-Caveat Lector-
Can you give me his web cite?
Jim Norman
"Hilary A. Thomas" wrote:
> -Caveat Lector-
>
> FRIDAY MARCH 26 1999
> THE POWER TO DESTROY
> IRS special agent challenges system
> Agency illegitimate, tax law non-existent, he says
> By Sarah Foster
> � 1999 WorldNetDaily.com
>
> "The Internal Revenue Service is everything the so-called tax protesters
> said it was; non-responsive, unable to withstand scrutiny, tyrannical, and
> oblivious to the rule of law and the U.S. Constitution." That's how Joseph
> Banister -- a certified public accountant who, until last month, was an
> investigator and gunslinger for the Criminal Investigation Division of the
> IRS -- now regards his former employer. His conclusion is based in part on
> a personal two-year investigation into the agency's history and purpose --
> an investigation he began somewhat reluctantly, never expecting he'd reach
> the conclusion he did. His research led him to question its very legality
> and constitutionality. Deeply disturbed by his discoveries, he summarized
> these in a report which, in February, he sent to his supervisors, and asked
> them to respond to three allegations: That the filing of federal income
> tax returns is voluntary and the filing of federal income tax returns is
> not required; That the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was never
> ratified; That income taxes are not used to pay for daily government
> operations, but to pay the interest on the national debt. "All the time I
> was doing my research, I looked for snags -- looked for things that would
> prove that everything I was reading and finding out was wrong," Banister
> told WorldNetDaily. "I had taken this job thinking I'd be wearing the white
> hat, and I slowly found out I was not wearing the white hat. So something
> had to change." The change came quickly last month, when the IRS accepted
> Banister's offer of resignation rather than respond to the questions
> raised. He is believed to be the first IRS-CID special agent who -- having
> determined to his satisfaction that certain allegations about the income
> tax were true -- confronted the hierarchy at the IRS about his findings.
> He has paid dearly for this. "It's the end of my dream of a career in law
> enforcement," he said, recalling in a telephone interview the series of
> events that propelled him from the ranks of armed federal agents to the
> camp of those reviled by the government as tax protesters. The action also
> cost him his $80,000 a year job. Banister, 36, had dreamed that dream for
> a long time. In 1986, he graduated with a degree in business administration
> from San Jose State University in the San Francisco Bay area, and for the
> next three years worked for KPMG Peat Marwick as a senior tax specialist
> and staff auditor. A gentle, soft-spoken man -- who chooses his words
> carefully -- he would seem ideally suited to a job dealing with numbers and
> accounting. Just the kind of job he had, but it wasn't enough. "I wanted
> to get into law enforcement, but had recently (in 1990) gotten my certified
> public accountant certificate," he explained. "I wondered if there wasn't
> some way a CPA could wear a uniform, gun and a badge." A skilled marksman
> -- Banister has been a member of the National Rifle Association and Gun
> Owners of America since 1991 and 1992, respectively -- he began exploring
> the federal law enforcement agencies for employment opportunities. In 1991
> he applied for a position at both the FBI and IRS-CID, "in case the FBI job
> didn't work out." Due to a hiring freeze, the FBI kept him at "in a holding
> pattern" for two years. So when in August 1993, the IRS-CID phoned and
> asked if he were still interested in working for them, Banister said yes.
> Although his heart was set on the FBI, working for the IRS as a special
> agent had definite advantages. He could work in his hometown of San Jose,
> and not have to move around the country -- as working for the FBI might
> have required. This was something his wife and sons greatly appreciated.
> "We'll treat you just as we do every taxpayer -- no special favors," he was
> promised. And the IRS was as good as its word. As part of his background
> check, Banister's financial affairs were closely audited. Told he owed
> $4,000, he fought the charge and won -- and even received a $1,000 refund.
