Customer Reviews

The Power to Destroy

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

This book is unbelievable! Senator Roth outlines dozens of abuses and outright violations of federal and constitutional law violations...yet not ONE time does he indicate that any of the offenders were ever brought before any court (where they could have a better chance of defending themselves than THEY gave to the people whom they abused). At one point, Roth laments that we will never know how many innocent people were prosecuted and convicted of crimes they did not commit. THIS IS BULL! All he needed to do was demand from the Justice Department all records pertaining to people who were charged and convicted for various tax offenses. They have these records. While the book is a good read, and is definately an eye opener, I was SICKENED over the fact that NOTHING was done to the offenders. If there is any REAL JUSTICE in this country, the RENO Justice Department should have been investigating, indicting, and PROSECUTING these rogue agents and supervisors. Looks like the IRS (read federal government) is really ABOVE THE LAW.

Here is what's sad. The income tax is VOLUNTARY! The US Supreme Court in Flora v United States, 362 U.S.145, pg176 said "...Our system of taxation is based upon voluntary assessment and payment, not upon distraint." Several IRS Commissioner's have also stated this. In the Jan 9, 1997 issue of the San Diego Union Tribune IRS Commissioner Margaret Milner Richardson said "Ultimately I worry it may have some impact on our self-assessment system." This was stated while she announced her resignation while warning that continued public bashing of her agency may someday undermine Americans''willingness to pay their taxes voluntarily. "The IRS'primary task is to collect taxes under a voluntary compliance system."--Jerome Kurtz, Internal Revenue Annual Report, 1980; "Our tax system is based on individual self-assessment and voluntary compliance."--Mortimer Caplin, Internal Revenue Audit Manual, 1975. The list goes on and on. Congressman Dan Burton (Indiana, Government Reform and Oversight) has stated in writing that "...the word 'liable' or the terminology 'liability for income taxes' is not included in any section of the Internal Revenue Code."--11 December 1997. Congressman John Ensign (Nevada, Ways and Means Committee) has stated in writing and on a radio talk show, "Let me start by saying I cannot point to a specific place in the law where it says you must pay income taxes."--24 August 1998. In the March 6, 1997 edition of USA Today, a reporter asked this question to Senator Bob Kerry; "The commission's goal is to 'ensure the American public's faith in its government to collect revenue in a fair and courteous manner.' Why does being fair and courteous matter?" Kerry's response: "It's a voluntary system. If people don't perceive it to be fair, people will not voluntarily comply. We are struggling to maintain ground on voluntary compliance."

No one in the government tells you that by merely filing a return you are waiving your constitution rights against being a witness against yourself. In fact, the Privacy Act page of the 1040 booklet says that the government can use your return against you, and can even provide the information to a plethora of other agencies...including foreign governments! But if you are involved in illegal wagering, you are guaranteed immunity from prosecution! Our greedy government wants money from everyone, including criminals. Persons making money from illegal wagering are to use Form 730 to file their taxes (see this on the IRS website). This form states that these people cannot be prosecuted by anyone for filing this form. So, criminals are granted immunity, while law abiding taxpayers are waiving their rights, and are informed in the 1040 booklet that any information they provide can be used against them in any criminal or civil matter. Crazy!

In February and March1953 during hearings before the Ways and Means committee, Dwight E. Avis, then head of the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax Division of the IRS gave testimony on the administration of internal revenue laws. In a question posed by house member Mr. Curtis, Mr. Avis said, "...Let me point this out now: Your income tax is 100 percent voluntary tax, and your liquor tax is 100 percent enforced tax. Now, the situation is as different as day and night."

There is so much more I could go into. Based on what I have shown so far, how could the IRS (an administrative arm of the Federal Government) do to people what Roth's book reveals? And not be prosecuted. I highly recommend this book. It will shock and anger you. It should motivate you to call or write to these "lawmakers", and demand to know why nothing has been done to these government criminals!

It is obvious that the people who gave this book one star are either tax avoiders or work for the IRS. This book was very informative and helps people know where to go when they need help. It is very good and keeps interest. I recommend it! I wonder if 20/20 with Sam Donaldson based their stories on the book.

I confess that I have yet to finish reading this book but I feel it is important to share my opinion of the title. As appropriate as it is, readers should be aware that the destructive powers the IRS employs on a very large scale are not provided the agency by statute. In defense of their destructive actions they are likely to refer to statutes granting the powers in question to the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms. They exercise powers thus usurped with little restraint. Members of the legal profession and "public servants" as well as tax preparing professionals have a vested interest in ignoring this fact. Law enforcement and Justice Department personnel are inhibited if not intimidated. It is no secret that fear and intimidation plays an important role such that a majority of citizens who "volunteer" to file, assess themselves and pay even if they may be aware that the IRS is only and "administrative" agency of the Department of the Treasury. Large cash rewards offered to anyone who can show that laws exist, requiring record keeping, filing returns and paying the "voluntary" income tax are not uncommon.

