User:Famspear

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Userboxes

This user is a citizen of the United States of America.

This user lives in Texas.

dad

This user is a father.

CPA

This user has a CPA designation.

BS	This user has a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting.

This user is a Lawyer.

This user has a law degree.

JD	This user has a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree.

This user is a member of the Taxation WikiProject.

10,000+

This user has made over 10,000 contributions to Wikipedia.

INTP

This user has an INTP personality
per the Myers-Briggs typing system

This user loves The Beatles.

This user enjoys film.

This user loves documentaries.

This user is interested in military aircraft and their history.

This user is old enough to remember what a typewriter is, and that's all you need to know.

I am an American in Texas. I have worked in the following areas: practice of law; practice as a certified public accountant (including but not limited to bank auditing); broadcast news reporter; talk show host; a gardener; a stock boy in a warehouse; and a clerk in a convenience store (among other things, and not necessarily in that order). In the real world, among other things, I currently represent taxpayers in their dealings with the Internal Revenue Service.

1 Cool things I have seen
2 Barnstars
3 Cluestick for Famspear!
4 Veteran Editor (or Tutnum)
5 Barnstar from Legis
6 Wikipedia official policies, guidelines, etc.
7 Wikipedia related concepts
8 Essay on bias and neutral POV, from an article talk page
- 8.1 Other
9 Tax stuff
10 Edit counter

[edit] Cool things I have seen

Some of the most impressive things I have ever seen include: the birth of my son, the Musée d'Orsay, the Musée du Louvre, L'Arc de Triomphe, la Tour Eiffel and la Gare Montparnasse in Paris, the Palace of Versailles near Paris, the London Underground, St. Paul's Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, Liverpool Street Station, Paddington Station, and Abbey Road Studios (just the outside of the building) in London, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, the United States Capitol, the White House, the court house of the Supreme Court of the United States, Arlington National Cemetery, the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, the Golden Gate Bridge, Mount St. Helens, the cockpit of a Grumman F-14 Tomcat fighter plane, the Bavarian Alps, Yosemite National Park in California, and Willie Mays hitting a home run at the Astrodome in Houston when I was a boy.

[edit] Barnstars

		The Original Barnstar
		I Morphh award Famspear this Barnstar for the large efforts and contributions to income taxation articles. Many Thanks!

Danke schön! Yours, Famspear 20:12, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

		The Barnstar of Diligence
		This is for all of the hard work, effort, and research you have put into Ed and Elaine Brown article. Sidatio 22:05, 19 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Cluestick for Famspear!

As a show of WikiLove for all the times you had to deal with outrageously stupid and uncivil tax protesters and their frivolous arguments, I, Eastlaw, award you the Cluestick.

You, my friend, are an inspriation to law students and aspiring attorneys such as myself, especially when I encounter so many similar arguments on Internet discussion boards. You rock. --Eastlaw 01:26, 28 October 2006 (UTC)

Additional note: Wikipedia had a server error and logged me out as I posted this, so if the edit history of your talk page looks weird, now you know why. :) --Eastlaw 01:30, 28 October 2006 (UTC)

Dear Eastlaw: Wow, seriously you made my day! Thanks! Yours, Famspear 02:05, 28 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Veteran Editor (or Tutnum)

This editor is a Veteran Editor, and is entitled to display this Iron Editor Star

{{subst:SA-veteran}}

This editor is a Tutnum, and is entitled to display this Book of Knowledge

{{subst:SA-tutnum}}

Ribbon equivalent

Requirements:

8,000 edits and
2 years' service

Great work! Morphh ^(talk) 13:49, 11 May 2007 (UTC)

Wow, thanks! Famspear 14:11, 11 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Barnstar from Legis

		The Working Man's Barnstar
		I seem to constantly come across your hard work and diligence in editing articles; I wish we had many more professional editors like you keeping the less glamorous articles accurate and tidy. --Legis (talk - contribs) 00:29, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Thanks! Wait a minute, I edit primarily in legal articles, especially tax law articles. Isn't tax law the most glamorous topic in all of Wikipedia?

Oh, wait. Maybe I need to get out more! Yours, Famspear 00:53, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Wikipedia official policies, guidelines, etc.

