Practical option for going on strike
We've all talked about what it would be like to go on strike, or what a true Galt's Gulch would look like. Here's an idea from an email conversation with some friends of mine:
"If there was a national tax revolt, we might tie [the Fed's] hands. They can plan until the cows come home, but if taxpayers said, "NO!" with our cash instead of our mouths and stopped paying taxes, most everything would grind to a halt - and not just [the specific gov atrocity we were talking about]. Huge shutdown. There would be panic among the government to get things rolling again. At that point the people have leverage. But that would require a unified opposition. We better not hold our breath on that one."
That led me to think: are there other ways that we can greatly reduce tax revenue (even if they raised taxes) within the current code?
• Is there a way for everyone to file tax extensions indefinitely without actually paying money? Technically, we'd "agree that we owe" XX amount of money, but give them a note of debt and keep the cash set aside in our bank accounts.
• Can we create an underground economy, where bartering is the only accepted currency? Obviously gold was used in the gulch, but technically gold is just an acceptable standard... If I trade my eggs for someone else's milk, then no sales tax is applicable. AND, if almost everything I "buy" is from bartering, I can lower my income drastically and give the IRS less.
• Or do you think we could actually get a nationwide tax strike off the ground?
"If there was a national tax revolt, we might tie [the Fed's] hands. They can plan until the cows come home, but if taxpayers said, "NO!" with our cash instead of our mouths and stopped paying taxes, most everything would grind to a halt - and not just [the specific gov atrocity we were talking about]. Huge shutdown. There would be panic among the government to get things rolling again. At that point the people have leverage. But that would require a unified opposition. We better not hold our breath on that one."
That led me to think: are there other ways that we can greatly reduce tax revenue (even if they raised taxes) within the current code?
• Is there a way for everyone to file tax extensions indefinitely without actually paying money? Technically, we'd "agree that we owe" XX amount of money, but give them a note of debt and keep the cash set aside in our bank accounts.
• Can we create an underground economy, where bartering is the only accepted currency? Obviously gold was used in the gulch, but technically gold is just an acceptable standard... If I trade my eggs for someone else's milk, then no sales tax is applicable. AND, if almost everything I "buy" is from bartering, I can lower my income drastically and give the IRS less.
• Or do you think we could actually get a nationwide tax strike off the ground?
This is one reason I say that we're headed for the status of a banana republic. One of the things the countries fitting that description all have in common is that the kinds of assets tax authorities know how to grab, simply don't exist there. Nearly all land titles are informal, because any land that was owned "on the books" was seized decades ago. Similarly, there are few bank accounts, and most workers are paid in cash. And most businesses operate illegally, because getting the many required licenses would mean paying so much in bribes that the owner would go broke first.
I'm not going to jeopardize my own career by advocating that people move their assets or activities "off the books," but I will point out that historically, this is what everyone does when taxes and government spending rise so high that most on-the-books jobs can't be sustained any longer. Thus if this were to happen, then the inhabitants of a "Gulch"-like community in that country would effectively be the same as everyone else, except that they moved off the books first and so may have managed to keep more of their assets than others in the population did.
In the cases I'm most familiar with (IRS and California's Franchise Tax Board) there are a variety of "due process rights" you do have, if you cooperate with the agency. For instance, you can negotiate monthly payment plans with them or (in a few cases) even have them accept only part of what you owe (though the ads you'll hear from lawyers advertising these things are very exaggerated). In cases where you can show poverty, they may postpone indefinitely trying to collect.
But if they decide you're a resister or you're stonewalling them, they'll just grab everything and make you go to court to get any of it back.
So there is or is not "due process," depending mostly on what you call "due process." The government certainly doesn't have to prove its case first, which would be my definition of the term.
The big change in the last few years is that there's now a lot of automated computer-matching of forms. If someone reports that they paid you money, and the agency doesn't find it on your tax return, they'll send you an automated "notice of proposed change." *Don't* ignore these notices, or you lose opportunities to argue about them. (And a lot of the things the computer "discovers" actually are wrong and can easily be reversed, if you respond in time.)
Thanks for the info. At the very least in the eyes of the IRs, the citizen is guilty and its up to the citizen to prove innocence
Edit: clarity
Barter is subject to income taxes. When I receive value in a barter, it is considered income by the IRS.
When Producers go on strike, most people call it "retirement." ;-)
That would also have to include a plan for moving all liquid assets out of the federal banking system and into another mode of payment.
