IS THE FEDERAL INCOME TAX “ILLEGAL”?

Is the 16^th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution illegal?

Yes, according to We the People Foundation for Constitutional Education.

You can reach the Foundation at this website: WWW.GIVEMELIBERTY.ORG.

The nonprofit Foundation has been trying unsuccessfully for years to get answers from the President of the United States, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate Majority Leader on the legality of the 16^th Amendment, which is the federal income tax.

In 1913, the United States Secretary of State, Philander Knox, “committed fraud” when he declared the 16^th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution had been “legally ratified,” the People Foundation charges.

It was never “legally ratified, with evidence to prove it,” the Foundation contends.

In 1913, there were 38 States in the Union. There is no legal documentation that the majority of the 38 States ratified the 16^th Amendment in the “exact wording” submitted to the States by U.S. Secretary of State Philander Knox, according to documents discovered by the People Foundation.

Some States did not even bother to respond to the 16^th Amendment proposal, according to Robert Schultz of the People Foundation, and former IRS Agent Joseph Banister, who have researched the controversial tax issue for the Foundation, along with Constitutional scholars and legal organizations throughout the nation.

“The Constitution of the United States is all that stands between the people and tyranny,” the Foundation declared. “What does a free people do when faced with evidence of ratification of fraud?  The Constitution tells the people to address their grievances with their government. But what does a free people do when their government doesn’t listen, or respond?”

Under the federal law as written, only foreigners working in the U.S., or U.S. citizens working abroad, are legally required to pay federal income taxes. And employers are not required to withhold federal income taxes.

“When taxpayers sign their tax returns, he or she voluntarily waives his or her 5^th Amendment right not to be a witness against him or herself,” the Foundation explained.

The Foundation put these issues before the White and Congress for the first time on April 13, 2000 – two days before the filing of federal income taxes on April 15.

“After attempts to get them to respond failed on April 27, May 19 and June 2, 2000, We the People Foundation decided to take the issue directly to our elected representatives through the people of the United States themselves,” the Foundation announced June 29, 2000 at a Conference on the Legality of the Income Tax at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

Then President Bill Clinton, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, and House Speaker Dennis Hastert were invited to the Income Tax Conference to represent the Federal Government.

None of the nation’s highest political leaders bothered to show up with evidence that the 16^th Amendment was “legally ratified” by the States, the People Foundation reported.

“As Americans, we expect our elected representatives, whether in the Congress or in the White House, to respond to our needs and answer legitimate questions that are placed before them by the electorate,” Foundation officials stated. “Over the past decade, a number of groups have posed some very serious questions regarding the legality of the federal income tax. Americans from all the 50 States are now tired of being deliberately ignored on this issue,” the Foundation said.

The Clinton White House, after initially accepting the Foundation’s invitation to discuss the income tax matter in a public forum, reneged on their commitment, stating: “The legality of the income tax is not a high priority at the White House. Therefore, we have decided not to participate in any conference on the subject.”

The Foundation has been calling on the people’s representatives in Congress to address the income tax issue, but to no avail.

Frankly, federal officials, who make salaries way over $140,000 a year with platinum benefits for life after a few years in public office, do not want anything to do with an investigation that will reveal the 16^th Amendment was never “legally ratified” by the States.

If the Federal Government acknowledges in any way that the ratification was a fraud, the Federal Government would have to shut down.

The income tax is the big, fat piggy bank that pays their big salaries and premium benefits, and for all those bloated bureaucracies sucking the lifeblood out of America’s taxpayers.

Taxpayers, finally, are demanding answers and evidence to what may turn out to be the biggest crime of the 20^th Century – an illegal tax that keeps getting bigger and bigger each year, bankrupting individuals, families, businesses and institutions.

That’s not the American way.

Call your representatives in Congress and demand the facts on the federal income tax!

This could spark the second American Revolution against an oppressive government that, like any monarchy or dictatorship, thinks it is above the law.

Americans can no longer afford a lawless government!

(Gordon Bishop, a national award-winning author, historian and syndicated columnist, is New Jersey’s first “Journalist-of-the-Year” – 1986/New Jersey Press Association.)