But the Lawyer Says

Quote:

http://www.wethepeoplefoundation.org/MISC/Cryer/CryerInitialAnnouncement.htm

Attorney Challenges Income Tax Law
Constitutional History in the Making

Longtime Shreveport , Louisiana , attorney, Tommy K. Cryer, is no
stranger to conflict and controversy. The Hall of Fame attorney, an
honor graduate of LSU Law School and member of the prestigious Order
of the Coif, has a reputation for taking on issues no one else would
and, on a number of occasions, he has made new inroads in the legal
world. But now he has thrown down the gauntlet in front of the mother
of all 800 pound gorillas, the Internal Revenue Service, and the mama
gorilla has picked it up. The only thing certain now is that someone
is going to be hurt.

The story began over a decade ago when a friend told Cryer that the
income tax was a sham. Cryer did not believe a word of it and thought
his friend had gone off the deep end. Learning that his friend had
decided to stop filing tax returns, Cryer determined to research the
matter, show his friend where he was wrong, and keep him from getting
in trouble with the IRS. That is how a two-year research project
began, but it did not turn out the way Cryer expected. Sporting a wry
grin, Cryer said "That just goes to show you that no good deed goes
unpunished."

His research not only included the tax laws themselves, but went past
the first income tax in 1861 to the drafting of the Constitution and
included reading hundreds of cases, Congressional archives and tax
laws from 1913 to present. Cryer learned that although his friend had
only a piece of the picture, he was right. "The Tax Code and its
regulations are carefully and," he adds, "ingeniously crafted to
deceive," said Cryer. He explains that the answer is not in what the
laws say, but rather in what they do not say, and those provisions
that are revealing are either hidden within tons of verbiage or behind
double and triple negatives. And, more importantly, he says, he knows
why.

So Cryer decided he would also stop filing returns and would challenge
the IRS if and when it came to call. Cryer said "Once you've taken an
oath to uphold the Constitution and the law, obeying the law is only
half the job. You also have to be willing to fight for it. I've not
only sworn to fight for the Constitution as an attorney, as a former
officer in the Army I've sworn to die for it."

In 2001 they came, demanding information and returns. Cryer advised
them that if they could show him any law making him liable or making
his revenues taxable he would file any tax returns required by the
law. They could not show him any law.

Instead, the IRS began to pelt Cryer with a series of summonses,
gathering up all banking records. It even subpoenaed Cryer's
secretary into the office for interrogation. But Cryer did not
budge. Frustrated, the IRS called in their criminal investigations
division, CID, and Cryer told them the same thing, "Show me the law
that makes me liable or my revenue taxable and I will file." They
could not show him any law.

CID began the summons pelting all over again, but Cryer filed a
petition to quash the summonses, which even included summonsing his
college and law school records from almost forty years ago. "I
suppose they thought the records would show I was some kind of kook or
an idiot, but all they would have found is that I graduated from
college in only three years and that I graduated from law school in
the top of my class." Cryer said.

So, CID called in the Justice Department (DOJ) and the sabers began to
rattle. Cryer met with the Assistant U. S. Attorney and an official
of the IRS and reminded them that all they need do is show him the
law. They could not show him any law, either.

"The CID and DOJ both responded only with 'your position is
frivolous.' I had never stated a position, so how could they know
whether it was frivolous?" Cryer said, "Imagine my sending you a bill
for $1,000 and when you call me and ask what the bill was for I simply
said, 'that position is frivolous, just write the check and send it
in.' What would you say? Would you write the check?"

"After that they circled for awhile, apparently not sure what to do
with or to me," he continues, "but when I went public with a book I'm
writing, LIBERTY LOST, A Treasure Map to Buried Freedom, about how the
federal government has escaped its constitutional limits and how to
put it back, that broke the impasse. Within two months they accused
me of tax evasion. Do I look like Al Capone? Well, I am a bit
overweight and he was kind of chubby, too."