Switching to consumption at local small businesses using local script instead of legal tender currency aka federal reserve notes would also be required.
Unfortunately it would further wreck the economy as a side effect.
I guess completely going on strike would only be possible if you're not paying throughout the year.
So my investments are also paying tax at that band.
for decades. . the tea party movement is probably
the starting point for a tax revolt, don't you think? -- j
But for the self-employed it could get interesting. But then they would yank all business licenses, etc.
Ah, but then the barter system. Bartering is a sensitive nerve issue with the IRS and there is a lot more of it and always has been than generally known. There is a really fun old 1959 Debbie Reynolds - Tony Randall movie about the IRS and a bartering individual:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mating_...
the time for a "Mind Strike" is not yet. There is
still time to try to convert people to Objectivism,or
at least a belief in individual rights. (Of course,
the movie of "Atlas Shrugged" was something of
a disappointment; it seems that Ayn Rand is
turning over in her grave. But after I went out
after seeing Part I, a man said something like,
"Makes you want to read the book." Evidently,
he hadn't).
Easy to understand if you pick up the sign that says center and move it from the center of the left to the true center which is the constitution.
You'll find zero Democrats or Republicans in the true center much less to the right...Far as I know only Libertarians and the true right wing extremists the anarchists in that direction. The rest of the extremists are found on the left starting with the ones who demand our votes,.
Perhaps start with this: http://no-ruler.net/3413/no-1040-starvin...
Then if you really want to dig into it, there's have much to chose from:
http://no-ruler.net/?s=Tax+strike%22
Repeat... don't file that 1040. Don't even THINK of tax "evasion" by filing anything false.
About "legal", try this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5lJtuEK...
I have much more, but it's your tax money and your time. Waste it anyway you wish.
I watched the video, and it definitely piques my interest. I'll try to watch the full documentary - but so far it doesn't show me that there truly is no law requiring us to file taxes. But - again - I will do more research, because if this is true then that is a banner I'll be waving.
Beyond that, there are numerous other of Marcy's videos on the same case, which I have linked in the past but somehow they are no longer valid links. Back in those days I had not yet learned about "embed". Marcy is a web-friend, and I will contact her and see if she still has those so I can reconstruct.
Meanwhile, her videos are the direct result of her being a juror on that case, so that could in itself could be found. Otherwise, it's folly to try to prove a "nothing"!
I have not filed a 1040 in for about 25 years now, without repercussion. It didn't begin as resistance, but it was back at a time when I couldn't afford the accountant, much less to pay taxes! However, it has long since been a part of my actions toward getting rid of government.
Consider the "fear" of yourself along with the vast majority of American slaves!
I think the first thing to is get organized, then decide on a day to stay away from work and do it. If that doesn't work, stay away for a week. This won't work unless a very large number of people do it of course.
How to withhold taxes:
Go to your employer HR person and increase your exemptions to 10 or 20.
Just a couple of thoughts
Including the government's electronic money-printing machine? I think it would go into overdrive.
I do not favor a consumer strike because it's possible to hurt hard working producers before the Fed can feel the equivalent of no sales tax coming in. In this case the first best thing you can do NOW is be more selective about where you spend-local, family owned producers.
Where the Fed has us over a barrel is we stood by while they instituted the withholding from our paychecks. We essentially mail them a huge amount of money every payday-generally having our employers-or our accountants spending resources and acting as an unpaid collection agency. Many have said that if our monthly income deduction came in the form of a bill that we write a check for every month-like our mortgage, utilities etch, there would be a tax revolt tomorrow.
Our power today is for 90,000,000 hard working honest producers to all go to our HR department on Monday and change your payroll deduction to a number that would insure little to no withholding. One would shut off the income stream over night. I'm not an attorney but I don't think is refusal to pay taxes--it's paying them the way they refund us. They hold onto our money for a year then we jump through ridiculous hoops trying to get some of it back. I do NOT suggest anything illegal. Just pay the taxes differently and on your terms. The point being we have the power. It's our dough! But it would take everyone and an organized commitment. They will continue to ram the moochers and looters down our throat as long as we act like whipped pups and keep sending them our money.
However, as far as using the argument "everything that God made is good" politically, I think he's shooting himself in the foot. I think there are plenty of arguments for the legalization of marijuana using logic that everyone agrees on. (I don't make it a practice to use the Bible to debate with atheists, because that would be akin to someone using a Harry Potter book to convince me there's truly a Hogwarts.)
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