People who actually read tax law tend to get very upset, but you'll never hear about them marching upon Washington by watching ABC, CNN, or Fox News.

Photos: Todd Johnson 2004
http://www.givemeliberty.org

Because reading tax regulations is a function of an IRS job, many IRS employees tend to know something the rest of us don't. However, relatively few of them will tell you about it. Brave are the ones who speak up to warn us.

Here's a big "Thanks!" for the agents in government who actually follow the written law, and obey the truth. When they blow the whistle on our government's own fraud, they risk everything, and even give up some things for the truth.

Below are just a few IRS whistleblowers. It is unknown exactly how many government whistleblowers have come from the IRS, because the first, and last, official IRS Historian, Shelley Davis, told the US Senate "there were virtually no records of IRS actions throughout the twentieth century in any of the repositories"

So, the first whistleblower in our list is IRS Historian Davis. Because, her experience shows that when a whistle is blown at the IRS, an investigation of the whistleblower soon begins.

Davis (and others) said this is "a common tactic used against IRS employees who dare to speak up." This tactic seems to demonstrate the existence of IRS abuse better than anything else.

These IRS whistleblowers took a chance, and some lost their jobs, to tell you something. It may be worth listening to them. Most people do not have this kind of courage, and can only keep very quiet. Some will even agree with tyrants rather than warn others of dangers. Not only will most of us keep quiet, but we'll even change the subject of thought in our own mind, pretending nothing is wrong. What shame.

These former agents are still taking risks, because no one leaves organized crime trouble-free.

Shelley L. Davis
Former IRS Official Historian, the first and the last official historian.

"The records had been destroyed. Gone. Shredded. Tossed. They no longer exist."

"No other agency of our government could get away with this."

"Our fear of suffering a personal attack from the IRS generally keeps most of us in check... This ensures that it can never be held accountable for its actions. How can you prove any wrongdoing when the evidence is already destroyed?"

-- Davis' prepared statement before the Senate Finance Committee, Sept. 23, 1997. continued >>

Links

• IRS Nightmares Get Senate Hearing
• How the IRS Violates the Law
• A Secret History of IRS Tax Cops
• Reasons the IRS is hated

Joseph Banister
A former IRS Special Agent for Criminal Investigation Division, and CPA, Banister comes from a law enforcement family. He has two brothers working as policemen.

Banister sacrificed a big paycheck, and career to tell you what the media won't tell you (US citizens are being scammed).

"If you are a current or former IRS... and you are ready to come out... send a letter to... Freedom Above Fortune, PO Box 90239, San Jose, California, 95109-4239. I will never reveal your name"
-- Joe Banister

Video:
Banister interview - with Alex Jones

Audio:
Former IRS agent Banister speaks, IRS "Walkaround"

Banister says he pays his taxes, but does not file a Form 1040 return. He "gave up" his career with the IRS (was told to resign) in order to devote his life to stopping the IRS/government income tax fraud.

As a IRS Special Agent, it was a part of Banisters job to read the tax code and regulations. The result? He believes citizens are not required to pay federal income taxes.

Banister's case went to court, where he was acquitted on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States [18USC371], and of willfully aiding or assisting, procuring, counseling, or advising the preparation of a return, which is fraudulent [26USC7206(2)].

• Tax activist wins in federal court: Ex-IRS agent says Congress has no power to collect levy on income
  "A former IRS agent who believes citizens are not required to pay federal income taxes was acquitted today on charges he attempted to defraud the government."



• IRS 'enforcers' target former agent
  "A former IRS criminal-investigation special agent ... says the agency ... is illegally using "enforcers" to monitor his political activities and build its case against him."

