http://www.kitcomm.com/comments/gold/1999q4/1999_11/991115.002603.goldzahav.htm

To whom it may concern,

This last week, the Net was buzzing with information about Bob Schulz's "IRS Showdown II" scheduled for the National Press Club in DC on November 13, 1999. Lots of people expected C-Span to cover this meeting like it did the previous one, but that did not happen. You have inquired regarding the lack of coverage by C-Span and I offer the following. Because so many others have also inquired, please excuse this "form" response which I am sending to everyone.

On July 1and 2, 1999, Bob Schulz from New York sponsored his first "IRS Showdown" in DC. Speakers at this first meeting were Bill Benson ( author of "The Law That Never Was" which addresses the question of the non-ratification of the 16th Amendment ) , Bill Conklin, Joe Banister ( former IRS Special Agent ) , Devvy Kidd and myself. Fortunately on July 2, C-Span broadcast the second day of that meeting nationwide and untold numbers of Americans caught it. Lots of interest in that first Showdown was generated as a consequence. Many contacted C-Span and ordered video tapes of the seminar and C-Span has informed Bob Schulz that it sold more videos of that meeting than any other program it has ever broadcast.

Bob planned his second Showdown for this last weekend, November 13, because of the apparent success of the first. Of the two meeting rooms on the 13th floor of the Press Club Building in DC, Bob rented the bigger "special events" meeting room; the Press Club has a built-in broadcast studio above this particular meeting room, thus making coverage of a meeting there extremely easy. Thereafter, Bob contacted C-Span inquiring whether it would cover this second meeting like it did the first, and was informed that there was a great likelihood that it would, reserving the possibility of cancellation in the event of some other "more interesting meetings or events." Of course, C-Span does not let those conducting events know about whether it will broadcast a meeting until 24 hours before.

When Bob made the arrangements for this second meeting, he was also lining up the speakers. He asked Bill Benson to again attend as well as former IRS Special Agent Joe Banister. Joe anticipated that he could get another retired IRS revenue agent to also attend and this other agent has views similar to those of Joe. Bob contacted Dave Bosset, an accountant and employer from Florida who recently received a "refund" check from the IRS repaying taxes withheld from his employees, and invited him to attend. As for me, I told Bob that whether I could attend depended upon a lack of other obligations for that weekend.

Last Thursday, I called Bob and informed him that I could attend the second Showdown. At that time, Bob told me that he expected C-Span to provide TV coverage of the event and he wanted us to spread the word. I did, and you read one of the announcements distributed by me or some other of the interested parties. Bill Benson contacted many with the same message and everyone anticipated that C-Span would televise that meeting on Saturday, Nov. 13.

On Friday, Nov. 12, most of the speakers arrived at the hotel at which we were staying early; I did not get there until mid-night. Nobody had seen Bob Schulz before we went to bed because he was driving down from New York. The next morning, we all went to the Press Club in DC, and upon seeing Bob, he informed us of his expectation of televised coverage by C-Span. However, he did mention that he provided a notice of the meeting to all of the other press agencies located in the Press Club Building on Friday, Nov. 12 and invited their attendance. Just before he left New York on Friday, he received a call from a man named Joel Gray, who claimed to be some type of federal government employee; Gray asked lots of questions about the meeting and stated that he had an office in the Press Club building and had received Bob's notice.

About 30 minutes before the meeting was to start, everyone was anticipating the arrival of the C-Span crew. But when showtime arrived and C-Span failed to appear, we had to start the meeting anyway. It was a good, well attended meeting and video tapes will be made available from several sources, one of whom will be Devvy Kidd whose webpage is at:

http://www.devvy.com/index.html

A particular highlight of this meeting was the speech given by Dave Bosset. Dave is an accountant by profession as well as a computer program writer. He is a businessman from Florida and recently ( this last June ) applied for a refund from the IRS regarding withholding taxes that his company had paid on behalf of its employees. Dave received that refund. He told those attending this meeting about what he did and the legal basis for his refund claim. This is a "first" and lots of people are interested in this issue. I hope that Dave soon sets up his own webpage.

Other speakers were Bill Benson, whose webpage is located at:

http://www.thelawthatneverwas.com/

Joe Banister, the former IRS Special Agent, also spoke and his webpage is located at:

http://www.freedomabovefortune.com/

Devvy Kidd has several articles about Joe posted to her webpage at:

http://www.devvy.com/banister.html

http://www.devvy.com/banister2.html

Bob Schulz's webpage is located at:

http://www.givemeliberty.org/

And of course, mine ( with Scott McDonald's ) is located at:

http://www.networkusa.org/index.shtml

We were very disappointed that C-Span failed to broadcast the second meeting of IRS Showdown. Presently, this is what we know regarding the failure of C-Span to attend and broadcast Showdown II:

1. Bob Schulz believes that the government employee, Joel Gray, was instrumental in convincing C-Span to not attend;

2. When the IRS Showdown was over, we went back to the hotel. Bill Benson received an important message to call his wife, and that lead to certain very intriguing information. Bill had informed lots of people that at Showdown II, he would identify Senator Orin Hatch as a party who attempted to buy all of Bill's work and books regarding the non-ratification of the 16th Amendment so that this information would not "get into the hands of the kooks out there" across America. Bill did tell everyone at Showdown II what Sen. Hatch's "henchmen" tried to do. But Bill received after the meeting a very important message from a good and reliable friend: C-Span did not attend and broadcast this meeting because it was paid "big bucks" not to.

As more information is learned regarding this C-Span matter, I expect Bob Schulz to post that information to his webpage. Why don't you periodically check there to receive information about any late breaking developments.

Larry Becraft

(The July 1-2 video is available through Devvy Kidd here)

http://www.devvy.com/video_19991019.html

-- OR (orwelliator@biosys.net), November 15, 1999

Answers

I found this wonderful quote from the debate in the summer of 1909:

Rep. Sereno E. Payne (R., NY)

... went to the floor and openly denounced the bill he had sponsored. Said he:

"As to the general policy of an income tax, I am utterly opposed to it. I believe with Gladstone that it tends to make a nation of liars. I believe it is the most easily concealed of any tax that can be laid, the most difficult of enforcement, and the hardest to collect; that it is, in a word, a tax upon the income of honest men and an exemption, to a greater or lesser extent, of the income of rascals; and so I am opposed to any income tax in time of peace...I hope that if the Constitution is amended in this way the time will not come when the American people will ever want to enact an income tax except in time of war."

(http://www.cats.org/a rticles/16hist1.html)

-- Tom Carey (tomcarey@mindspring.com), November 16, 1999.