Before the IRS put me out of business by enforcing for a year I had long since paid, I believed that the United States government was a bit like the Catholic Pope, that is, always right.
After the IRS put me out of business, I believed that by working to bring about reform of the IRS, American citizens could actually make it happen. I saw my role as that of a letter writer, sharing experiences. In fact I wrote over a thousand letters. To find Americans to whom I could send them, who might hear what I was saying and have some influence, I watched The Evening News, The News Hour, and Charlie Rose. And, just like the return rate for catalog sales, which was about 3%, that percentage of the people wrote back.
I have no idea if my letters contributed to the eventual Senate hearings and the limited reform of IRS to which they led. I just know that I wrote them and spent nearly all my available money beyond basic necessities on stamps.
Below is a reconstruction of the cover I used on the letters I bound and sent to the Congressional Committee on Taxation and IRS Oversight:
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87505
“I sincerely hope that each one of you looks at this. I am bringing it (IRS abuse) to your attention because the problem is so severe and affects so many Americans, with deleterious results, that is, the rise in the incidence of militias and Americans declaring sovereignty.
“Do you agree that if Americans felt they were being represented, they wouldn’t simultaneously feel the need to declare sovereignty?
“Think about this, I talk to anywhere from three to fifteen people a day about this, yet less than once a month do I talk to someone who perceives no problem with IRS, unless I am talking to my elected legislators. When I talk to them about the IRS problem, they don’t recognize what I’m saying. One of them, after I repeated the problem many times, replied, “You can’t change IRS.”
“I am appealing to you to change IRS. It is a change we most seriously need if we are to restore unity to our country, and thereafter, health. I ask you to help enact legislation that will give us a National Sales Tax with quarterly refunds to low income people.”
It is important for you to know that the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, 1988, was no help. None.”
Since the gas tax is the closest thing we now have to a National Sales Tax, please do not repeal it and ask Americans to make up for the loss of revenue from foreign tourists and business people,as well as illegal immigrants, drug traffickers, etc.”
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Please will you read this for content, overlooking the odd misplaced word…