	Banister Juror Tells Story: After the trial, juror Oscar S. Ramirez, Ph.D. learned that Banister's co-conspirator was previously found not guilty of conspiracy in his own trial, so here he ponders the question - Why was Banister then charged with conspiracy? "Can a person conspire with his alter ego and be charged of so doing? ... Could it be that the government was going after what one could call a whistleblower?" Dr. Ramirez continues, "I am still puzzled by the lack of evidence provided by the government." more >>

"The IRS does not prevail against citizens because the agency adheres to the rule of law... the IRS prevails against citizens because the agency ignores the law, twists the meaning of the law, and overwhelms the citizen with economic and legal burdens" -- Joseph Banister

• Freedom Above Fortune
• Banister's Report - courtesy of Quatloos
• Joe Banister Bio
• Banister Resume
• This is what your fear is protecting, America
• The Tax Man - Magazine Article
• Former IRS agent Turner describes Banister, whistleblowers
• Famed IRS Whistleblower acquittal
• Joe Banister Blog site
• Ex-IRS Man Delcares Himself Tax-Exempt

Sherry Peel Jackson
CPA, Certified Fraud Examiner, Former Internal Revenue Service Agent, 21 years exp.

Sherry Peel Jackson gets straight to the point. Not only is her focus on this issue 20/20, but she says it best. She describes America, the entire country, as a slave plantation.

"In my tenure as an IRS agent, I personally saw marriages broken, families torn apart, homes confiscated and businesses destroyed... without the proper authority."

"The Constitution of the United States of America has been... ignored through allowing the privately owned Federal Reserve to create paper currency and charge you 47 million dollars in interest per hour"

"Let me tell you, that as a black woman I am keenly aware... of slavery... do you understand that we are all slaves to this system?" - Sherry Jackson more >>

• Jackson Website
• Jackson Blog
• Sherry Jackson's house being raided
• Letter from Jackson day of IRS raid
• Larken Rose praises Jackson's focus

John Turner
Former IRS Revenue Officer (RO), Tax Consultant. Another IRS agent who gave up a fat paycheck and a well benefitted government job to tell us the laws and regulations are not being followed as written, and it is the government that is the fraud.

"You do realize, don't you, that ...according to the way Congress [and the IRS] would have you believe... ALL of your income is subject to tax save what they let you keep by their benevolence. They let us keep some of our income! This is the mistaken notion that we Americans are operating upon!" -- John Turner

Turner says he can prove there is no requirement to file income tax returns. He worked for the IRS for 10 years from 1987-1997. As a Revenue officer he used the power to levy and seize. He eventually researched tax "protester" arguments, and discovered the IRS is indeed misapplying the tax laws, then resigned from the IRS.

Ex-IRS agent Turner also served in the United States Army and held top secret clearances.

"There are many, many good people who have lost their property and their freedoms... while attempting to force the government to obey the tax laws as written."

"The solution requires the American people to demand the needed change. ... Your help is needed to bring this to the attention of people far and wide." more >>

• Truth in Taxation Hearing
• John Turner's Bio
  
  

  	Sen. Grassley planned to create SWAT teams to take down websites that contain Tax Honesty information [like this one] ...until someone pointed out to him that there is a Bill of Rights, including the 1st Amendment... designed to protect citizens from this kind of government abuse, by limiting official authority and behavior. "Anyone who questions the validity of the tax laws has to be dealt with swiftly and harshly." -- Senator Grassley (R) IA Grassley's abuse limited

• Turner quoted on pocket commissions
• Training Materials of IRS Revenue Agent Turner
• Turner's letter to Congressman Hoekstra

Clifton Beale
Former IRS Revenue Agent and IRS Appeals Officer, 28 years experience, over 18 years at IRS.

Beale was an IRS agent (RO) from 1979 to 1987, and an IRS Appeals Officer from 1987 to 1998. He is an author ('The Trust Bible', and 'Feelings, The Second Book,' - the historical coverup by the government since 1913) and has a Master's Degree in Taxation.

According to Former IRS Agent Joseph Banister "complying with the United States Code has caused the IRS to take a disliking to him..."

Beale was sued by the Department of Justice. He is no longer allowed to prepare tax returns (he quit preparing returns before the order) and must stop selling trusts and other "tax schemes."

• 19 year Veteran IRS Official Joins the "Truth Team"
• Clifton Beale Bio
• Cached page of Beale's former website with Bio
• Another cached Clifton Beale webpage
• Dept of Justice Sues - No mention of 18 yrs with IRS.
• AP Story: Shut Down, Barred, Injunction - Notice, they fail to mention his 18 years of IRS experience and 28 years total experience in this field.