I ordered the book for a friend and he was very happy with. It was in great condition! It arrived well within the promised time. He was very pleased, he was a non believer of ordering online!!

I found this book hard to put down as it is very enlightening. It gives the taxpayer insight into one of the most powerful government agencies and the events that necessitated the IRS Restructuring Act which was passed in 1998.

I read this book as an ancillary to my study of government abuses that primarily focused on the abuses of the Department of Justice. What I found out was that the FBI, ATF and other heavily armed law enforcement agencies that violate our rights from time to time are relative wimps compared to the pervasive and unbelievably egregious wrongs committed by the IRS.

The author of the book is a US Senator that headed a congressional oversight hearing looking into the problems in the IRS from '96 to `99. What he found will make you mad as hell and twice as frustrated. Basically he found out that the IRS has become a law unto itself that has grown into a mean-spirited 800 lb. gorilla that cannot now be controlled under the present form of the law.

Roth admits that this mess is the fault of the Congress in its shameful lack of oversight. He notes that basically Congress has given the IRS increasingly sweeping powers without accountability to the point now that they can break the law with impunity.

The book cites many horrifying anecdotes of IRS abuse of citizens' rights and basic human decency all in the name of "making the numbers". The IRS is nothing more than a legalized gang of shakedown artists who use intimidation, fear and nasty mean-spiritedness to squeeze every penny out of the taxpayer that they see as an enemy that must be brought to its knees.

What I found worse than the realization that the government is basically a criminal organization and that the representatives have allowed it to go on was the fact that they now have limited ability to control or reform the IRS. Like a Frankenstein monster that has broken loose and cannot be controlled, the IRS is now so well equipped with sweeping powers that the courts, Congress and certainly we are helpless to its whim despite so called sweeping IRS reform bills passed by Congress in the last four years.

So, in effect, the author shows us what a mess he and his political cohorts have made over the last fifty or so years and then admits that there isn't a heck of a lot that can be done other than limit your profile so the IRS doesn't notice you in the first place. He also talks about your "rights" and how you should act politely and professionally while the IRS is sticking it in and breaking it off even though the preceding 2/3rd of the book were about how the IRS basically ignores taxpayers' rights. While practical in a clinical sense this advice bothered me because it reminded me of the advice you'll get from cops sometimes regarding crime in general: "just give them what they want and they might not hurt you".

Come on! Why the hell aren't these thugs in jail? How can a US Senate committee sit there and hear this kind of testimony, see the figures and get admissions from the IRS itself that this kind of crud is going on and not start slapping on the cuffs? I was really disgusted by this book and it basically sums up what I feel is wrong with our government in general. Forget about "jack-booted thugs" with machine guns kicking down your door in the middle of the night; worry about some bureaucratic piss ant from the IRS with a calculator deciding that you are an easy mark to make his numbers for the month.

Man, what a mess!

The Power To Destroy is a terrific book for every taxpayer. It was a page-turner that left me knowing how to deal with the IRS. It has great stories and a strong message with real workable recommendations. And it is very accessible for everyone.

This is the kind of book our leaders should be writing, a careful and compelling analysis of a federal agency that has grown out of control. "The Power to Destroy" is entertaining, filled with suspense and a pleasure to read. It offers ample evidence of why the current system needs to be changed. Even more, it provides workable solutions, and gives taxpayers the necessary information they need to protect themselves and effect such change. I recommend this book to taxpayers everywhere.

Anybody who reads this book ought to be absolutely outraged. But guess how these situations came to past? It is the federal income tax! It is a tool for social engineering, it pits one group of Americans against another, it is corrupted by special interests and it is a tool for the government to peer into the private lives of its citizens whether intentionally or not. Any way you look at, as long as there is an income tax there will be an IRS - the most anti-freedom bureaucracy in this country. We do not need to be wasting our time protecting ourselves from the IRS we need to be calling for an alternative tax system to fund the federal government and that system is a national retail sales tax which does away with the income tax and the IRS. Kill two birds with one stone. Senator Roth is slightly off track here we need to push for real tax reform. On April 15 the Tauzin-Traficant National Retail Sales Tax Act will be introduced in the 106th Congress.

This book is destined for great things. Beautifully written, it reads like a novel, with the authors taking you from one compelling anecdote to the next as they illustrate the dangerous problems inside the IRS. It is not, however, a hatchet job on the agency, but an excellent and reasoned accounting of a culture that must and can be changed. The authors recommendations for change are tangible, and the book is extremely empowering for taxpayers who, after reading it, will never be intimidated again. If you pay taxes, this is a must read. The chapter on how to protect yourself is well worth the price of the book, but there is so much more.