WP:Five pillars

WP:POL (official policy)

[edit] NPOV

"Neutral Point of View": WP:Neutral point of view (official policy)

WP:Neutral_point of view/FAQ (official policy)

WP:NPOV dispute (maintenance process, including the rule prohibiting drive-by tagging)

[edit] Verifiability

"Verifiability": WP:Verifiability (official policy)

[edit] No Original Research

"No Original Research": WP:No original research (official policy)

WP:No original research#Primary.2C secondary.2C and tertiary sources (primary, secondary and tertiary sources)

WP:Attribution (summary of Verifiability and No Original Research)

[edit] Behavior

WP:Consensus (official policy)

WP:ATT/FAQ (proposed policy, guideline or process)

WP:Civility (official policy)

WP:Assume good faith (official policy)

WP:No Personal Attacks (official policy)

WP:OWN Ownership of articles

WP:NLT (no legal threats)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Don%27t_overlook_legal_threats (essay)

WP:Dispute resolution (official policy)

WP:Etiquette (behavioral guideline)

WP:What Wikipedia is not (official policy)

WP:Spam (guideline)

WP:Fringe theories (content guideline)

WP:Talk page guidelines (guideline)

WP:Reverting (help page)

WP:Three-revert rule (official policy)

WP:Edit war (editing guideline)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Uw-3rr (warning template)

{{subst:uw-3rr|Article}} (warning template)

WP:Administrators' noticeboard/3RR (to report edit war)

WP:Vandalism (official policy)

WP:Disruptive editing (behavioral guideline)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:SPA

WP:Sock

WP:TE (essay on tendentious editing)

WP:Conflict_of_interest (behavioral guideline)

WP:External links (guideline)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Requests_for_comment/User_conduct

[edit] More on Verifiability

WP:Reliable sources (guideline)

WP:Reliable sources#Using online and self-published sources (guideline)

WP:Citing sources (style guide)

WP:Citing sources/example style (example)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluebook (Harvard Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ALWD_Citation_Manual (ALWD Citation Manual)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Case_citation (Case citation)

[edit] Manual of style

WP:MOS (guideline)

WP:MOSBIO (guideline)

[edit] Glossary

WP:Glossary

[edit] Wikipedia related concepts

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Deletion_process (guideline: description of the actual deletion process)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Introduction_to_deletion_process (essay)

[edit] Neutral point of view does not mean that the source cannot be biased

From the rule on Neutral Point of View:

As the name suggests, the neutral point of view is a point of view, not the absence or elimination of viewpoints. The neutral point of view policy is often misunderstood. The acronym NPOV does not mean "no points of view". The elimination of article content cannot be justified under this policy by simply labeling it "POV". The neutral point of view is a point of view that is neutral, that is neither sympathetic nor in opposition to its subject. Debates within topics are described, represented and characterized, but not engaged in. Background is provided on who believes what and why, and which view is more popular. Detailed articles might also contain the mutual evaluations of each viewpoint, but studiously refrain from asserting which is better. One can think of unbiased writing as the fair, analytical description of all relevant sides of a debate, including the mutual perspectives and the published evidence. When editorial bias toward one particular point of view can be detected, the article needs to be fixed.

See: [1] (copied on 4 January 2008; bolding added).

If, for example, a liberal think tank supports a particular position about whether the Alternative Minimum Tax is good or bad, it is OK to document that in Wikipedia with an adequate description that it is the liberal think tank that is taking that position. You cannot delete "points of view" in Wikipedia merely because they are liberal, conservative, leftist, rightist, etc. Neutral point of view does not mean the absence of bias in the SOURCE MATERIAL. In essence, it is OK for the source material to be biased, and it is OK for the source itself to be biased, as odd as that may sound. Neutral point of view means that Wikipedia itself does not take a position that this source's viewpoint is correct, or that some other source's viewpoint is incorrect.

[edit] Bias of a particular source compared to neutral point of view of the article

"Bias" generally does relate to the Wikipedia policy on Neutral Point of View [ . . . ]. Bias of a particular source is not the same as neutral point of view (or lack of same) of the article as a whole. Although it may seem odd to a newcomer at first, there is no "neutral point of view" requirement in Wikipedia that sources used in Wikipedia be unbiased. If you think about it after a while, you may realize why this is so.

