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 .