(bolding added).The evidence shows that the organized tax protestor group is growing rapidly. It has spread eastward from the West Coast and is adding substantially and wrongfully to the workload of the federal courts. The goal of UTAP [the "United Tax Action Patriots"] is to do away with federal income taxation by making the burden so heavy on the IRS and the federal courts that the government will have to yield. It is their philosophy that the Sixteenth Amendment was improperly passed and therefore invalid, and that anyone attempting to enforce the income tax laws is violating the rights of the taxpayers and should be treated as a criminal.
The organization meets on a regular basis for the purpose of teaching its members the various and sundry methods of obstructing the Internal Revenue Service. Many of their speakers travel about the country to appear on the programs at these meetings. The members are told at these meetings that they should file protest type tax returns, commonly known as "porth" returns, containing only the name and address of the taxpayer; and that they should object to the completion of the form on various and sundry constitutional grounds. They are also instructed to file W-4 statements claiming as many as 99 exemptions to avoid the withholding of any tax from their salaries. Since such returns will obviously result in the matter being referred to the Audit Division of the Internal Revenue Service, they are further instructed that upon being requested to appear for an audit they should resist, if possible; and that if forced to appear, they should make every effort to disrupt such proceedings to the point of making a farce of them. They are told that in all cases they should avoid giving any correct or meaningful answers to questions propounded to them. If their actions ultimately result in court proceedings, they are to take whatever action is necessary to delay, obstruct and disrupt all such proceedings. Their philosophy involves the subversion, not only of the Internal Revenue Service, but also of the federal judicial system by tying up its courts in fruitless proceedings involving tax protestors.
Oh, wait a minute. I guess this report might be a little dated now......... It's from Ex parte Tammen, 438 F. Supp. 349, 78-1 U.S. Tax Cas. (CCH) paragr. 9302 (N.D. Tex. 1977) (footnotes omitted).
Gee, not much has changed in 31 years, I guess.
By the way, Ex parte Tammen is the earliest case I have found (so far) that mentions a Sixteenth Amendment invalidity argument, although that issue was not actually decided by the court in this case. Ex parte Tammen pre-dates the court cases mentioning Bill Benson's version of this frivolous crap and the cases mentioning the frivolous "Ohio was not a state until 1953" version of this crap.
Has anyone here ever heard the term "porth return" anywhere else, as used to describe tax returns containing tax protester arguments? (Remember the cases involving Mr. Porth?)
EDIT: I have corrected the style of the case as shown above; it's "Ex parte Tammen" (not "In re Tammen").