Here is the rule:

As the name suggests, the neutral point of view is a point of view, not the absence or elimination of viewpoints. The neutral point of view policy is often misunderstood. The acronym NPOV does not mean "no points of view". The elimination of article content cannot be justified under this policy by simply labeling it "POV". The neutral point of view is neither sympathetic nor in opposition to its subject: it neither endorses nor discourages viewpoints. Debates within topics are clearly described, represented and characterized, but not engaged in. Background is provided on who believes what and why, and which view is more popular. Detailed articles might also contain the mutual evaluations of each viewpoint, but must studiously refrain from asserting which is better.

-- from WP:NPOV (bolding added).

You cannot present opposing viewpoints in an article without those viewpoints being biased. By definition, the viewpoints must be biased in order for those viewpoints to be opposed to each other. "Neutral point of view" means the neutrality of the article as a whole -- not the absence of points of view (biased or unbiased) within the article.

It is not Wikipedia itself that is saying the words in the quotation. It is the source that is making the statement. And it is OK to show that quotation (or an accurate paraphrase of that statement) in the Wikipedia article, even if the statement is biased and even if the source making that statement is biased.

What would be impermissible, however, would be for Wikipedia to then say "Oh, by the way, this source is correct" or "that source is wrong".

Neutral point of view is a complicated concept in Wikipedia, and we would agree that there are certainly some ways that an article might fail the NPOV standard, even without the article expressly saying "this source is right" or "that source is wrong." Deleting an accurate, in-context quotation from a reliable, previously published third party source merely because that quotation is biased, however, is generally not appropriate -- for the simple reason that the mere use of a "biased quotation" does not, in and of itself, violate the NPOV rule.

from:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Sovereign_Citizen_Movement

(by Famspear, on 18 April 2008).

[edit] Undue weight

Regarding undue weight:

NPOV says that the article should fairly represent all significant viewpoints that have been published by a verifiable source, and should do so in proportion to the prominence of each. Now an important qualification: Articles that compare views need not give minority views as much or as detailed a description as more popular views, and may not include tiny-minority views at all. For example, the article on the Earth only very briefly refers to the Flat Earth theory, a view of a distinct minority.

We should not attempt to represent a dispute as if a view held by a small minority deserved as much attention as a majority view, and views that are held by a tiny minority should not be represented except in articles devoted to those views. To give undue weight to a significant-minority view, or to include a tiny-minority view, might be misleading as to the shape of the dispute. Wikipedia aims to present competing views in proportion to their representation among experts on the subject, or among the concerned parties. This applies not only to article text, but to images, external links, categories, and all other material as well.

Undue weight applies to more than just viewpoints. Just as giving undue weight to a viewpoint is not neutral, so is giving undue weight to other verifiable and sourced statements. An article should not give undue weight to any aspects of the subject, but should strive to treat each aspect with a weight appropriate to its significance to the subject. Note that undue weight can be given in several ways, including, but not limited to, depth of detail, quantity of text, prominence of placement, and juxtaposition of statements.

Minority views can receive attention on pages specifically devoted to them — Wikipedia is not paper. But on such pages, though a view may be spelled out in great detail, it must make appropriate reference to the majority viewpoint, and must not reflect an attempt to rewrite majority-view content strictly from the perspective of the minority view.

From Jimbo Wales, paraphrased from this post from September 2003 on the mailing list:

If a viewpoint is in the majority, then it should be easy to substantiate it with reference to commonly accepted reference texts;
If a viewpoint is held by a significant minority, then it should be easy to name prominent adherents;
If a viewpoint is held by an extremely small (or vastly limited) minority, it does not belong in Wikipedia (except perhaps in some ancillary article) regardless of whether it is true or not; and regardless of whether you can prove it or not.

Views held only by a tiny minority of people should not be represented as significant minority views, and perhaps should not be represented at all.

If you are able to prove something that no one or few currently believe, Wikipedia is not the place to premiere such a proof. Once a proof has been presented and discussed elsewhere, however, it may be referenced.

Copied from [2] on 30 March 2007 (US central daylight time)

[edit] NPOV and notability

From the discussion of NPOV:

Notability is especially important because while NPOV encourages editors to add alternate and multiple points of view to an article, it does not claim that all views are equal. Although NPOV does not claim that some views are more truthful than others, it does acknowledge that some views are held by more people than others. Accurately representing a view therefore also means explaining who holds the view and whether it is a majority or minority view.