> Despite this small skirmish with the auditors, he was hired anyway, and in
> December 1993 embarked on his new career as "an accountant with a badge and
> a gun," as IRS-CID special agents are called. "The most important day of
> my career was probably the first day, when I swore an oath to God to
> support and defend the Constitution of the United States," Banister
> recalled. "I have always taken that oath very seriously." The newly
> sworn-in agent enjoyed the changes of pace his work demanded. As one of the
> 3,000 IRS-CID officers nationwide, Banister was authorized to execute and
> serve search and arrest warrants, to make arrests without warrant, to carry
> firearms, and seize property subject to forfeiture. He was eventually
> advanced to the position of asset forfeiture coordinator and Organized
> Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force coordinator for the Central California
> District. He was a firearms instructor for his fellow agents. "I loved my
> job," he said. "I was able to do very complicated financial analyses, yet
> every three months I'd go out and do my shotgun and handgun qualification.
> I had to do a variety of things and handle a number of situations from
> helping serve the most scary search warrant to sitting in court and
> testifying about a 10-year, $10 million financial analysis." Banister knew
> the reputation the IRS had earned; that the very name, IRS, inspired fear
> in people. But, he was not troubled by that and hoped to change public
> perception. "I wasn't personally responsible for the IRS reputation," he
> explained. "I thought in my small way I'd make a difference. I knew it was
> an unpopular tax, but what tax isn't unpopular? I figured that if it had to
> be administered it should be administered by people who didn't let the
> power go to their heads and behave like idiots. If that happened, if the
> officers knew they were to serve the people, then everything would be OK.
> "As corny as it sounds, that's what I believed," he said. If it hadn't
> been for a particular talk radio host, Banister might still be a special
> agent. He liked the work, which included opportunities to listen to talk
> radio. One of his favorite talk show hosts is Geoff Metcalf, a popular
> conservative West Coast talk show host and WorldNetDaily columnist. As he
> tells it: "In December 1996, I was driving around in my government car and
> listening to Geoff Metcalf, whom I really like. He had a woman named Devvy
> Kidd as a guest, and I'd never heard of her -- but she was saying all this
> stuff about how the income tax was voluntary and the 16th Amendment was
> never ratified. If she hadn't been on Metcalf's show, I'd have dismissed
> her as one of those kooky tax protesters we'd been warned about. But being
> on Metcalf's show lent real credibility. I figured he wouldn't have someone
> on unless she had something valuable to say." Kidd, a writer and activist,
> had recently moved with her husband to California from Colorado. She and
> constitutional attorney Larry Becraft of Huntsville, Alabama, have founded
> the Wallace Institute, named after Scottish freedom fighter, William
> "Braveheart" Wallace. Curious, but skeptical, Banister sent for Kidd's two
> booklets -- "Why a Bankrupt America" and "Blind Loyalty" -- and began
> studying. Looking back, he describes himself as "so uninformed. I didn't
> know the underlying issues." "There was so much. There was information
> about the Federal Reserve System and quotes from Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tx.). It
> was overwhelming," he said. Despite a heavy workload and family
> commitments, he persisted. "I'm not only a criminal investigator, I'm
> basically curious. I don't take anybody's word for things. And this
> research took me a long time. I was working 50 hours a week to support a
> wife and kids. It took a while to find the time to do it, but I kept at
> it." Banister contacted Kidd and the other writers she listed in her
> books. There was William Benson, who with Red Beckman had co-authored "The
> Law that Never Was," which convinced Banister that the 16th Amendment had
> never been ratified. He phoned Bill Conklin. "He's the guy that says
> filing income tax returns is voluntary," Banister explained, impressed
> particularly by fact that Conklin has offered a $50,000 reward to anyone
> who can prove him wrong -- "and it's still waiting for someone to collect
> it." For background on the Federal Reserve System Banister turned to
> "TheCreature from Jekyll Island," by D. Griffith, published by the John
> Birch Society. In addition, he turned to the statute books themselves and
> examined the court cases, to see if all these claims and charges he was
> hearing about for the first time were true. His conclusions: "The court
> cases checked out, just as I had been told they would," he said. "The cases
> can be read in any law library, they haven't been overruled. To this day I
> haven't been able to find any untruths about what Devvy Kidd has said about
> the Federal Reserve and the income tax. Everything she said has checked
> out." Small wonder Banister found himself asking himself more and more --
> "My gosh, what am I part of?" In early February, Banister submitted his
> findings -- which he had compiled in a report -- to his superiors at the
> IRS, asking that they pass along his allegations to those high in the IRS
> so that they could respond to the three allegations. This was done.
