A letter to Clinton!

WILLIAM T. CONKLIN, M.A. COMMUNICATION AND LANGUAGE EXPERT 3296 Raleigh Denver, Colorado 80212 (303) 455-0837 FAX 480-1799 Willieco@aol.com

July 4, 1998 Mr. William Clinton 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Washington, D.C. 20500 Phone: (202) 456-1414 Fax: (202) 456-2461

Dear Mr. Clinton: Thank you for your request regarding my opinion related to liability in the Internal Revenue Code.

I want to inform you that I am not an attorney but I am an experienced paralegal with over twelve years of experience in litigating with the IRS. I also have a Master of Arts in Communication and I have been writing letters on the syntax of the Internal Revenue Code for five years. I currently have six published wins on my own case in the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals against the IRS. The cases are as follows:

1. Church of World Peace, Inc. v. IRS, 715 F.2d 492.

2. United States v. Church of World Peace, 775 F.2d 265.

3. Conklin v. United States, 812 F.2d 1318.

4. U. S. v. Church of World Peace, 878 F.2d 1281

5. Tavery v. United States, 897 F.2d 1032

6. Conklin v. C.I.R., 897 F2d 1027.

Back in the late 70's, I set up a home church, donated to it and took a tax deduction. The IRS attacked me and I have been winning ever since. Several years ago I got back over $15,000 in a refund lawsuit.

I have discovered very interesting issues about the Income Tax and for five years I have offered a reward of $50,000 to anyone who can show me the following:

1. What statute makes me liable to pay an income tax.

2. How I can file a tax return without waiving my Fifth Amendment Rights.

To date, no one has taken me up on the offer. Since I am not an attorney, I suggest that you consult with an attorney and see if I am right. If your attorney can prove me wrong, you can win the $50,000. My opinion follows:

My opinion is: You are NOT made liable to pay an income tax under Title 26, the Income Tax Code. The reason is that the Internal Revenue Code (The Tax Law) does not contain a code section (statute/law) that states such a requirement. Furthermore, the filing of an income tax return is "voluntary." However, if you do not volunteer, the IRS can file a return for you under 26 USC 6020(B) and they can collect from you using a variety of procedures which the courts will support; therefore, it is important that individuals who choose not to voluntarily waive their Fifth Amendment Rights by filing 1040 Returns, post a bond against any 6020(B) assessment if they wish to avoid assessment difficulty in the future.

I can certainly appreciate your need for information on the subject of federal income taxes, a subject that "naturally" fosters substantial confusion among the public. While your question appears simple and basic enough, it mandates a course of analysis that takes us to the very source of the tax law, an area that few professionals dare to tread as it takes careful, orderly analysis. I believe I have succeeded in cutting through the maze of confusion surrounding the tax laws to arrive at the correct conclusion:

INDIVIDUALS ARE NOT REQUIRED TO FILE AN INCOME TAX RETURN FORM 1040. FILING THESE RETURNS IS COMPLETELY VOLUNTARY.

The key to "cutting through the maze" is knowing where to start cutting. If someone handed you the 2,000- page Internal Revenue Code and said, "Go find the code section that requires one to file a return," would you, as a lay person, know where to start looking? The Code contains over 10,000 code sections! Here's how you start - you must follow the directions in the Internal Revenue Service's official publication to the public, known as Notice #609. This notice directs you to specific code sections in the Internal Revenue Code on this matter.

Before we look at the Internal Revenue Code sections given us by the IRS, let me acquaint you with the background to Notice #609 which is entitled, "Privacy Act and Paperwork Reduction Act Notice." The IRS is required to send you this Notice #6O9 by the Privacy Act Law of 1974 (5USC 552a, Public Law 93-574), which states in Sec. 5(e)(1):

"Each agency that maintains a system of records shall...

(3) Inform each individual whom it asks to supply information...

(a) The authority which authorizes the solicitation of the information and whether disclosure of such information is mandatory or voluntary,

(b) The principle purpose or purposes for which the information is intended to be used,

(c) The routine uses which may be made of the information,

(d) The effects on him, if any, of not providing all or any part of the requested information..."

Based on the above requirements we can now look at the IRS' Notice #609 and go directly to their reference to their legal right to ask for information, which states:

"Our legal right to ask for information is Internal Revenue Code sections 6001, 6011 and 6012 and their regulations. They say that you must file a return or statement with us for any tax you are liable for." (emphasis added)

In the second sentence, the IRS is in effect saying that IF you are "liable" (responsible) by statute for a particular kind of tax, you must then file. Let's take a look at the three code sections quoted above:

SEC. 6001.NOTICE OR REGULATIONS REQUIRING RECORDS, STATEMENTS, AND SPECIAL RETURNS.

