IRS debunks claims of income tax protesters

WASHINGTON - Joseph Stack's methods were unthinkable - he is accused of ramming a plane into an Internal Revenue Service building in Texas - but his views on taxation follow a long line of protesters who believe tax laws don't apply to them.

While their numbers aren't large, according to experts, their arguments are so enticing that the IRS has published a guide to debunk their claims. In 2008, the Justice Department was concerned enough to start the "National Tax Defier Initiative" to better coordinate prosecutions.

"There are people who are peddling this stuff. It's a way to get people to believe something that's too good to be true," said Peter R. Zeidenberg, a former federal prosecutor who is now a litigation partner at the law firm DLA Piper in Washington.

A 3,000-word manifesto posted on a Web site registered in Stack's name rails against the IRS and accuses the agency of ruining his life.

Stack's bitter feud with the IRS apparently drove him to commit suicide Thursday by slamming his single-engine Piper PA-28 into an Austin office building where the IRS has offices.

Stack's writings suggest he was part of a loosely organized movement that stretches back to at least the 1950s. Some believe the 16th Amendment to the Constitution, which authorizes Congress to levy income taxes, was not legally ratified; it was ratified in 1913.

Others believe that paying taxes is purely voluntary. Still others believe in fictional loopholes that would exempt large groups of Americans from paying taxes if they were only in on the secret.

"They're fairly prevalent," said Mark Potok, director of the Intelligence Project for the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks extremist groups.

The center has documented five plots against the IRS or its agents since 1995, including one that year to blow up an IRS office in Austin.

Potok said he was unsure if it was the same building Stack crashed the plane into.The IRS has a Web site called, "Don't Fall for These Frivolous Arguments." Among them are:

False claim: The filing and paying of tax is voluntary. IRS response: "The term voluntary compliance means that each of us is responsible for filing a tax return when required and for determining and paying the correct amount of tax."

False claim: Wages, tips, and other compensation are not income because there is no taxable gain when a person "exchanges" labor for money. IRS response: "Congress has determined that all income is taxable unless specifically excluded by some part of the Code."

False claim: Forming a business trust to hold your income and assets will avoid taxes. A family estate trust will allow you to reduce or eliminate your tax liability. IRS response: "Establishing a trust, foreign or domestic, for the sole purpose of hiding your income and assets from taxation is illegal and will not absolve you of your tax liability."