Three cheers for Joe Banister, the former special agent for the Internal Revenue Service, who actually
went to the trouble to study the constitutionality of his employer, came
to the conclusion it was illegal and had the nerve to confront his
bosses.
No surprise, Banister was given a few hours to clean out his desk.
But the people who ought to be turned out of their jobs are the
elected and unelected officials who have permitted this fraud to be
perpetrated on the American people for so long.
Think about it. You’ve seen the IRS literature (and I use that term
loosely) that claims the filing of tax returns is “voluntary.” If you
believe that, just watch what happens when you forget to volunteer that
return by April 15. All hell breaks loose. Your bank accounts can be
seized. Some have even been thrown in jail.
No, there’s nothing voluntary about our federal tax system, though
the fraud of voluntarism is perpetrated to get around some basic
problems of constitutionality such as the little matter of
self-incrimination.
Americans by birthright cannot be compelled to testify against
themselves. Yet the IRS does just that every single day — and today
more than any other day of the year.
Banister also contends, as others have, that the 16th Amendment to
the U.S. Constitution was never ratified. And he points out that income
taxes have been used to pay the interest on the national debt rather
than for actual government operations.
Banister’s claims are not, as you might expect, being denounced as
the rantings of a lunatic, a fringe nut, an anti-government zealot.
Hard-working certified public accountants, attorneys, even other IRS
agents have lined up behind him in support of his report.
Officially, the IRS would not address Banister’s allegations.
Banister had hoped his superiors could persuade him his conclusions were
wrong, straighten him out with the facts he was missing and ease his
moral and legal concerns. Instead, they asked for his resignation and
showed him to the door.
Just try getting answers to these same issues yourself. You’ll get no
help from the IRS. So far, the agency hasn’t been forced to deal with
such questions because their con game has been so effective. The
overwhelming majority of Americans have been coaxed and coerced into
signing away their rights and property. Nobody wants to take on
America’s Gestapo. They’ve seen what it is capable of doing, the wrath
it can invoke, the damage it can impose — even on members of Congress.
It seems just about everyone who has been around the IRS understands
the nature of the hoax. They just don’t talk about it out loud. It’s
dangerous.
Every year or so, some members of Congress decide to show us how
brave they are by beating up on IRS “excesses.” They hold hearings. They
hold press conferences. They bring in witnesses with their identities
shielded. It makes for good television and soothes the concerns of
ordinary Americans who hate the IRS. But nothing really changes. Because
our elected officials never deal with the real root problem.
The real root problem with the IRS is that it is an illegitimate,
fraudulent government agency that derives its power from fear and
intimidation of law-abiding taxpayers.
We are unlikely ever to hold congressional hearings into the basic
nature and powers of the IRS because even congressmen are not immune to
the attacks of this powerful and dreaded bureaucracy.
Several members of the House of Representatives have told me that
they are afraid of the IRS. They fear speaking out about such issues
because of the repercussions. Members of Congress! If they are afraid,
if they have reason to fear, what about the rest of us — the mere
mortals who are totally at the mercy of these goons?
The game is rigged. Not until enough Americans realize just how badly
the system is flawed will anything ever come of it. Maybe the Joe
Banisters of the world will help wake up the slumbering sheep.
Until that day comes, just think about this: It’s April 15th, and do
you know where your money went?