Every person liable for any tax imposed by this title, or for the collection thereof, shall keep such records, render such statements, make such returns, and comply with such rules and regulations as the Secretary may from time to time prescribe. Whenever in the judgment of the Secretary it is necessary, he may require any person, by notice served upon such person or by regulations, to make such return, render such statements, or keep such records, as the Secretary deems sufficient to show whether or not such person is liable for tax under this title. The only record which an employer shall be required to keep under this section in connection with charged tips shall be charge receipts and copies of statements furnished by employees under section 6053(a).

SEC. 6011.GENERAL REQUIREMENT OF RETURN, STATEMENT, OR LIST.

(a) General Rule. When required by regulations prescribed by the Secretary any person made liable for any tax imposed by this title, or for the collection thereof, shall make a return or statement according to the forms and regulations prescribed by the Secretary. Every person required to make a return or statement shall include therein the information required by such forms and regulations.

SEC. 6012. PERSONS REQUIRED TO MAKE RETURNS OF INCOME

(a) General Rule. Returns with respect to income taxes under subtitle A shall be made by the following:

(1)(A) Every individual having for the taxable year gross income which equals or exceeds the exemption amount, except that a return shall not be required of an individual --

Note that Sec. 6001 refers to "Every person liable for any tax imposed by (the Code)...." and Sec. 6011 refers to "...any person made liable for any tax imposed by (the Code)...." Also note that neither of these two code sections state who is liable (responsible) for submitting an income tax return, form 1040. Again, Notice #6O9 says that these code sections state "that you must file a return or statement with us for any tax you are liable for." This means that before there can be a lawful requirement for you to file a return, you must be found to be liable or responsible as the individual designated to

complete the return for the particular type of tax the IRS is attempting to collect.

At this point, allow me to rephrase your question to me in your letter to assist you in focusing on my answer and conclusion:

Am I, as an individual, liable to pay the income tax or responsible to file (by any Internal Revenue Code statute) an individual income tax return form 1040?

The answer is "No," based on the first two code sections (6001 and 6011) the IRS referred us to in their Notice #609. And from reading section 6012, the answer is still "NO" as the word "liable" is not even mentioned there. I'll comment more on 6012 later.

The emphasis, for the moment, is on sections 6001 and 6011 and whether or not an individual is "liable" or "made liable." Both sections refer to a person being "liable for any tax imposed by this title." Obviously, these sections are directing you to go elsewhere in the Internal Revenue Code (Title 26) to find a "tax imposed" and a code section describing who is "liable" for the tax imposed. Thus we go to another part of the Code, "Subtitle A, Income Taxes, Chapter 1, Part I - Tax Imposed on Individuals." In sections 1(a) through 1(d) taxes are imposed on "taxable income" of various individuals, e.g., married, single, etc, but there is no mention of the individuals being "liable" or responsible to file in these sections or any other subsequent code sections in all of Subtitle A, "Income Taxes."

The conclusion, then, is that there is no code section that makes one liable in Subtitle A, Income Taxes, or in Subtitle F, code sections 6001, 6011 and 6012. By the way, Subtitle F is entitled, "Procedure and Administration" which infers that "procedurally," there is a sequence of steps that the IRS must follow in their tax collection "administration, i.e., they must first show the individual to be "liable" or "made liable" (as set forth in sections 6001 and 6011) before the individual can be shown to have a "tax liability" (some undetermined amount based on "gross income;" as set forth in Section 6012). In other words, Section 6012 comes into play as the second administrative step by the IRS only after they have satisfied the first step. Section 6012 begins a series of steps involved in the calculation of one's "tax liability." Said another way, you cannot have a tax liability and be required to pay a tax if you have not first been found to be "liable." And to emphasize the obvious, there is no way Section 6012 can make you "liable!"

Therefore, the IRS is "stopped dead in their administrative tracks" at the first step and cannot legally enforce assessment and collection of any individual income tax at all on a form 1040. The first sentence of section 6012 confirms this as it refers to "income taxes under Subtitle A." And since no one is made liable under Subtitle A for the filing of income tax returns, section 6012 becomes immediately and entirely irrelevant as a "second administrative step."

What I have just conveyed to you is not theory...it is fact. The administrative procedure set forth by the Privacy Act Notice is the same for the other types of tax found in the code as there are code sections that determine and describe who is liable to file and pay the tax

-- Anonymous, January 08, 2001

Answers

The IRS could so easily stop the tax protest movement by simply adding the following words in the IRS Code, Title 26.

And these words are.......The income tax is MANDANTORY and all Americans are required to pay income tax."

Instead the IRS claims that the income tax is VOLUNTARY and there is no statute that requires Americans to pay tax in the IRS Code!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-- Anonymous, January 08, 2001

As in, SO WHAT?

Somebody has to pay the bills. In no one paid taxes -- what then?

"Stating the problem is easy. Stating the answer is the hard part."

-- Anonymous, January 10, 2001