Originally Posted by
adventurous1
From the little I've read about Irwin Schiff, I believe he was correct on many things but what I thought he was dead wrong was placing zero on a tax return (at least I think it was him) when the Courts repeatedly said "...that's frivolous", yet he kept doing it. People like Schiff seem to write these monstrous and voluminous books with soooooo much info, it's difficult to grasp it all (though I believe the essence is completely accurate). And the basic premise Schiff kept telling people they don't have to file; however if those same people used a TAX ID # then they are a TAXPAYER, and thus liable for TAXES. Saying anything contrary to this simple fact - will have a disastrous legal impact. As Schiff discovered a few times - and believe he was finally sentenced for 'contempt of court' not any other crime - but I may be mistaken.
Also, it seems that Hansen guy learned from his dealing with the Courts, he then tweaked some of his paperwork and approach to deal with some things that may be problematic. Read a book by a guy named Otto Skin or Skinner years ago. (I remember the name Otto because him and Otto Preminger are 2 guys with that name that I've ever heard ). Anyway, Otto's book was very basic, simple to read, and waaaay ez to comprehend.
What I do not understand with many of these 'tax patriot' people is that they never tell Citizens to simply stop using a TAX ID number to work (maybe they do, I don't know). But, it seems extremely simple. Now, I say that because I've been doing it for 14 yrs - without a problem. However, I do understand, if a citizen has worked at a company for 10 or 20 yrs, or in some union trade or whatever, where they've give a prior # to a payor, then the worker is screwed.
btw, the legal department at ADP told me years ago, that the 'default #' for people who do not provide a number is '555-55-5555'. Apparently, some or all payroll / accounting/ bookkeeping software programs needs "a number" for the software system to go to the next page in that operating system. Payors and colleges / universities seem to use the "555-55-5555".