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