Paul Chappell
Former IRS Office of Counsel Attorney

An attorney for 50 years, Mr. Chappell's experience includes 17 years of government service, first as a clerk to a Tax Court judge, and later working for the Office of Chief Counsel of Internal Revenue.

Chappell's experience also includes covering the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance Committee hearings in drafting 1954 Internal Revenue Code.

He represented taxpayers before the Internal Revenue Service and in the federal courts for approximately 30 years.

Mr. Chappell's concerns include: violations of IRS regulations by the IRS; violations of statutory requirements by the IRS; disregard of their own math and records system; manipulation of data on the IRS master record system; ignoring statutory requirements for making proper assessment of taxes; the ignoring of requirements for collection matters such as the enforcement of IRS liens, levies and property seizures; and also a great deal of concern about the current trend toward abusive searches and seizures.

• Truth in Taxation Hearing
• America: It's Time to Stop Withholding (see 2nd story)

• Stiff Court Penalties For Frivolous Appeals

• Stiff Court Penalties...
• Stiff Court Penalties...
• IRS: Frivolous Appeals Penalties (also the same story)
• Stiff Court Penalties (again the same story)

Matthew N. McErlean
Former IRS Senior Appraiser and Valuation Subject Matter Expert, MBA, MS, MAI, CAE, CPA.

In 1996, McErlean tried to help the IRS get more revenue by submitting a memo suggesting the IRS adopt the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice. He said the IRS was losing billions by not following uniform standards.

In 1999, McErlean made a report to the Treasury Inspector General of Tax Administration, in which he said IRS managers were violating the Constitution, and rights of American taxpayers.

"I have made consistent attempts... over the past three years, urging IRS management to correct the situation. The only visible result to date is that I have been the subject of adverse and retaliatory personnel actions."

"Article 1 Section 8 of the United States Constitution stipulates that while Congress has the power to lay taxes, '...all duties, imposts, and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States.' ... it is axiomatic that the underlying methodology of laying taxes must be uniform... current appraisal practices do not yield uniformity in assessing tax liability based on appraised values."
-- Matthew McErlean

• IRS whistle blower appraiser loses job
• IRS Whistleblower's Report of "Unlegislated Tax Break" Prompts Swift Reprisal
• IRS Violations of Taxpayer's Constitutional Right... [Report to Treasury Inspector General...]
• IRS and The Adoption of Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice

When its time to ask questions, the Congress, Treasury, and IRS officials avoid these highly tax educated and experienced professionals like the plague.

The same officials don't mind taking time to spy on them, arrest them, raid their homes, harass them, investigate them, make it difficult to get a job, and make attempts to shut them down - or shut them up.

The major media also avoids IRS whistleblowers, and their stories, until the whistleblowers are sued by the Government. Then, the media will happily tell you about how bad these people are, often failing to mention - these were former IRS agents with a great deal of background in taxation. [Our next IRS Whistleblower, Thomas Coleman Andrews, former IRS Commissioner, explains why our Government and the major media are so treasonous.]

• Audio Resource Page - Radio and TV interviews

Robert 'Bob' Schulz is not a former IRS agent, but a citizen who also fights government abuse...

• The Power to Destroy
• Facing off with the IRS - Geoff Metcalf interview
• Schulz v. IRS, Taxpayers Free to Ignore IRS Summons
• Robert Schulz Bio

Thomas Coleman Andrews - IRS Commissioner, 1953-1955

Quoted from an interview in U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, May 25, 1956, followed by the full interview.

"[The income tax...] is slowly but surely destroying the middle class."

"Maybe we ought to see that every person who gets a tax return receives a copy of the Communist Manifesto with it so he can see what's happening to him."

"Don't forget that there are many parts of the law in which Congress did not spell out its intention but instead empowered the Secretary or his delegate to say what was meant." [Can you believe this? One man, the Secretary (just some guy), or worse a delegate (some other guy) has been telling us what to do.]

"I have had members of Congress tell me frankly that they just don't have time to give thorough consideration to a good deal of what comes before them for attention."

