Late film producer and director (Trading Places, Wise Guys, The Rose), and political activist, Aaron Russo, filmed the documentary below in 2006, however we feel it’s worthy of attention again. The film covers a number of topics, but tends to focus on the legality of the federal income tax system, as well as the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) and federal government’s refusal to openly and honestly explain to the American people the true nature of the income tax laws, or why they are collecting taxes from those who do not owe them.
There are plenty who argue against the “tax protestors,” as they’ve come to be known, however most often the argument is that if the government can throw you in jail for not paying your taxes, then there’s a law. As if the physical act of placing handcuffs on your wrist, placing you in a car, and locking you in a jail cell is in itself a “law” or right that the government has. Take, for example, this argument made by Joseph Henchman at the Tax Foundation:
“Since our founding in 1937, we’ve had hundreds of brilliant economists, lawyers, accountants, and policy analysts here, and they all paid their income taxes. If there was a way out, one of them would have found it.”
That’s not a very convincing argument. The federal tax situation isn’t one that can be solved by being a “brilliant economist” (in fact, it’s our current understanding of the economy that’s opened our eyes to a multitude of political deceptions), nor is there a magical mathematical equation that can be solved by an accountant. The problem is purely political, and the reason these brilliant minds pay their taxes is because of intimidation—knowing they could end up in jail.
A lot of lawyers like to say, “Why yes, there is a law that states you have to pay federal income tax,” at which point they start spouting off 26 U.S.C. § 1, and 26 U.S.C. § 61, however there is no argument that these documents exist—the argument is that they are against the U.S. Constitution. The 16th Amendment states that Congress has the power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, however according to many in the legal system, that amendment was passed by the Secretary of State without it even coming close to being legally approved by the required number of states, and there are both state and national archives documented that proves this.
According to an ad by We the People that was ran by USA Today:
“Legal scholars have agreed that if any state violated provisions of its own state constitution in the ratification process, its approval would be null and void.” The ad continues, “at least 20 states were guilty of serious violations of their constitutions.”
This Article (America: Freedom to Fascism) is a free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to the author and AnonHQ.com.
Sources:
Foster, Julie. WND. Feb 16, 2001. (http://www.wnd.com/2001/02/8189/)