> Banister learned his report and the allegations were circulated at the
> highest levels -- including the legal department. As promised at the
> beginning of his career, the IRS responded to the once-eager special agent
> as they do to any taxpayer who asks embarrassing questions about the
> constitutionality of the income tax and the 16th Amendment. On Feb. 17,
> Banister was called into his supervisor's office, and assured his report
> had been reviewed "by the highest levels of the IRS." Then he was handed a
> memo dated that day, presenting the typical non-response: "The Internal
> Revenue Service will not be responding to your request and will provide you
> with the necessary paperwork to tender your resignation," his supervisor
> wrote. "You will be placed on administrative leave effective upon receipt
> of this memorandum for a period of seven calendar days to consider what
> actions you wish to take." Banister says he was "astonished" and
> "confused," at the response -- or rather "the lack of it." After all, he
> had worked for the agency five years. He believed his allegations were
> serious enough to warrant a response. Even a personal plea to Commissioner
> Charles Rossotti himself, wasn't enough. His career as a special agent was
> so much dust. Banister reports no retaliatory actions have been taken. He
> has not been followed; his phone appears to be untapped. He is working to
> have his CPA license reinstated so he can return to the private sector, but
> he hopes his action will inspire both members of the public and his fellow
> agents to take some kind of action -- perhaps to demand a thorough review
> and examination by Congress; something that's never been done. Says
> Banister: "I never intended to write a report, but I needed to tell more
> than one person what I had found. I can't tell people not to file, but I
> figure if people learn that their tax dollars are going simply to pay
> interest on a debt and doesn't go to run the government, if they know they
> have certain rights -- they'll do something. "So I'm not advocating
> anything. I'm just trying to tell people the truth. People get mad if their
> auto mechanic overcharges them by 50 bucks. If they find out the whole darn
> income tax system is a big fraud, I'm hoping they'll get mad enough to do
> something about it." There has been speculation circulated on the Internet
> that Banister is a "plant" -- an agent provocateur -- sent by the IRS to
> infiltrate the ranks of the tax protest movement. Those questioned by
> WorldNetDaily dispute these charges. "No way," says Kidd. "I've talked to
> him, and he didn't just jump in -- I had to really work to convince him.
> Besides, he's not advocating anything. He's not saying not to file, he's
> not saying not to pay taxes. He's not doing any of that. He's a really
> decent guy who loves his family and his country." Bill Benson, co-author
> of the "Law that Never Was," agrees. "I've spent hours and hours talking
> to Joe," Benson says. "We talked many times on the phone over the course of
> a year; it wasn't just one casual conversation. If he were a fraud,
> somewhere in the course of a year I'd have detected something. "As Joe has
> discovered -- and will come forward to testify -- there is no law in the
> Internal Revenue Code that requires anyone to file a 1040 form or pay an
> income tax. He's done a great service for the people in this country."
> Steve Hempfling, director of the Free Enterprise Society, a citizens group
> based in Fresno, California, also vouches for Banister's authenticity.
> "This (Banister's defection from the IRS) could be the most important event
> to hit the tax-protest movement in years, he says. "Because of his
> credibility this could start a major tidal wave for the IRS to deal with,
> if he hangs in there. "I like him; I think he's sincere," Hempfling
> continued. "He's done what we've always asked the government officials to
> do: read our material and show us where we're wrong. He did what we asked.
> He actually looked it over and couldn't find anything wrong -- so he came
> over to our side." Joe Banister will be speaking in person at the Free
> Enterprise Society convention in San Jose, California, April 10-11. A copy
> of his report, Investigating the Federal Income Tax, can be ordered from
> his website. See also: 'An action career with the IRS'
>
> � 1999 Western Journalism Center This page was last
>built 3/26/99;
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DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic
screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters
and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright
frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects
spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL
gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers;
be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and
nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
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