"I've had some of those men tell me they had to depend absolutely upon the staffs of their committees for advice as to what to do." [Can you believe this? Some of the elected in Congress don't know what they are doing, or deciding, or they are lacking critical thinking skills.]

"Our tax laws are not made by members of Congress... nor by the committees of Congress... but by the staff members of the tax committees. That's true of all legislation."
[Doesn't this invalidate laws passed by Congress, and make many in Congress unqualified in the job they applied for?]

"...they began to discover [in the early days of income tax] that while the law was simple it was unjust, and they had to do something about it, they began to add on all kinds of fancy gimmicks, gadgets and thou-shalt-nots, until it now adds up to the point where it's so complicated that nobody can understand it [even our clearest thinker, Einstein, said he couldn't understand it]. I say to you that any law that isn't understood even by the people who pass it, let alone by those subjected to it, shouldn't be imposed..."
-- T. Coleman Andrews, 1956

	Former IRS Commissioner Coleman Andrews was asked this question by US News & World Report... Q. "Mr. Andrews, do you think the corporation income tax should be abolished altogether? A. "I would hope... because it costs entirely too much to administer and the cost... is pure waste... Moreover, the gap between the individual and the corporation is driving small business right into the maw of big business. At the present rate, we soon won't have anything but big business, and the situation will be just right for the final move to a completely socialistic government." (50 years later... How right he was. Now all that is required is a manufactured crisis, and herding the sheep.)

[Socialism is the preparatory stage used to overthrow capitalism and freedom, then private ownership is replaced by communism. The individual is then told what to do, where to do it, how, and when - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communism

* The US Constitution says, "The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government" - Art. IV, Sec. 4 ]

• The complete US News & World Report interview of Coleman Andrews, Former IRS Commissioner
• Thomas Coleman Andrews Bio, Ohio State Univ.

[How familiar - First, they came for the farmers, but I was not a farmer, so I did not speak up... then they came for the manufacturers, but I was not a manufacturer (and even cheered the cheap Chinese goods)... then they came for the doctors, I did nothing ('healthcare, shmealthcare, screw those rich people')... then they came for the computer scientists and engineers... (the shape of an 'L' clearly on my forehead)... and soon, my countrymen were replaced with H1-B visa's. The cheap goods and cheap labor were everywhere.]

Source: http://web.archive.org/web/20060129183705/http://www.senate.gov/~enzi/davis.htm

PREPARED STATEMENT OF

SHELLEY L. DAVIS

BEFORE THE SENATE FINANCE COMMITTEE

OVERSIGHT HEARING ON THE INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1997

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Senate Finance Committee, I am pleased to be able to share a few of my thoughts and experiences with you today as you explore specific issues of IRS abuse of those the tax agency likes to call its "customers" -- American taxpayers.

For 16 years I worked as an historian for the federal government. Nine of those years were with the Department of Defense and the final seven were spent as the first and unfortunately, the last, official historian for the Internal Revenue Service. At the end of 1995, I resigned from my federal career in protest over the unwillingness of the IRS, or the Treasury Department Inspector General, to investigate my complaint of illegal document destruction by the IRS. I learned that the same federal investigator to whom I originally reported my concerns regarding this, had turned around and opened an investigation of me on unfounded and false charges of "wrongful release of confidential information." Later, I learned that this is a common tactic used against IRS employees who dare to speak up against management. I knew then that I had no alternative but to resign and try to raise awareness of the intransigence, arrogance, and abusive patterns of behavior that I found all too common inside the headquarters of the IRS. I decided to write a book which was published earlier this year entitled, "Unbridled Power."

My testimony today will touch briefly on three areas:

1. ) The cultural climate of the IRS;

2. ) List keeping at the IRS;

3. ) The IRS definition of "tax protester."

