Ignore the IRS?

Well that is what a Federal Court says [pdf]:

absent an effort to seek enforcement through a federal court, IRS summonses apply no force to taxpayers, and no consequence whatever can befall a taxpayer who refuses, ignores, or otherwise does not comply with an IRS summons until that summons is backed by a federal court order.

So there you have it. The summons you get from the IRS does not have the force of law. Bob Schultz the defendant in this case is losing his point in court. He wishes to be protected from IRS enforcement efforts. The court will not grant him such protection based on the Government's own case. Bob is losing - he is happy. The IRS is winning - they are not happy campers at all. Go figure.

Bob says that the Department of Justice thinks the "Court's Opinion Threatens Tax System". It very well might. In fact more and more people think so every day.

The IRS chastised the Court for “creating a false impression,” and “misapprehending” and “misunderstanding” and “misstating” and being “inaccurate,” regarding the “consequences that flow from the issuance of an IRS summons.”

Schulz, however, was able to establish that the Court’s opinion is not only true to the related due process rulings of the U.S. Supreme Court, but is entirely consistent with the government’s written and oral arguments before the Court in this instant case.

In other words, the Court hung the IRS on its own petard.

There are some folks who call themselves 861evidence.com who think the Constitution does not allow for a tax on incomes and that the 16th Amendment does not mean what most people think it means. Suprisingly a number of Supreme Court rulings on the subject agree with the 861 folks and not with the govrernment.

Another of the so called "861 folks", Larkin Rose, has been indicted by the government and he couldn't be happier. He has a site called Theft by Deception where he calls the income tax as applied the greatest swindle ever pulled off in the history of the world. Larkin goes on to give what he calls the Truth.

The federal income tax statutes and regulations were designed to be confusing and deceptive. Due to the intentionally complex web woven by the architects of this deception, even after the "legalese" had been fully deciphered (which occurred only a few short years ago), it was still a challenge to make the truth widely accessible and understandable.

Getting the public to pay attention to a message this unconventional is nearly impossible if it cannot be explained—and proven—in a short "sound bite." So even after proof and extensive supporting evidence were publicly available (for example, in Larken Rose’s "Taxable Income" report, which can be downloaded here), the truth was still in a form that took significant time and effort to digest and comprehend. Because of that, until now only a very small percentage of the population has had a glimpse at the truth.

At last the truth has been put into a form that is not only thoroughly documented and solidly reasoned, but is also readily understandable to the average citizen. Using the medium of video, concepts can be explained in a way that is far more understandable than is possible using the written word alone.

Well do some research of your own and then decide. If the folks saying this stuff are right I'd expect a financial panic of huge proportions as the money flows get realigned. Now if we could only get the drug war straightened out as well I'd be one very happy camper.

Hat tip: Reason Magazine