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190 lines
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190 lines
7.0 KiB
Plaintext
** This is an interesting article which appeared in Federal Times
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Magazine a few years ago. This article has some good information, but
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it also shows how the IRS and the Media work together to spread fear
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and misinformation.
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FEDERAL TIMES
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JUNE 3, 1991
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The Independent Newspaper
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For Those in Public Service
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One Man Who Refuses to Pay Taxes
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NASA Engineer in "Voluntary Non-Compliance" Since 1984
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By Anne Laurent
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Have you ever looked at your pay stub and dreamed what it would
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be like to take hone the before-tax amount?
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Doug Ross doesn't dream about it, he does it. And he doesn't pay
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the income taxes later, either.
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Ross, 35, is a GS-13 electrical engineer with NASA's Goddard
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Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD. Ross says he take home as much
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as most GS-15s because he has neither filed nor paid income taxes
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since 1984.
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"The system is based on voluntary compliance, and I stopped
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volunteering," Ross said.
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Not only has he stopped paying taxes, but Ross is encouraging
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others, including other federal employees, not to file returns or pay
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taxes, either. Since 1989, Ross has held seminars on not paying taxes
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every other Saturday from September to April.
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Recently, Ross said he spoke to a lunchtime crowd in an
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auditorium at Goddard, where the Black History Club presented the
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seminar.
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Larry Watson, Goddard general counsel, said there are 40 private
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groups operating at Goddard with authority to use the center's
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facilities to promote the welfare of employees. The center would not
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try to control the speech of any of the groups, Watson said.
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"If people have control over their financial resources over their
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financial resources they are essentially slaves and can't prosper in
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capitalist society," Ross said.
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Ross said his inspiration not to pay taxes came when he saw Irwin
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Schiff (*) on television. Schiff counsels citizens not to pay and has
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written books on the subject. "How Anyone Can Stop Paying Income Tax"
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was the title that first caught Ross's eye.
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"I called the IRS and asked questions about it, and they hung up
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on me. I thought, okay, when the IRS hangs up on you, you must be
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asking the right questions," said Ross.
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Ross said he has received innumerable notices of tax liability
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and penalties from the IRS, but his salary keeps on coming.
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"They send you notices, but, like I tell people, I get junk mail
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every day. Once I stopped filing they sent form letters asking me
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why. But we tell people how to respond: "I have no tax liability.'"
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Ross said.
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So how does he get away with it?
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Ross said he simply filed a W-4 form with NASA saying he was
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exempt from taxes, and they have not been withheld since.
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"When I started, people I work with would say, 'I'll see you in
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jail.' Now when I tell people I saved another $18,000 this year, I'm
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single and I make over $50,000 a year...I am a government employee.
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If I was violating any law my agency would be an accomplice," Ross
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said.
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"Also, I'm the easiest type of person to get to. All they would
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have to say is 'stop the checks.'"
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In fact, through the tax system is based on voluntary compliance,
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citizens are legally bound to pay income taxes if they meet the filing
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standards, and employers are required to withhold taxes, according to
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Frank Keith, IRS spokesman.
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Only those who had no tax liability for the prior year and expect
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none in the current year are candidates for exemption, Keith said.
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Further, employers are supposed to send IRS the W-4s of employees
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claiming exemption at a certain salary level, or above, and those
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employees claiming an excessive number of withholding allowances.
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IRS determines whether W-4s claiming exemption should be honored
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and informs the employer. Employers who fail to withhold may face
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penalties, Keith said.
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"The current system is described as voluntary. You complete the
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tax form, no one tells you what the tax is. Are you legally required
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to pay? Yes," Keith added.
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Thats where Doug Ross disagrees.
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"It's either voluntary or it's not. The attorney general doesn't
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say criminal statutes are voluntary. You don't hear of traffic laws
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being based on voluntary compliance.
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"Voluntary means done of your own volition without coercion or
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legal obligation. No one forces the IRS to say it's voluntary.
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"You don't figure out your own sales, taxes, real estate taxes,
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property taxes. You're not required to figure them out, and it's
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under your control because you can choose whether or not to buy stuff
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or own property," Ross said.
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Nonetheless, Ross is under IRS investigation.
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He said the last IRS report of tax examination changer he
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remembers looking at said he owed $15,000 or $16,000 in 1989.
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SEE TAXES, PAGE 17
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TAXES
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From Page 3
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Keith said citizens who are liable for taxes and fail to file
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face civil prosecution. The IRS can assess taxes using the
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information it has about a person's salary level from W-2 forms and
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other income reporting forms from financial institutions.
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IRS can levy bank accounts, seize property and take other
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collection actions against those who fail to pay taxes. If the agency
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determines a willful, egregious intent not to pay, it can refer to
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case to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution, Keith said.
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Though the IRS hasn't taken Ross to court, he has a lawsuit
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pending against the agency in New York district court. He is fighting
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a summons the agency issued against one of his financial institutions
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headquartered in New York.
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Ross, who calls himself a "tax system educator," said the best
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proof of the correctness of his position is his own experience.
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"The best proof is that I work for the federal government, and
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I'm still getting paid," he said.
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In fact, Ross said everything he tells people is straight from
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government documents. And Ross is so sure of himself, he plans to
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challenge his agency next.
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"I got a [financial] award for a technical brief, and they took
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out tax withholding. I'm going to jump on them," he said.
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Goddard's Watson said he could not discuss the specifics of Ross'
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case because the Privacy Act forbids it. He did say he has personally
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informed Ross he disagrees with Ross' position on taxes.
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Goddard reports employee W-4s to the IRS, Watson said, and it is
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up to the tax agency to take action.
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"We have done everything we believe we can," Watson said.
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Watson also said to his knowledge Goddard has not been instructed
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to take any "unusual action" regarding an employee W-4s.
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** Irwin Schiff is the Author of "How Anyone Can Stop Paying Income
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Taxes" A little note, because he published this book and 'embarrassed
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' the government he was thrown in jail at a "RIGGED" court hearing. A
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txt file will be available soon.
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These files are free to all, the Sixth Column provides these copied
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documents at no charge to the public. In an effort to "Educate" the
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public to what the Law actually means. All information is duplicated
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EXACTLY as in the original.
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Lestat De Lioncourt
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The Sixth Column
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