Rochester, NY Newspaper Prints More Unoriginal, Unresearched "Tax Protester" Bologna ...

homework is damning, indeed. ICE

********************************************************************

From: "Joe S." <conservative@enter.net>

Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2001 5:46 PM

Subject: Fwd: Link to D&C Article

Ice,

I forwarded you a direct link to this article earlier. Here is the original from my friend. Amazing how all the media are in sync describing us as tax protestors, [a term declared unlawful by Congress} yet never citing a single law that contradicts what we are saying. How easy it is to say we're all crazy without having to back their opinions up with facts. And they always cite the flawed arguments, never the legally on-point ones that they cannot answer. Lastly, for good measure, they interview tax accountants or tax attorneys, people who have a vested financial interest in the status quo. Their modus operandi is so painfully obvious it's pathetic. I'll leave you with an interesting quote forwarded to me recently by a friend.

"A really efficient totalitarian state would be one in which the all-powerful executive of political bosses and their army of managers control a population of slaves who do not have to be coerced, because they love their servitude." Aldous Huxley - Brave New World

********************************************************************

>http://www.rochesternews.com/0409story4.html

Batavia activist takes on the IRS

By Jay Tokasz

Democrat and Chronicle

(Monday, April 9, 2001) -- Leonard Roberto was as skeptical as anybody when a friend asserted that the federal income tax is illegal.

The conversation three years ago, nonetheless, spurred the western New York entrepreneur to do some research. He perused the Internet for more information and read the U.S. tax code. He talked with lawyers, accountants, other small-business owners and even a former IRS agent -- finding nothing to convince him that he was required to pay income taxes.

So last May, he stopped. He doesn't plan on filing a return this year. In January, he went a step further, refusing to withhold taxes on earnings by his three employees.

"You're not paying your fair share when you pay income tax. You're paying extortion. All of the taxes associated with income are illegal," said Roberto, who owns Batavia Enclosures in Genesee County. A resident of Akron, Erie County, he ran unsuccessfully in 1998 for a state Senate seat.

Tax avoiders have existed for decades, but Roberto is part of an increasingly vocal group of citizens openly challenging the federal government's authority to collect taxes.

Roberto has written to the Internal Revenue Service to explain why he will no longer withhold taxes. In February and March, a group of income-tax objectors paid for full-page advertisements in USA Today and the Washington Times. And today, Roberto will join more than 1,000 people protesting in Washington, D.C., outside the IRS headquarters.

"A lot of people are upset that the government refuses to address these very serious issues about the IRS's authority to collect taxes," said Robert L. Schulz, president of We The People Foundation For Constitutional Education Inc., which has organized several meetings of tax protesters.

All of the activity has piqued the interest of Congress: the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday listened as several people warned that the IRS wasn't doing enough to pursue tax cheats. "Of great concern are those promoters who are encouraging employers not to withhold income and payroll taxes for their employees. These employees are put in a terrible position -- having to choose between the tax man and their jobs," said Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, chairman of the committee. "That's not right and should be a top enforcement priority for the IRS."

The IRS has issued a consumer alert asking people to watch for employers who fail to withhold taxes.

"We are pursuing these cases to uphold the law and make sure everyone pays their share," said IRS commissioner Charles O. Rossotti. Individuals and companies who fail to file or pay employment taxes could face fines and jail sentences.

At Batavia Enclosures, which supplies custom-fabricated sheet metal components for industrial use, Roberto said two of his employees encouraged him to stop withholding.

"They don't argue when I give them their whole paycheck," he said.

A third employee continues to pay taxes on his own, said Roberto, who would not reveal his employees' names.

Many income tax objectors argue that the 16th Amendment -- which created the income tax -- was ratified fraudulently in 1913 and conflicts with other amendments. They also say the tax code does not require Americans to have income tax withheld.

The IRS sent Roberto a response letter last month saying that he must withhold taxes from his employees. The letter, however, isn't enough to change Roberto's mind. He said he wants his case hashed out in U.S. Supreme Court.

Tax law experts say the arguments of objectors are absurd and frivolous and have been shot down before.

"The law is really clear," said Sheldon D. Pollack, an associate professor of economics at the University of Delaware. Pollack also maintains a tax law practice in Philadelphia.

He said objectors' arguments have "about a zero chance in the universe of succeeding."

"It escapes me what the logic is," added Robert A. Green, professor of law at Cornell Law School.

"People have been making that argument since the income tax was adopted. None of them have ever gotten anywhere in the courts, nor should they have."

Whether the arguments of people like Roberto and Schulz are catching on is unclear. We The People Foundation's extensive Web site includes the names of five business owners, including Roberto, who have stopped withholding taxes from employees' paychecks.

"Right now, these are still fringe movements," said Green. "It just seems to have become much more visible . . . and unfortunately, the IRS has not been able to clamp down on it quickly."

The collection agency is still struggling with the 1998 Restructuring and Reform Act -- enacted after congressional hearings revealed abuses by agents. Since then, audits and revenue from IRS enforcement have been down sharply.

Tax law experts say the fewer audits may have emboldened some tax protesters.

"This has created the mentality that, 'We can get away with this,' " said Green. "There's always been this sort of underground tax-revolt movement. Up until now they haven't had any kind of following, because people knew they would get in trouble."

Employees at companies where taxes are not withheld should know that they remain liable for those taxes, said Green. "At some level, the income tax is very simple -- you owe it. Nothing is more clear than wages," he said.

On the Web:

Tax enforcement sites:

www.irs.gov

www.treas.gov/irs/ci

Tax protest sites:

www.givemeliberty.org

www.taxgate.com