Soon it became evident that editors who rejected a majority view would often marshall sources to argue that a minority view was superior to a majority view - or would even add sources in order to promote the editor's own view. Therefore, the NOR policy was established in 2003 to address problematic uses of sources. The original motivation for NOR was to prevent editors from introducing fringe views in science, especially physics - or from excluding verifiable views that, in the judgement of editors, were wrong. [ . . ]

[edit] Minority views

" [ . . . ] the Wikipedia neutrality policy certainly does not state, or imply, that we must "give equal validity" to minority views. It does state that we must not take a stand on them as encyclopedia writers; but that does not stop us from describing the majority views as such; from fairly explaining the strong arguments against the pseudoscientific theory; from describing the strong moral repugnance that many people feel toward some morally repugnant views; and so forth." Copied from [3] on 30 March 2007 (US Central daylight time)

On "fairness of tone":

If we are going to characterize disputes neutrally, we should present competing views with a consistently fair and sensitive tone. Many articles end up as partisan commentary even while presenting both points of view. Even when a topic is presented in terms of facts rather than opinion, an article can still radiate an implied stance through either selection of which facts to present, or more subtly their organization.

We should write articles with the tone that all positions presented are at least worthy of unbiased representation, bearing in mind that views which are in the extreme minority do not belong in Wikipedia at all. We should present all significant, competing views impartially.

(bolding added). From [4], on 7 February 2008.

[edit] A bit about fringe theories

Articles which cover hypotheses in detail should document (with reliable sources) the current level of acceptance among the relevant academic community of the hypothesis. If proper attribution cannot be found among reliable sources of a hypothesis's standing, it should be assumed that the hypothesis has not received consideration or acceptance. However, a lack of consideration or acceptance does not necessarily imply rejection; hypotheses should not be portrayed as rejected [ . . . ] unless such claims can be documented in reliable sources.

Hypotheses which have been rejected, which are widely considered to be absurd [ . . . ] should be documented as such. Copied from [5] on 8 January 2007.

[edit] Reliability and self-published materials

“Anyone can create a website or pay to have a book published, and then claim to be an expert in a certain field. For that reason, self-published books, personal websites, and blogs are largely not acceptable as sources.

“Exceptions may be when a well-known, professional researcher in a relevant field, or a well-known professional journalist has produced self-published material. In some cases, these may be acceptable as sources, so long as their work has been previously published by reliable third-party publications. However, exercise caution: if the information in question is really worth reporting, someone else is likely to have done so.” Copied from [6] on 3 October 2006

"A self-published source is a published source that has not been subject to any form of independent fact-checking, or where no one stands between the writer and the act of publication. It includes personal websites, and books published by vanity presses. Anyone can create a website or pay to have a book published, and then claim to be an expert in a certain field. For that reason, self-published books, personal websites, and blogs are largely not acceptable as sources." Copied from [7] on 5 October 2006.

[edit] On false authority

“Look out for false claims of authority. Advanced degrees give authority in the topic of the degree. Web sites that have numerous footnotes may be entirely unreliable. The first question to ask yourself is, "What are the credentials and expertise of the people taking responsibility for a website?" Anyone can post anything on the web.

“Use sources who have postgraduate degrees or demonstrable published expertise in the field they are discussing. The more reputable ones are affiliated with academic institutions. The most reputable have written textbooks in their field: these authors can be expected to have a broad, authoritative grasp of their subject. In general, higher education textbooks are frequently revised and try to be authoritative. Textbooks aimed at secondary-school students, however, do not try to be authoritative and are subject to political approval.” Copied from [8] on 3 October 2006.

[edit] Exceptional claims require exceptional evidence

"Certain red flags should prompt editors to closely and skeptically examine the sources for a given claim. [ . . . . ] Claims not supported[,] or claims that are contradicted by the prevailing view in the relevant academic community. Be particularly careful when proponents say there is a conspiracy to silence them." Copied from [9] on 5 October 2006.

[edit] How to determine whether a view is established

The inclusion of a view that is held only by a tiny minority may constitute original research because there may be a lack of sufficiently credible, third-party, published sources to back it up.

From a mailing list post by Jimbo Wales, Wikipedia's founder:

If a viewpoint is in the majority, then it should be easy to substantiate it with reference to commonly accepted reference texts;
If a viewpoint is held by a significant minority, then it should be easy to name prominent adherents;
If a viewpoint is held by an extremely small (or vastly limited) minority, it doesn't belong in Wikipedia (except perhaps in some ancillary article) regardless of whether it's true or not; and regardless of whether you can prove it or not. Copied from [10] on 9 October 2006.