My introduction to the culture of the IRS came during my earliest days with the tax agency, in the fall of 1988. Although I had been hired as the first historian for the IRS, I found little interest or support for my efforts. I found even less history. By history I mean both an awareness of the heritage of the IRS as well as the raw material (the documentation) from which narrative history is distilled. Neither the documents nor the heritage were to be found. Initially, I found this curious. Later, I found it alarming. At the IRS National Headquarters, there seemed little connection between the work of employees and actual tax collection--what I presumed to be the mission of the IRS. Rather than possessing any basic curiosity about the past, the IRS employees I encountered exhibited a wariness, a suspicion--assuming that anyone looking for records must have some definite agenda. An agenda presumed to be negative.

This reluctance to think about the past translated into routine day-to-day operations, meaning that all documents were tossed, shredded, whatever, when a program was completed--or shut down as in the case of many IRS computer projects. No records. No paper trail. No history.

As time went on, I realized that this not only made my job as historian virtually impossible, but that it guaranteed that the IRS could never be held accountable for its actions. With a sense of historical development, I came up with my own interpretation of this phenomenon. One could easily pass off the reluctance of the IRS to acknowledge its past as a reaction to a constant barrage of criticism. But the IRS is certainly not the only federal agency subjected to criticism from the press, Congress, or the public.

Instead of reflecting on positive actions in response to criticism, the IRS proclaims that any criticism of the agency is "IRS bashing" and "will only lead to more tax protesters." Rather than respond with solid information, historical examples, and analysis, the IRS jumps around skittishly, telling Congress that this reorganization, or that new position, or another new task force will remedy the current problem. The IRS has learned that its most effective response to inquiring questions from Congress, from the press, or from the American people is to hide behind the privacy laws. These are the laws meant to protect taxpayers. But by endlessly citing restrictions on its authority to comment on taxpayer cases, the IRS deflects criticism for any and all actions. In essence, the response of the IRS to question about anything and everything is, "Trust us. We're doing the right thing. We just can't tell you what that is because we're protecting American taxpayers."

A corollary to this defensive shield is the penchant of the IRS to destroy its paper trail. There were virtually no records of IRS actions throughout the twentieth century in any of the repositories where one would normally find federal records: the IRS itself, the National Archives (including the permanent archives in Washington, D.C., the 10 records centers around the country, or the Presidential libraries.)

In my early years with the IRS, a good question to ask was, "Where are the records?" What I learned was shocking. The records had been destroyed. Gone. Shredded. Tossed. They no longer exist due to a lack of attention to, or concern for, the law which requires all federal agencies to preserve records of what they do. It is as though the IRS assumed that laws which apply to the FBI, to the CIA, to every other part of the federal establishment can be ignored.

No other agency of our government could get away with this. I questioned the reason why it had taken so long for anyone to realize that the records were not just missing, but destroyed. I believe the answer is based on fear. As taxpayers, why would we ever question the one agency that can truly bite back? Our fear of suffering a personal attack from the IRS generally keeps most of us in check. Our fear of being audited has allowed the IRS to theoretically eliminate any potential smoking guns by trashing its own records. This ensures that it can never be held accountable for its actions. How can you prove any wrongdoing when the evidence is already destroyed?

The IRS has learned that the privacy protections are its best weapon in its war against its "customers." There is an "us against them" mentality which is far too common among IRS employees. I witnessed and experienced this attitude firsthand for over seven years working at the IRS headquarters. When I questioned the lack of record keeping by the IRS, it was made clear to me that I was a "lone ranger," a "loose cannon," and "not a team player." Is it any wonder they investigated me?

I'll conclude this section with a stark example from my personal experience. After my protest resignation at the end of 1995, admittedly I was not on the "most favored" list of IRS. But when I went to the IRS National Office on Monday, April 15, 1996, to meet a friend who had invited me for lunch to celebrate my birthday, I did not expect to be threatened with arrest. But that is what happened.

While waiting for my friend to meet me at the entrance of the building, I was pulled aside by an IRS internal security agent who told me to leave immediately because I was officially "banned" from the building.

I thought this was odd as I was standing in the front entrance, a public space. When I asked for an explanation, I was told that I was "banned" because I "did not turn in my official identification badge when I resigned four months earlier."

This was untrue.

