From: Gary Lee Jeffers <gjeffers@ns.htc.net>
Date: Thu, 21 Mar 1996 19:59:27 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Is the IRS a paper tiger?
Message-ID: <9603190816.AA31419@ns.htc.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


>From STRATEGIC INVESTMENT March 20, 1996

Strategic Investment
1217 St. Paul St.
Baltimore, MD
21202

It is published monthly for US$159 per year for U.S. residents (C$190
for Canadian residents and US$200 for other non-U.S. residents).

 behind the lines -  by Jack Wheeler

                        Is the IRS a paper tiger?

   One definition of a pioneer is a guy with an arrow in his back. So
notice the above headline is a question, not an assertion. But it is
nonetheless a question being asked by a lot of folks these days, from
Bill Archer, Chairman of House Ways & Means, to a number of smart tax
attorneys. The federal tax code has mutated into this gigantically in-
comprehensible Rube Goldberg monstrosity that day by day gets closer to
collapsing under its own weight. Couple that with the fact that the IRS
computer system is about to go belly up. The IRS originally computerized
itself AD HOC, with the regional centers getting various platforms and
software that can't communicate with each other very well. The agency has
now spent over $8 billion on the TSM project to re-computerize, which an
independent review recently concluded is a colossal failure.

   As the IRS teeters on the brink, a fellow named Eddie Kahn has stepped
forward and may be about to push the whole creaking mess over the edge.
He hasn't got an arrow in his back yet, so he might just succeed. Dis-
dainful of "tax protests" such as 5th Amendment or legal tender arguments
that quickly get their advocates behind bars, Eddie looked into the stru-
ture of federal law. When Congress passes a law, codified as a statute,
it then delegates to a regulatory agency the authority to issue the im-
plementing regulations specifiying to whom and under what circumstances
the statute applies. These regulations must, by law, be published in the
Federal Register. Lacking these implementing regulations, the law cannot
be applied and has no force. Well, it turns out that the implementing re-
gulations for IRS' enforcement statutes-things like the requirement to
file a tax return and the authority to place a lien-cannot be found in
the Federal Register. When queried on this, the General Counsel for the
Office of the Federal Register, Michael White, replied in writing, "Our
records indicate that the Internal Revenue Service has not incorporated
by reference in the Federal Register a requirement to make an income tax
return."

   This is starting to get interesting, isn't it? And yes, I see that big
smile on your face. If Eddie is right, the IRS has no assessment autho-
rity, no collection athority to enforce a lien or seize property, no au-
thority to pursue criminal penalties for failure to file a return or make
a false/fraudulent return. I am not at all suggesting you be a pioneer.
But if you should have any difficulty with the lovable folks at the IRS,
you might consider making an appointment to see them in person at their
nearest office, and tell them face to face that you need to see a copy
of the implementing regs published in the Federal Register that show
they have the authority to require you to do what they want. Not one of
the close to a thousand people who, following Eddie's advice, have done
so received a copy-and not one has been further harassed. Better to let
these folks drop out of the system quietly than risk a negative decision
in court, which would be for them an ultimate catastrophe. You can get
more info from Eddie at: 1-800-419-7512.
---------------------------------------------------------------------

                                             PUSH EM BACK! PUSH EM BACK!
                                             WWWAAAYYY  BBBAAACCCK!
                                             BBBEEEAAATTTT  STATE!

                                             Gary Jeffers

P.S. This reminds me of something else that I read a few months ago.
There is a book with the title The Law that Never Was - the 16th
Amendment (this was the title or close) that had a similar affect on
the IRS. I believe it was the SPOTLIGHT that said that when the then
Commissioner of the IRS found that the book was published, he gave
gave instructions that people citing the book in arguments with the IRS
be left alone. The 16th Amendment created the IRS.