The two count indictment accuses Cryer of concealing income in a trust
in 2000 and 2001, keeping himself "below the radar." But in 2001 he
was not only on the radar, he was in the cross-hairs. Cryer, whose
wife, Carolyn, was severely disabled, was worried that if anything
happened to him Carolyn's son would have her destitute before the
grass grew over his grave. He set up the trust in 1993 and opened
brokerage accounts in hopes of parlaying the seed money he could
muster up into a fund to provide for her and safeguard the money.
Carolyn died in 1999, but he continued to trade in the accounts.

"They subpoenaed every record on me you could imagine, they even got
into my dry cleaner's account, but they did not subpoena the brokerage
account records. They did not want the facts, just an indictment. If
they had they would have known that the trust not only had no income
for those two years, it lost money both years, but they did not want
to know the truth because that would prevent them from accusing me."
he said.

Cryer says that it has already been an eye-opening experience for him,
"It's been revealing. I've had agents tell me the law did not apply
to them, so I suppose they think they are above the law. Another,
challenged with having failed to follow IRS procedures explained that
the procedures are binding on us (the peasants?), but that the IRS
does not have to follow its own procedures unless it wants to. After
effecting a legal stay on the CID summonses, a CID investigator called
the banks he had summonsed and when they pointed out that they were
stayed and not allowed to release records until the court ruled, he
demanded they send him the records anyway, law or no law. After I
made full disclosure of all records, saying show me where any of this
is taxed, they sent agents out to 'visit' with my clients, and you can
imagine what effect that has had on my practice. But the ride is
going to get a lot bumpier from here on. I'm threatening a lot of
rice bowls. Someone may actually have to go get a job and work like
the rest of us."

Well, now the worm has turned. Cryer filed a motion to dismiss both
counts against him, showing that the law, as it is written, does not
make him liable nor tax his revenue from his law practice. The motion
takes another bold step, however, revealing that the income tax, as
applied to wages, salaries and fees personally earned, is
unconstitutional, citing four separate grounds for the
unconstitutionality of the law as to almost every citizen's revenue
personally earned.

According to Cryer, the law, which is carefully drawn to stay inside
the Constitution, does not actually tax personal earnings, but the IRS
publications, no more law than Time Magazine, say it does and by
collecting taxes on personal earnings it has violated several
fundamental constitutional restrictions. He says that nearly a
trillion dollars is siphoned, illegally, away from families and
households every year, although their wages and salaries, including
bonuses, are exempt from taxation under the Constitution. "I wish
there were some way I could have taken this case on a 1/3
contingency," he joked.

Due to the adverse publicity and clients' fear of being targeted if
they get too close to a target, Cryer says his practice has suffered
immensely, placing him in a severe financial strain. "Getting the
government off everyone's back and out of their pockets is going to be
expensive and, frankly, I don't have the means," Cryer said, "but
somehow I am going to finish this. I am totally convinced that this
is why I am here on this Earth, this is why I am a lawyer, and since
it's meant to be, it will be."

This man has devoted his life and practice to helping people. He left
the big firm road over thirty years ago and opened a storefront solo
practice because he did not become a lawyer to run up billable hours
and stack up money. He wanted to solve people's problems and make the
system work as it was intended. He is not a fat cat lawyer and deals
with the same problems we all do every day. Now, he's put his freedom
and future on the line for all of us.

The government has destroyed Tom Cryer's practice in order to impede
his ability to fight this battle and he needs your help. If you are
tired of being afraid of your own government and can help, please send
whatever you can to the Tom Cryer Defense Fund and then forward this
message to everyone you know.

Make checks payable to "C. L. Mitchell" with "Cryer Defense" on the
memo line and mail to:

C. L. Mitchell
Cryer Defense Fund
11190 General Bradley Ave.
Shreveport , LA 71106
(and for a free copy of the 104 page memorandum Mr. Cryer filed
explaining the law and the reasons the Constitution makes your
paycheck exempt, include your email)
Contributors will NOT be disclosed to ANYONE, especially the
government. This is not a political campaign, so there are no
reporting requirements.
God bless you and God bless the USA .