EVERY WHICH WAY BUT LOOSE

Since August of 2003, when the revelations of CtC were first published, the IRS has been engaged in a desperate struggle to regain its hold of fear and confusion over those now equipped with an understanding of the long-hidden secrets of the "income" tax, and to stop that understanding from spreading.  We have seen, for instance:

• two revampings of the Form 4852 during that time-- both attempting to obscure the scope of that form's proper use;

• a carefully inaccurate allusion to a typical CtC-educated filing sit as #1 on the IRS "Dirty Dozen" list for a year (then quietly get relocated to #5 and then #7 as CtC-educated filings merely increased, and continued to prevail, making the misdirection of the listing too obvious for the agency's comfort);

• Mis-directional ploys such as the "Questionnaire" discussed here;

• a multitude of constantly tweaked agency "FAQ" and "Truth About Frivolous Argument" publications seeking to instill doubts about what is taught about the law in CtC in the minds of careless readers, worthy of attention only in order to enjoy the agency's entertaining efforts to imply what it cannot simply declare, but wishes a naive reader to take from the reading.

We have also seen a series of transformations in the means by which the occasional loose-cannon IRS staffer attempts to persuade a CtC-educated filer to stand down.

For a while, fairly brazen declarations that a filing meets the statutory definition of a "frivolous return" was the popular approach.  Brazen or not, of course, these notices were always mere exercises in intimidation, which careful analysis readily revealed to be fallacious.

Everyone must come to his or her own conclusions, but consider: The notices strive hard to give the impression that the tax agency can unilaterally disregard the target's filing, and can tack on a penalty as well.  BUT they say that the agency will generously refrain from imposing the penalty, if only the target withdraws the original filed testimony and replaces it with what the agency wants attested-to (which, remember, the target is simultaneously being told would be legally meaningless, because the agency can unilaterally disregard that original testimony at will...).

What is being implied is that, either way, the amount of tax owed is going to end up being whatever the agency dictates-- the filer's return notwithstanding.  The only optional element is the additional penalty, which the agency is offering to forego out of the goodness of its heart.

Well, if this is true..., WHY SEND THIS "LETTER" AT ALL?  If the agency has the power to unilaterally make these decisions, there is absolutely no point to asking the target to do anything!

If the agency (or its client) has the power it is suggesting, its correspondent would simply get a notice along the following lines: "Dear Mr. XXX: We have calculated your tax liability for 200X, and converted $XXX of your withheld property in escrow to our ownership.  An invoice for the outstanding balance [if any] is attached.  Your filed return was frivolous, and provided us with the authority to add a $XXX penalty to your tax liability.  We have [added or foregone] this penalty." 

After all, if the agency has the unilateral authority it is attempting to suggest that it does, why would it care whether another return was filed?  (Readers of 'Cracking the Code...' will know the answer to that, of course.)

Instead, the agency DOES make this "threatening" request; and/or "proposes" calculated liabilities to which it asks its target's agreement in order to have effect (see examples of this here).  Sometimes it begins sending endless "levy notices" to the unbending filer (which notices, insofar as they concern years when only accurate, educated returns have been filed, only allege liability for a penalty, and not for any tax related to the year in question-- even when the target has received a complete refund of every penny withheld or paid-in in connection with that year...).  The sum of all of this is, of course, that the agency DOESN'T have the unilateral authority which it suggests that it does, and where accurate, educated filings are concerned, its "frivolous letters" are just exactly that: frivolous letters.

Bothke v. Terry, 713 F. 2d 1405, at 1414 (1983)

Nonetheless, as more and more warriors have forcefully pointed out to more and more IRS workers that inappropriately sending such threatening-looking letters cuts very close to the criminal under a variety of federal and state laws, the tax agency has scrambled to adjust.  For one thing, the "frivolous" notices have been carefully and repeatedly modified toward ever-more obvious legal meaninglessness, in order to deflect potential charges of constructive fraud, witness tampering, extortion, etc.

At the same time, these legally dicey threatening-sounding notices have been largely replaced by a comical kind of delay tactic, in which the agency sits on a filing in silence, and when contacted with an inquiry to the effect of "Where the h*ll is my property?!", responds with a claim that the agency can't find the filer's return and a request that the offended filer please send a fresh copy, or a series of "We need 45 days to look into the matter-- please be patient-- don't call us, we'll call you..." notices.

In this series of articles, we take a close look at many of these gimmicks, ploys and dodges in order to accurately perceive their true character, and take in and appreciate the underlying message, which is that efforts like these are engaged in only when the actor has  no real basis for its actions.

Enjoy.

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EVERY WHICH WAY BUT LOOSE- XXXIII

In May of 2007, CtC Warriors Joan and Lowell Thompson were faced with a bluster and bs attack by the IRS, which sought to intimidate these good Americans into perjuring themselves and declaring their non-federally-connected receipts to be so connected, and therefore taxable as "income", even after their testimony to the contrary had already been filed:

  Joan and Lowell, firm in their commitment to the rule of law, stood fast:

 

It took nearly a year, but eventually Joan and Lowell got the "surrender" by the agency to which they were entitled (and in a form we've not seen before):

 

 

It'd be nice if these bureaucrats would just forget about all these shameful ploys as soon as they recognize that they're dealing with CtC-educated Americans, instead of clinging to the hope that maybe they've stumbled upon the odd one or two that might let themselves be intimidated into collapse, wouldn't it?

 

Someday...

 

In the meantime, though,

 

Watch out for that robot!  I THINK IT'S GOING TO EXPLODE!!

By the way, this isn't the only time Lowell and Joan have had to deal with this nonsense.  They had the same ridiculous ploy tried on them the next year as well, this time for 2006.  See how THAT went on page 28 of the ever-growing Victories collection.

 

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Isn't it too bad everyone hasn't done like Joan and Lowell, and read CtC-- the exclusive source of the complete, accurate and liberating truth about the "income" tax?  You can help change that, and thereby help transform America.  Click here to learn how (while you still can-- see below...).

 

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THE PRICE OF BEING RIGHT Corrupt elements in the federal government have tried four times over the last five years to keep the liberating truth revealed in CtC from the eyes of the American people.  Now, as another "tax season" approaches, they're trying again.   MAKE YOUR DONATION NOW  to help preserve the Rule of Law   Click here to learn about this latest effort to keep YOU in helpless, exploited ignorance, and about how you can help thwart it.   Or, if you already know what's going on, just CLICK HERE to donate.   Please do your part!!   "Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated." -Thomas Paine