A Word on Government Entitlements

Sharron Angle, when asked about her call to overhaul the income tax system, told Newsmax: “The federal income tax is 67,000 pages of reward your friends and punish your enemies.” Herein is my case before the U. S. Supreme Court in the October term of 1980. Here is what Solicitor General Wade H. McCree, Jr. told the Court: “There is no basis for petitioner’s claim that the income tax is unconstitutional confiscation of property without due process of law.”

My claim was dismissed without a comment from the Court, but on December 1, 1986, The Palm Beach Post published this commentary:

“Joseph W. Smith, Jr. is convinced he’ll never have any peace as long as he’s a taxpayer and the Internal Revenue Service exists.”

“He’s driven by an 11-year feud with the IRS over what turned out to be erroneous assessments on his 1973 and 1974 federal income tax returns. The problems started in 1975 when his return was audited.”

Note: I read my Constitution in 1973 and felt that voices of the past were speaking to me. I had a bigger than life calling.

“The IRS twice collected the money, twice returned it with interest after Smith filed suit, and then again tried to collect the money this month—despite a federal court order that said Smith didn’t owe the IRS anything.”

“Holger Euringer, IRS pubic relations officer in Jacksonville, said last week that the agency had been wrong all along and that Smith soon would receive a letter of apology from the IRS district director.”

Note- As usual, he was lying. I didn’t receive an apology. I received a warning from the Director of Internal Revenue.

“’We did make numerous mistakes in the collection procedures.’ Euringer said. ‘We are very sorry and we apologize. We did not intend in any way to harass or intimidate him, but I can see why he might have that impression.”

Note: Here’s what McCree told the Court: “Petitioner also charges harassment by the Internal Revenue Service, through its ‘microscopic examination’ of his 1973 records, and ‘inappropriate meddling’ by allowing his wife to file a separate return for 1974. It is however, well settled that the Internal Revenue Service can investigate merely on suspicion that the law is being violated, or even just because it wants assurance that it is not.”

Note- The IRS can witch hunt, if a taxpayer protests, which is what the IRS did. It is no better than Nazi justice.

“The 61-year-old Smith said his long ordeal has made him bitter.”

“I don’t believe it was unintentional,” he said. “If ever there has been a case of deprivation of rights, a violation of the due process clause, this is true in my case. The federal government is a lawless renegade.”

“Smith, who operates a videotaping business from his home at 2009 S. Olive Ave., has asked for court orders since 1975 against what he termed, ‘an out-and-out government fraud.’”

“While generating a snowstorm of legal documents the outspoken Texas native has battled one of the government’s most powerful agencies largely without help from attorneys.” (Actually, with zero help from attorneys.)

“Court documents, IRS letters and Smith’s files tell a chilling story of IRS bumbling that began in 1975 when the agency disagreed with Smith on how much he owed in 1973 and 1974 taxes.”

“After the audit, the IRS said Smith owed $1,408 in back taxes in addition to what he had paid. Smith disagreed, so the IRS took it out of money he was owed in rebates as a result of business losses in other years.”

“Smith filed suit, but the government kept the money until just before his 1978 hearing in the U. S. Tax Court, when IRS officials admitted the assessment was inaccurate, according to court records. “

Note- Solicitor General McCree to the Court: “This error was regrettable, but as the Court of Appeals found, it was corrected prior to trial and did not cause petitioner any injury.”

“The IRS said its error was caused by confusion over what Smith and his ex-wife individually owed in 1974, the year they were divorced. The court ruled that he owed only $640 for 1974, and the rest of the assessment was refunded to him. The court also said Smith had been overcharged $300 in 1973, and ordered a refund.”

“During the three years it took to get his suit settled, Smith said, the IRS improperly held $5,000 it owed him because of business related operating loss rebates. He said the IRS first applied part of that money to the erroneous assessment. He said he later was paid the full amount of the rebates.”

