Bleh...

I just wrote what I hope will be one of the last letters that I ever have to write to the Internal Revenue Service.

Background:

Right after 9/11/01 I got wrapped up in some of the more conspiracy-oriented information that was out on the web. As I am trained in the fields of mechanical and structural engineering, I was skeptical of the official story regarding the destruction of the World Trade Center towers.

As I took in all of this conspiracy information, I came across a website called www.taxableincome.net (this website has since changed, but most of the relevant information that was on that site is now at www.861.info ).

As I started looking through the “taxableincome” site, I came across a report entitled “Taxable Income” by Larken Rose. While I found the notion that the income of most Americans is not taxable under the current United States Code and Code of Federal Regulations to be absurd, the report was concise and well-written, and it seemed to be well-documented.

I remained skeptical, so what did I do? Well, I just HAD to look into his legal citations for myself and find out what the law really said.

Lo and behold, I believed (and still believe) that he was right! The income tax is perfectly constitutional…it’s just grossly misapplied.

Thereafter, I presented some yes or no questions (2 or 3) to my Congressman and to the IRS that would have clarified and/or confirmed my understanding of the laws involved, and I have yet to receive direct responses to these questions. How’s THAT for due process?!

You may be thinking “WTF? Just file your return and avoid a fight with the IRS.”

That’s all well and good, but I have a slight problem: ethics. Why ethics? Because the 1040 form requires me to affix my signature, under penalty of perjury, stating that I believe everything on that 1040 form is true and correct.

Well, after reading the law, I was unable to do that.

I was raised to tell the truth. I raise my children to tell the truth. I expect others to tell the truth. Furthermore, my profession requires me to behave ethically and tell the truth because my work involves protecting the public’s safety through sound design work.

Ethics are so important to me that I can’t just turn them off. Granted, being able to ignore them would be much less expensive for me, but in my humble opinion, they apply at all times to all situations.

Otherwise, they are completely useless. (and I happen to believe that the concept of ethics is very closely, if not intimately, related to the teachings of the man known as Jesus Christ).

Long story short…I haven’t filed a federal income tax return since April 2002. This is not to say that I haven’t paid any federal taxes. On the contrary, I have paid more than I would have if I had just filed a return.

I may be a fool, but to me, there some things in life that are more important than the accumulation of money.

Maintaining my ethical integrity is one of them.