law, meaning an act of Congress. The argument has been rejected by the courts.
The law allows the courts to assess a $25,000 penalty if a taxpayer instituted a proceeding primarily for delay, a position is groundless or a taxpayer unreasonably fails to pursue administrative remedies.
"When the IRS catches up with them, and they will, the taxes are still going to be due," Harrison said. "Secondly, there is going to be interest and penalties on those taxes and potentially a civil fraud penalty, which is an additional 75 percent of the principal amount due. They could also face criminal prosecution which would involve fines and imprisonment."
Ties to Patriot Movement
America's distrust of government has fueled the formation of grassroots organizations like Freedom Bound International.
The movement has an unlikely ally: a man named Joe Banister.
Banister was a badge-wearing, gun-toting special agent for the IRS. He resigned from the Criminal Investigation Division in 1999 after learning about what he called, "serious constitutional questions relating to the federal income tax and the federal banking and monetary systems."
In Banister's letter of resignation to the IRS, he wrote: "I used to believe that the Internal Revenue Service, as an agency, 'scrupulously observes taxpayer rights.' I used to believe that the Internal Revenue Service administers the federal income tax fairly and legally. I used to believe that the Internal Revenue Service would not knowingly trample on the rights of innocent Americans just to preserve the income tax system. It is with great sadness that I say I no longer hold any of those beliefs."
Since leaving his post at the IRS, Banister has launched a Web site and a career as a public speaker.
Johnson appears in the Anti-Defamation League's Rogue's Gallery of prominent people promoting the Sovereign Citizen Movement.
He hosts his own weekly show on the Truth Radio Network, which is broadcast to over 8 million listeners, according to Johnson's Web site.
The extremist movement dates back to the '70s. It's part of a broader movement known as the Patriot Movement. It has roots that can be traced to the Posse Comitatus, whose followers advocate getting rid of virtually all existing government in the United States, which they deem illegitimate, and restoring an idealized minimalist government that never actually existed, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
Johnson openly boasts that his company is not licensed. He cites a Supreme Court ruling that he says gives him the right to earn a living free from government control.
Freedom Bound International operates as a pure trust organization. It gains its anonymity through what Johnson calls a corporation sole, which is a statutorily recognized fictitious entity. Corporation soles are not corporations, rather they're not-for-profit religious societies fully exempt from taxation and regulation, according to Johnson.
The Oregon Secretary of State's Office, Klamath Falls County Assessor and the city of Klamath Falls had no record of Freedom Bound International. The company lists a Klamath Falls street address outside the city limits. The Oregon Department of Revenue declined to comment.
Johnson also failed to secure necessary permits for conducting seminars in Colorado.
"I don't conduct a business," Johnson said. "The government does not have control over everything that happens."
Johnson was raided by the IRS three years ago. Details of the raid were not available because the search warrant in the case was sealed.
"The Sovereign Citizen Movement is very active in western Colorado," said Mark Pitcavage, the national director of fact-finding for the Anti-Defamation League and a historian who specializes in the history of right-wing extremism in contemporary America.
Pitcavage said the movement is mostly a domestic problem but has migrated north into Canada over the last two years.
Followers of the movement base their beliefs on common law courts or the general courts of the people. Common law is not a recognized form of law by the courts.
Johnson teaches people how to get their lives back from government control by revoking Social Security numbers, driver's licenses, license plates, voter registrations and declaring themselves sovereign citizens.
The Mesa County Clerk and Recorder's Office reported one case in the recent past of someone wanting to vote without being registered. The individual was referred to the Colorado Secretary of State's Office. Area law enforcement had no encounters with people claiming to be sovereign citizens.
Johnson also opposes direct taxation, such as income, Social Security and personal property taxes.
In his book, "The American Sovereign: How to Live Free From Government Regulation," Johnson tells readers to be prepared to defend their property rights if government officials try to seize their property.
He writes, "Use violence as a last resort, but be prepared to use it if you must."
Believers in the Common Law Movement often resort to paper terrorism, or the filing of fraudulent legal documents as well as the misuse of legitimate documents in an attempt to clog up the court system and harass public officials, law enforcement officers and private citizens who oppose them.
Colorado is one of several states to pass a law making the filing of groundless documents invalid. The law reads that state and local officials may accept or reject a filing if they believe it to be frivolous. Anyone whose real or personal property is affected by the filing of a frivolous lien or document can petition the district court in the county where the document was filed or the Federal District Court in Colorado for an order to show cause why the document should be declared invalid. Frivolous liens or documents are declared invalid after 30 days unless ordered enforced by the court.
"I don't want to give the impression that every member of this movement is a time bomb waiting to explode," Pitcavage said, "but this is a movement that has clear links with criminal activity, including violent criminal activity."
The last decade saw deadly standoffs at Ruby Ridge, Idaho and Waco, Texas. More recent troubles include standoffs by the Montana Freemen and the Republic of Texas.
"They got the right to the guns and the right to shoot you," Chambers said of government agents. "I've been in trouble all my life. It's a risk I'm willing to take, not only willing to take, but willing to take it gladly."