“Euringer said the IRS is not allowed to withhold refunds pending the outcome of court cases unless the total amount is applied to taxes owed.”

Note- During the time that the IRS illegally kept my refund money, and my wife had all the joint property tied up before the divorce trial, my landlord locked me out for non-payment of rent.

“If what he’s saying is correct, we were wrong,” he said.

Was the IRS merely wrong, or was the IRS the same as the Gestapo?

“Then, in 1980, (after the Supreme Court threw out my constitutional claim) the IRS took a second look at Smith’s 1973 and 1974 tax returns and said he owed $2,556 plus interest. The IRS took that money out of proceeds from the sales of a condominium in Portland, Ore.”

“Smith said he told the IRS about the previous tax court decision and said he didn’t owe the money. The IRS stuck by it decision, and he filed a refund claim for the $2,556, which he said the IRS failed to answer.”

“Euringer, however, said the IRS rejected the claim, which allowed Smith to take the matter to court.”

“In 1983, Smith filed suit in U.S. District Court in West Palm Beach to get the money back” (after I was turned down on a G.I. loan for a home, because I had an outstanding IRS tax lien against me).”

“But before the case could go to trial, according to documents from the tax division of the U.S. Justice Department, the division declared the $2,556 a wrongful levy (and the tax lien a wrongful tax lien. I got my G.I. loan approved).

Kayla Lettow, a tax auditor with the examination section of the agency’s Problems Resolution Office, said last week that the assessment was dropped because Oregon IRS revenue officer W. J. Manderfeld incorrectly analyzed Smith’s tax liability.” (Manderfeld also forgot to do away with the tax lien he filed after he confiscated my property.)

“So on Nov. 28, 1984, Smith signed an agreement with Justice in which he dropped the suit in exchange for a refund of the $2,556, plus $1,675 in interest.”

“Smith said he waited for months, however, and no check came. So he reopened his suit. On March 11, 1985, U.S. District Court Judge James C. Paine ordered the IRS to pay us in 30 days.”

Note- (You are in big trouble, Judge. You don’t mess with the IRS.)

“Smith received a check for $4,231 on April 12, 1985, five months after the deal was made and only one day before the government would have been in contempt of Paine’s order.”

“After that, he said, he put the matter out of his mind and figured the final chapter had been written.”

“But on Oct. 23, 1986, he said, an IRS revenue agent came to his door demanding that he pay $3,130 in assessments, interest and penalties owed on his 1974 taxes. He said the agent told him the IRS mistakenly had refunded the money.”

“I couldn’t believe it,” Smith said. “I told her I didn’t owe it and that I had a court order to prove it. She said she didn’t know anything about that, but that I should give her a check, and now. I told her to tell IRS to try to get the money and slammed the door in her face. The agent turned on her heel and muttered that would be no problem for the IRS.”

Note- Little did I know.

“Action wasn’t long in coming. On Nov. 5, the IRS issued a notice to Barnett Bank of Palm Beach saying it wanted the $960 in Smith’s band account because he owed $961.70 on his 9774 return.”

“Euringer said the Nov 5 bank account levy was a mistake.”

Note- When I received notice that the IRS had cleaned out my checking account, I called Judge Paine. Paine said he had stuck his neck out once for me. He was not going to do it again. I took the court record to the Palm Beach Post. I sent a copy of the article to Sen. Bob Graham. His response. The IRS is allowed to use “draconian means” of collecting income tax, thanks to Sen. Graham and his colleagues. If you think that public exposure of the IRS was the end of it, you are wrong. The IRS went after my wife. They sent her notice that she owed $35,000 in tax, penalty, and interest, and threatened to take our home in payment if she did not comply immediately.

Which is it to be, government entitlement or the right to the fruits of your labor. Sen. Graham and his colleagues think they own you. Sharron Angle is too kind to Harry Reid. He and the rest of his colleagues ought to be in prison.

If you think I’m right, let Sharron know that I’ve got the court record of a lawless renegade government in control of your lives.

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