[edit] Wikipedia is not a publisher of original thought

Wikipedia is not a place to publish your own thoughts and analyses or to publish new information not heretofore published. Please do not use Wikipedia for [ . . . ]:

Personal essays or Blogs that state your particular opinions about a topic. Wikipedia is supposed to compile human knowledge. It is not a vehicle to make personal opinions become part of human knowledge. In the unusual situation where the opinions of a single individual are important enough to discuss, it is preferable to let other people write about them. Personal essays on topics relating to Wikipedia are welcome in your user namespace or on the Meta-wiki. There is a Wikipedia fork at Wikinfo that encourages personal opinions in articles.

Copied from [11] on 6 December 2006.

[edit] Kinds of sources

Although most articles should rely predominantly on secondary sources, there are rare occasions when they may rely entirely on primary sources (for example, current events or legal cases). An article or section of an article that relies on a primary source should (1) only make descriptive claims, the accuracy of which is easily verifiable by any reasonable, educated person without specialist knowledge, and (2) make no analytic, synthetic, interpretive, explanatory, or evaluative claims. Contributors drawing on entirely primary sources should be careful to comply with both conditions.

Copied from [12] on 22 March 2007.

[edit] Drive-by tagging

Drive-by tagging is not permitted. The editor who adds the tag must address the issues on the talk page, pointing to specific issues that are actionable within the content policies, namely Wikipedia:Neutral point of view, Wikipedia:Verifiability, Wikipedia:No original research and Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons. Simply being of the opinion that a page is not neutral is not sufficient to justify the addition of the tag. Tags should be added as a last resort. Copied from [13] on 15 August 2007.

For an example of drive-by tagging by an anonymous editor -- who, without actually making a substantive change in the applicable article and without discussing in the related talk page, inserted the hurried comment "don't have time to nitpick everything in the article, the general message is biased against the film, this needs to be neturalised [sic]" -- see [14]

[edit] Expertise

"Points of view held as having little credibility by experts, but with wide popular appeal (e.g.: the belief in astrology, considered as irrational and incorrect by the vast majority of scientists and astronomers), should be reported, but as such: that is, we should expose the point of view and its popular appeal, but also the opinion held by the vast majority of experts." Copied from [15] on 30 March 2007 (US central daylight time).

[edit] Vandalism: persistent insertions of non-neutral point of view material after having been warned

NPOV violations: The neutral point of view is a difficult policy for many of us to understand, and even Wikipedia veterans occasionally accidentally introduce material which is non-ideal from an NPOV perspective. Indeed, we are all affected by our beliefs to a greater or lesser extent. Though inappropriate, this is not vandalism in itself unless persisted in after being warned.

Copied from [16] on 15 February 2007 (bolding added).

[edit] Links normally to be avoided

"In addition to the restrictions on linking, and except for a link to a page that is the subject of the article or is an official page of the subject of the article, one should avoid:

[ . . . ]

Any site that misleads the reader by use of factually inaccurate material or unverifiable research. See Reliable sources.
Links mainly intended to promote a website.
Links to sites that primarily exist to sell products or services. For example, instead of linking to a commercial bookstore site, use the "ISBN" linking format, giving readers an opportunity to search a wide variety of free and non-free book sources.

[ . . . ]

Links to blogs and personal web pages, except those written by a recognized authority.

[ . . . ]"

Copied on 12 December 2006 from[17]

[edit] Deletion of one spam link is not an endorsement of those that remain

To quote from a guideline:

Inclusion of one spam link is not a reason to include another

Many times users can be confused by the removal of spam links because other links that could be construed as spam have been added to the article and not yet removed. The inclusion of a spam link should not be construed as an endorsement of the spam link, nor should it be taken as a reason or excuse to include another.

See [18] and [19]

[edit] Systemic bias

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:BIAS (countering systemic bias)

[edit] Essay on bias and neutral POV, from an article talk page

A new user deleted a quotation from the Anti-Defamation League, objecting to the verbiage because the verbiage is biased. I reinstated the verbiage.

"Bias" generally does relate to the Wikipedia policy on Neutral Point of View -- but not in the way that the new user may have thought. Bias of a particular source is not the same as neutral point of view (or lack of same) of the article as a whole. Although it may seem odd to a newcomer at first, there is no "neutral point of view" requirement in Wikipedia that sources used in Wikipedia be unbiased. If you think about it after a while, you may realize why this is so.

