A noted "tax honesty" organization says it still plans to hold a previously scheduled forum to discuss the legality of the income tax, even though its lone congressional sponsor, as well as officials from the Internal Revenue Service and the Justice Department, have reneged on pledges to participate.

Robert Schulz, chairman of We the People Foundation, said today he would still sponsor the forum next month in Washington, D.C., even though Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md., backed out of his pledge to host the hearings last weekend.

The forum, set for Feb. 27-28, was originally scheduled for Sept. 24-25, 2001, but was canceled in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Schulz' declaration comes after WorldNetDaily disclosed that the Justice Department, in a letter sent to Bartlett last November, said neither it nor the Internal Revenue Service would participate in the forum – reversing a July 20 pledge by Assistant Attorney General Dan Bryant to participate in the congressional-style hearing.

Furthermore, according to Schulz, Bartlett failed to inform him and other forum organizers that DOJ and the IRS had backed out.

In a letter to Bartlett yesterday, Schulz asked the Maryland Republican to reconsider his decision to abandon the forum and laid out a "six-point plan of action" to ensure that the hearings move forward.

Also, Schulz said the group would hold its forum at a local hotel in Washington, D.C., "if the Science and Technology Committee Hearing Room" – where the forum was to be held – "is no longer available. ..."

The group said it planned to post an "initial set" of 299 questions its experts had planned to ask lawmakers and agency officials at the meeting on its website and is soliciting questions from "any and all learned persons."

Finally, the group is "extending an invitation to ... each and every organization that is concerned about" the issue of taxation, its legality, and its impact on businesses, workers and the size of the federal government.

Schulz's full reply to Bartlett is also posted on the group's website.

Last year, Schulz went on a hunger strike to draw attention to his cause. After three weeks, Bryant agreed to send a Justice Department representative to the forum and promised an IRS official would also attend.

The agreement was written on congressional letterhead and signed at the Department of Justice headquarters. Bryant assured both Bartlett and Schulz there was "virtually no chance of being overridden on this matter."

"I assure you. The IRS will be there at those meetings," Bryant said.

Schulz was on his way to Washington, D.C., on Wednesday to personally deliver his latest response to Bartlett's office.

"I was hoping for the opportunity to discuss with Congressman Bartlett what seems to me to have been a dreadful misunderstanding and miscommunication," he said in an e-mail sent to Bartlett aides, which was obtained by WorldNetDaily. "As of last night I had not heard back from you. Therefore, I assumed Congressman Bartlett's schedule would not allow the meeting to take place anytime soon."

Joseph Banister, a former IRS Criminal Division special agent, blames Bartlett for backing away from the hearings.

"Bartlett is reneging on his commitment and has found a very poor excuse for doing so," he told WorldNetDaily. "The cancellation of the tax honesty hearings clearly did not result from the We The People Foundation's 'Wait to File' message."

Bartlett, in a Jan. 17 letter to Schulz, said he was canceling his participation in the hearings because Schulz allegedly was encouraging "non-payment of taxes" in a marketing campaign designed to draw attention to the upcoming forum.

The campaign, dubbed, "Wait to File Until the Trial," urged taxpayers to wait until after the two-day tax forum before paying their taxes – if, indeed, they would still need to, Schulz' group said.

"The information that you are currently disseminating concerning the February ... forum is misleading," Bartlett said. "While I remain committed to making every effort so that you can exercise your constitutional right to get answers to your questions, your rhetoric has made it impossible for the forum to take place because the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Justice will not participate."

Bartlett, the IRS and the DOJ "want the American people to believe that they are refusing to participate in the hearings because the We The People Foundation has allegedly condoned the non-payment of federal income taxes," Banister said. "Neither the We The People Foundation nor anyone associated with the foundation has condoned such an action.

"The truth is, the surest way to convince the American people not to pay federal income taxes would be for Internal Revenue Service and Department of Justice officials to attend the hearings and be forced to show their true colors," he said. "These officials are not comfortable in a forum they cannot tightly control, nor are they comfortable answering questions formulated by the very people living under the system they administer, nor are they comfortable addressing an audience they have not carefully selected."

Saying that he believes Bartlett "is under tremendous pressure," Banister added, "I'm willing to bet that the IRS and DOJ are having trouble finding anyone within their ranks willing to defend or be grilled about the way the tax is truly administered and enforced."

Banister says the IRS, especially, can be ruthless – even to lawmakers. But for him, remaining with the agency or leaving it in 1999 was a personal choice.

"I was under tremendous pressure when I had to consider resigning from my IRS criminal-investigator position in order to abide by my oath to support and defend the Constitution," he said. "I thought Congressman Bartlett recognized the truth. Now I am not so sure."

Lisa Wright, a spokeswoman for Bartlett, confirmed that his office received a letter from the Justice Department last fall saying neither it nor the IRS would send a representative to the tax forum, but she added that Schulz knew that before the letter was sent.

"Mr. Schulz has been kept apprised" all along, she said. When asked directly if Schulz knew neither agency would show up to the forum, she said, "Yes."

The letter sent by DOJ last November "was merely a formality," Wright told WorldNetDaily. "Their position was already known to Mr. Schulz. It had been communicated to him by our office."

She also denied that she approved the language of his group's "Wait to File" campaign prior to its release.

"The language was not approved by me," she said, but admitted that Schulz "called me [about the campaign] after copy for the ad had already been submitted to at least one publication – which called me to fact-check it."

In a written response to Schulz, Bartlett – in a reply set for release today – again offered to submit We the People's questions to the IRS and Justice Department, but it's an offer Schulz has already refused and one that Bartlett originally made last weekend when he pulled out of the forum.

When asked if Schulz' refusal had any further bearing on Bartlett's position, Wright said simply, "That's Mr. Schulz's decision."

Sources in Washington who spoke to WorldNetDaily on condition of anonymity describe Schulz as "well-meaning" and affable, but say some he often has unrealistic expectations.

"His tax effort is an all-or-nothing effort," one congressional source said. "If anyone really believes the government next month was simply going to say, 'Yes, Bob, you're right – the 16th Amendment was never properly ratified,' that's just not realistic."

Bartlett "got suckered into this thing by being nice" to Schulz's group, said the source.

Schulz "made the rounds in Congress" last year trying to drum up support and sponsors for his forum, another source said. And though many agree "the current income tax is not conducive to a free society," most lawmakers who want to change the tax code want to do it legislatively.

"At the end of the day, we just don't agree with most of [We the People's] arguments," said the first source. "We shouldn't have an income tax – everything about it is wrong – but the way this forum was being done and some of the childishness of some of the players involved was also wrong."

After Bartlett "went out of his way to help" Schulz end his hunger strike last year, "some of these same people are now savaging him," said the first source.

"And the idea that 'someone got to him'" and forced him to abandon the forum "is ludicrous."

"What 'got to' Bartlett is that he probably realized that he'd get involved with this, and that a bunch of these people would show up [to the tax forum] and embarrass themselves and him," said the first source.

Related stories:

IRS, DOJ reneged on tax forum last fall

Congressman cancels tax forum

Tax group urges Americans: Wait to file

Tax hearings scheduled for next year

Tax reform hearings postponed

Tax activists refute IRS claims

IRS bashes 'frivolous' tax arguments