When the agent detaining me prepared to call for Federal Protective Service agents to carry out her threat to arrest me, I knew I had to make a quick decision: let them carry through with this absurd threat, or turn and leave. I left. To this day, I wish I had stayed and made them carry through with their threat. The IRS brought false charges against me, used government resources to pursue a false investigation of me, and continued to harass me even after I had resigned. With the IRS, as I am sure you will hear from others today, retaliation is prompt, swift and catastrophic.

My years with the IRS were spent exclusively in the National Office, the headquarters of the tax agency. Throughout my tenure at the IRS, I often heard stories that different types of codes were used to identify taxpayers and returns.

I have specific knowledge of one type of list maintained inside the IRS. It is a product of a secretive, cloistered unit of the IRS which existed from 1969 through 1973, known by the name "Special Services Staff," or SSS.

The SSS list had approximately 11,000 individuals and organizations designated as possible audit targets by the IRS. Who were these people and organizations? Some were names you will recognize: Shirley MacLaine, Joan Baez, John Lindsay, the Black Panthers, and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee(SNCC).

But most of those who made it onto the list were not household names but were individuals the SSS determined were of questionable character as determined by the SSS.

Ten employees of the SSS dutifully clipped newspaper articles each day. The FBI willingly sent over its own files on political dissidents and protesters, and subscriptions were taken to radical publications which were perused for names and other leads. All in all, the SSS targeted individuals with no known tax problems for audit simply because of their political activities.

The commissioner who abolished the SSS, Donald Alexander, actually testified before Congress in 1975 that he believed the SSS records should be taken "out on the mall and burned."

Yet, despite the fact that the SSS files remain intact at the IRS (at least through my resignation at the end of 1995), the IRS steadfastly refuses to release the files to researchers or even to the National Archives for safekeeping. Why? Because they contain "taxpayer information." Who is protecting whom, one has to wonder? What has all this got to do with the present? Today I believe there exist thousands of names of American taxpayers whose Master Files are coded as TC-148, which brands them as "Illegal Tax Protesters." Whether this is a list, or compilation of files which bear that designation, is semantics. Just how many Americans bear this designation?

At the very least, we need to know if we are on that list, We reserve that right. The IRS says we can't know and don't have a right to know while simultaneously claiming Congress wants it this way.

The only thing being protected in this scenario is the IRS. Just what is a tax protester? Your definition, like mine, is probably different from the IRS definition. I learned that while inside the IRS.

A tax protester, in my definition, is not someone who may oppose our system of taxation, but pays his taxes nonetheless. A tax protester is not someone who says that our tax system is broken and must be dismantled, but still files a Form 1040. A tax protester is not someone who merely criticizes the IRS. A tax protester is not someone who challenges an IRS assessment. But in the mind of the IRS, all of the above ideas fit the unofficial IRS profile of a tax protester. In the cloistered environment of the IRS, criticism of the IRS, or the income tax, equals tax protester. Anyone who has the misfortune of bearing that title is most likely going to witness first hand just what "taxpayer abuse" really means.

Don't get me wrong. I am not in any way condoning the actions of those who, by one manner or another, attempt to cheat or not live up to their financial responsibilities as a U.S. citizen. But I do recognize the use of the label of "Illegal Tax Protestor" as another powerful weapon of the most powerful agency in America. It is time for Congress to compel the IRS to be more forthcoming about its audit procedures, even though the IRS would like us to believe that our system of taxation will collapse if the American people know how their tax collector goes about his or her business.

The IRS gains too much benefit from the privacy laws to come clean on its own. The culture of the IRS, built over decades of learning to hide behind the privacy laws, will not change on its own. Without intervention from Congress, it will not happen. Last year, a top career IRS executive testified before Congress that, "There is the general view that the more mysterious tax enforcement is, the more likely taxpayers will voluntarily comply." Mystery breeds distrust and contempt. It also breeds fear, which compels many taxpayers to comply with the tax laws because they are afraid of the consequences, but it does not breed voluntary compliance or trust.

The arrogance of the IRS is outrageous and harmful. We lose more than we gain by allowing the IRS to operate in this manner. Congress must demand accountability from the IRS. Congress must shine the spotlight on the IRS and never switch the power off.

Thank you.

-- End of Shelley Davis' statement.