Here is the rule:

As the name suggests, the neutral point of view is a point of view, not the absence or elimination of viewpoints. The neutral point of view policy is often misunderstood. The acronym NPOV does not mean "no points of view". The elimination of article content cannot be justified under this policy by simply labeling it "POV". The neutral point of view is neither sympathetic nor in opposition to its subject: it neither endorses nor discourages viewpoints. Debates within topics are clearly described, represented and characterized, but not engaged in. Background is provided on who believes what and why, and which view is more popular. Detailed articles might also contain the mutual evaluations of each viewpoint, but must studiously refrain from asserting which is better.

-- from WP:NPOV (bolding added).

What would be impermissible, however, would be for Wikipedia to then say "Oh, by the way, this source is correct" or "that source is wrong".

--by Famspear, from talk page for Sovereign Citizen Movement

[edit] Other

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:How_to_archive_a_talk_page

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Single_purpose_account (essay)

A guideline:

"Wikipedia articles are supposed to represent all views (more at NPOV), instead of supporting one over another, even if you believe something strongly. The Talk ("discussion") pages are not a place to debate value judgments about which of those views are right or wrong or better. If you want to do that, there are venues such as Usenet, public weblogs and other wikis. Use the Talk pages to discuss the accuracy/inaccuracy, POV bias, or other problems in the article, not as a soapbox for advocacy." Copied from [20] on 20 October 2006.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Requests_for_comment#Request_comment_on_users (information on requests for comments on users)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Law_citation_templates

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:TX_Govt_Code

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Requests_for_administrator_attention

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Requests_for_Adminship

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Administrators%27_reading_list

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Administrators%27_how-to_guide

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Guide_to_requests_for_adminship

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:SOUP (essay)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:Userbox

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Userbox_Maker

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Userboxes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:AfD_debates

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:ListUsers/sysop&limit=1500

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Rollback_feature

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Rollback_policy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:User_access_levels

[edit] Tax stuff

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:WikiProject_Taxation_articles

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:United_States_federal_taxation_legislation

Talk:Income tax/Removed text (link to an old talk page on income tax)

Talk:Tax protester/Request for comment (23 January - 9 February 2008)

Talk:Tax protester/Request for comment - examples

User:BD2412/Tax protesters - the role of courts

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Version_1.0_Editorial_Team/Taxation_articles_by_quality_log

[edit] Some articles of frequent interest to tax protesters

Tax protester (United States)

Tax protester arguments

Tax protester constitutional arguments

Tax protester statutory arguments

Tax protester conspiracy arguments

Tax protester history

Frivolous litigation

Income tax

Income tax in the United States

Internal Revenue Code

Internal Revenue Service

Commissioner of Internal Revenue

Direct tax

Indirect tax

Excise

Excise tax in the United States

Tax avoidance and tax evasion

Taxing and spending clause

Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co.

Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

Brushaber v. Union Pacific Railroad

Springer v. United States

Flint v. Stone Tracy Co.

Cheek v. United States

The Law that Never Was (William J. Benson)

Joseph Banister

Wayne Bentson

Edward and Elaine Brown

Bob Schulz and We the People Foundation

Richard Michael Simkanin

Wesley Snipes

Milton Street

Internal Revenue Code 861

Tax protester 861 argument

Zeitgeist, the Movie

[edit] Just words

Legal commentator Daniel B. Evans has stated:

I am often asked, “Why do you always assume that the courts are right and the tax protesters are wrong?” Or, “Couldn’t the courts be wrong about what the Constitution means?” Those questions demonstrate that the questioner doesn’t really understand what is meant by “law” or the “rule of law.”

Law is not some kind of abstraction that floats in the air, free from any connection to people or events. “The law” is what legislatures, courts, and governments do, and the real test of what the law “is” shows in how the law is applied in actual cases.

So when lawyers talk about what “the law” is, they are talking about how a judge will rule. Not how the judge should rule, or might rule, but will rule. As Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes once explained, “the only definition of law for a lawyer’s purposes is something which the Court will enforce.” Letter to Sir Frederick Pollock, 7/3/1874. Or, more famously: “The prophecies of what the courts will do in fact and nothing more pretentious are what I mean by the law.” The Paths of the Law (1897).

