I’m getting the impression that some questions aren’t supposed to be asked.

Legal commentator Daniel B. Evans has defined tax protesters as people who ‘refuse to pay taxes or file tax returns out of a mistaken belief that the federal income tax is unconstitutional, invalid, voluntary, or otherwise does not apply to them under one of a number of bizarre arguments.’”

So arguments that the IRS doesn’t have the authority to tax our income are considered “bizarre” by some authorities?  Am I supposed to be intimidated into not questioning the IRS’s authority? Luckily, I don’t have a journalism career at risk and I like to think that I question what I’m told, so I’ll happily forge ahead.

I highly recommend the documentary, “America: Freedom to Fascism,” by the late Aaron Russo. This film has caused me to think really hard about some of the “bizarre” arguments of the tax protester movement. Russo has a great ability to make “bizarre” arguments seem quite reasonable-even compelling.

Please check out this excerpt from the film where Russo interviews former IRS Commissioner and former General Counsel to the IRS, Sheldon Cohen. Russo questions Cohen regarding the IRS’s constitutional authority.

According to Cohen, “the IRS code is authorized by the 16th amendment.”  In response, Russo cites the U.S. Supreme Court decisions of Brushaber v Union Pacific Railroad, 240 U.S. 1 (1916) and Stanton v Baltic Mining, 240 U.S. 103 (1916), in support of his position that the 16th amendment doesn’t give our government any new taxing authority.    In response to this assertion, Cohen’s only defense seems to be in calling the Supreme Court decisions “inapplicable” to the IRS.  How could U.S. Supreme Court decisions interpreting constitutional government authority be “inapplicable” to the IRS?

Could this interview have been misleadingly edited?  We would almost have to see the entire interview unedited to answer that.

I certainly don’t have all the answers on this issue and I’m no constitutional scholar.  However, I do find Russo’s questions and arguments highly interesting.

Some might say, “Hey, why make a big issue out of this. We all need to pay our taxes for our government to function.” My response would be, “Our country is supposed to be governed by the rule of law. If our government fails to follow the rule of law, then it fails to function.”

Ask your American Indian neighbors how important it is for our government to abide by the rule of law.  You may be next in line, pleading your case.

Historically, many white folks probably supported violating the Ft. Laramie Treaty of 1868.  Many probably cited Manifest Destiny and how the gold and land in the Black Hills really belonged to the whites because it was given to whites by God and how those “savages” had no use for it.  Maybe they thought, “If God has no use for this treaty, then why should we?”

The human psyche has an incredible capacity for rationalization, especially when it comes to power and money.  Could this be happening within the power structure of the IRS?

Comments anyone?

Here’s a link to the entire documentary on Google video: America: Freedom to Fascism