CNS News – by Melanie Hunter King Street Patriots founder Catherine Engelbrecht, one of many conservatives who claim they were unfairly targeted by the IRS when applying for tax-exempt status, told Congress Thursday that she is “more determined ever than before to stand before you and to all of America and say that I will not retreat.”
“Know this,” she said, “my experiences at the hands of this government in the last five years have made me more determined ever than before to stand before you and to all of America and say that I will not retreat. I will not surrender. I will not be intimidated, and I will not ask for permission to exercise my constitutional rights.”
Engelbrecht said shortly after founding and leading True to Vote and King Street Patriots, she was visited by law enforcement agencies and Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), even though outside of filing their tax returns, she and her husband never dealt with any government agency in nearly two decades of running their small business.
“We had never been audited. We had never been investigated, but all that changed upon submitting applications for the non-profit statuses of True the Vote and King Street,” she told the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee.
“Since that filing in 2010, my private businesses, my nonprofit organizations, my family and I have been subjected to more than 15 instances of audit or inquiry by federal agencies,” she added.
Engelbrecht’s personal and business tax returns were audited in 2011 – “each audit going back for a number of years.” Her business was inspected by Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in 2012 when neither she nor her husband was present. She said she was later fined over $20,000 even though “the agency wrote that it found nothing serious or significant.”
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms audited her business in 2012 and 2013, and the FBI contacted her non-profit group six times since 2010 in an attempt to “cull through membership manifests in conjunction with domestic terrorism cases,” she claimed.
“They eventually dropped all matters and have now redacted nearly all my files,” Engelbrecht said.
“All of these incursions into my affairs began after filing applications for tax-exemption. There is no other remarkable event. There’s no other reason to explain how for decades I went unnoticed, but now find myself on the receiving end of interagency coordination into and against all facets of my life, both personal and private,” she said.
“Bear in mind, distinguished ladies and gentlemen of this subcommittee, these events were occurring while the IRS was subjecting me to multiple rounds of abusive inquiries with request to provide every Facebook and Twitter I’d ever posted, questions about my political aspirations and demands to know the names of groups that I had spoken with, the content of what I had send and everywhere I intended to speak in the coming year,” she added.
“This government attacked me because of my political beliefs, but I refuse to be cast as a victim,” she said. “I am not a victim, because a victim has no options. I do have options, and I intend to use them all to the fullest extent of my capabilities.”
“As an American citizen, I am part of a country that still believes in freedom of speech,” Engelbrecht said.
She pledged to press the issue “in every legal way possible,” including filing suit against the IRS, and vowed to continue to speak out – “here in Congress and all across this country.”
“No American citizen should be willing to accept a government that uses its power against its own people,” she added.
In her prepared remarks, Engelbrecht said she refuses to “let a precedent be set that allows members of Congress, particularly Cummings, ranking member of the Oversight committee, “to misrepresent this governing body in an effort to demonize and intimidate citizens.”
“Three times, Representative Elijah Cummings sent letters to True the Vote, demanding much of the same information that the IRS had requested. Hours after sending letters, he would appear on cable news and publicly defame me and my organization. Such tactics are unacceptable,” she claimed.
Engelbrecht said she plans to file a formal complaint with the House Office of Congressional Ethics asking for a full investigation after Thursday’s hearing.
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This is my story I couldn’t write before in a comment because my computer was out of service and my notebook keyboard was different. I touch type and my fingers were not hitting the right keys. It was tortuous.
In 1988 for 1967, I believe I filed my Tax form itemized because I claimed my aged mother who I was caring for and the costs of caring for some children after school and on vacations. I didn’t make much money but I filed and I didn’t do it myself I was assisted by H & R Block and they are idiots.
I got a notice from the IRS I didn’t file my earned income credit which led to a whopping 124.00. When that was taken care of I got another notice that read “You may owe 434.00 or more……” I stared at that and the may got me. I was sitting here saying over and over MAY? MAY? Don’t they know?
I am Irish all the way and that was it. I went online and there was a site TAX FREEDOM 101 that had the entire IRS code to read. I began with purpose which read: The purpose of the IRS is to get as many people to voluntarily comply as possible. I read that again and again and finally again. There it is in black and white. We are asked to comply. That is the best they can do and I had to ask the question WHY? I found out.
I continued on skipping all that did not apply such as Agriculture, Commerce across state lines, Corporations and alike. Then I got to the funny money part of why you have to file. You see the Constitution states basically that no new taxes can be demanded of the people unless they are apportioned. I have a Blacks Law Dictionary and had it right next to me and I looked that up. Well it is a legalize word for equalized like property taxes are. Your property tax is apportioned in that everyone pays the same millage rate just a different amount depending on the value of your property. So for the tax on your income to be apportioned they would have to send everyone a bill claiming the rate which would be the same percentage for everyone and the amount of tax based on your income. That is not the case at all. What they do is the more money you make the higher percentage of money you have to fork over. This breaks the law it is not even close to apportioned. Now here is the solution to this problem for the IRS….have the individual do the dirty work and claim his income and how much he will pay in his own handwriting and the IRS has freed itself from that darn Constitution and made you do the dirty work. You incriminated yourself and signed it waiving your fifth amendment rights, look and read before you sign that area that asks if what you reported was the truth then you sign. They gotcha
That was not the end of this study there is more. Income what is it? Well the IRS would have you believe its your pay in exchange for your labor. This is not true the Supreme Court stated income was profit (money or any other form) from whatever business or transaction that generated it. It was not money received from your labor hourly or otherwise, that is considered an exchange of one value for another. Where is the profit? They fooled you.
There was a lot more it to it but basically it was all I needed. I sat down and in my own handwriting wrote a very nice letter reiterating what I just (expounded above) had learned and that I was saving the state a lot of money by taking care of my mom including money the state of Florida allows just that purpose, I did not apply. I also mentioned the purpose of the IRS at the end and told them basically that I was uneducated to this and because of what I had learned reading your code, I am not ever going to file or pay again. I think they were probably happy I didn’t ask for my money back from previous filings.
I mailed the letter and said well let’s see what happens. I never heard from them again.
Outstanding, Susan!!! Kudos!
There is another way to beat them at their own game, but it’s very complicated, so I decided to pass on it.
I figure I’ll just take what they’ve STOLEN from me all these years in taxes out of their miserable hides once the revolution gets underway.