[ . . . ]when the courts, the legislatures, and the voters all agree on what the law is, then that is what the law is. The fact that some people believe that the law should be different that what courts have said it is doesn’t mean that the law is different from what the courts have said, but only that they should argue their positions within the political system and attempt to change the results.

In the case of the income tax, there is no conflict. The judicial, executive, and legislative branches of our government, and a majority of the voters, have all agreed for more than 90 years that (1) an income tax is constitutional, (2) it applies to wages, and (3) every citizen and resident of every state is required to file a tax return and pay the tax [ . . . ]

--Daniel B. Evans, The Tax Protester FAQ, retrieved on 5 Sept. 2007 from [21]

Every man's evidence:

Dean Wigmore stated the proposition thus: "For more than three centuries it has now been recognized as a fundamental maxim that the public (in the words sanctioned by Lord Hardwicke) has a right to every man's evidence. When we come to examine the various claims of exemption, we start with the primary assumption that there is a general duty to give what testimony one is capable of giving [ . . . ]"

--United States v. Bryan, 339 U.S. 323, 331 (1950), citing Wigmore, Evidence (3d ed.) 2192.

"Don't tax you, don't tax me, tax that fellow behind the tree." --Senator Russell B. Long

"If Patrick Henry thought that taxation without representation was bad, he should see how bad it is with representation." --Farmer's Almanac, 1966.

"Le protestataire d'impots et l'homme qui suit: L'aveugle conduit l'aveugle, et le deux tombe dans une fosse." -- Famspear, July 16, 2007.

1. The question of whether a particular income tax is direct or indirect is legally irrelevant to the question of whether the Congress has the power, under the U.S. Constitution as amended by the Sixteenth Amendment, to impose that tax. Congress has the power to impose any income tax, regardless of whether that tax is deemed direct or indirect.

2. The question of whether a particular income tax is direct or indirect is also legally irrelevant to the issue of whether that tax must be apportioned. After the Sixteenth Amendment, no income tax of any kind whatsoever, whether direct or indirect, is required to be apportioned.

3. Under the Constitution as amended, the only important legal relevancy to the question of whether a particular income tax is Constitutionally valid (aside from rules such as the one prohibiting taxes on exports, or rules that revenue measures must originate in the House, etc.) is probably whether that income tax is imposed with what the law refers to as geographical uniformity. That is, an income tax cannot be imposed on, say, just the incomes of people who happen to reside in New York and Montana.

--from a Famspear commentary at the talk page for the article on the Sixteenth Amendment (18 March 2007).

What does it mean to "conspire"? To conspire means "to join in a secret agreement to do an unlawful or wrongful act or to use such means to accomplish a lawful end." Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, p. 243 (G. & C. Merriam Company, 8th ed. 1976).

From a talk page for an article:

Dear editor [xxxx]: Well, if Einstein's theory of relativity is a correct statement of how the laws of physics work, then it is "true" for that reason -- and not because Einstein and 99% of all present-day scientists contend it's true, or believe it's true, or say it's true.

Secular law (made made law) of the USA is a bit different. Under the rules of the U.S. legal system, the law literally is what courts rule that it is in an actual case or controversy. Some of the key concepts are Stare decisis and Ratio decidendi. Further, under our legal system, it is emphatically the province and duty of the courts to say what the law is, to paraphrase a famous Supreme Court case. To study the ontology of U.S. law, to understand what law really is, you study statutes, regs, treaties, and other sources as well -- but it's primarily a study of court decisions. Court decisions are where the rubber meets the road under our legal system.

I believe these articles do represent what the tax protesters' points of views are, and the courts' "views" as well. Further, the articles strive for neutral point of view, as they do not say "the courts are right" or "the protesters are right." There is a difference between saying "the court ruled in this case that the income tax was not unconstitutional, and this ruling contradicts the tax protester argument" (which is both verifiable and neutral) and saying "the court ruling in this case is correct." There is a nuance here. I don't think the articles say that "the courts are correct" (even though, by definition, the courts are correct).

The court's Ratio decidendi in any particular case must be determined using certain rules of legal analysis. The holding or holdings of each case can be broadly or narrowly stated, but under the rules of legal analysis there is simply no room for the tax protester argument (for example) that Merchants' Loan somehow stands for the legally frivolous idea that non-corporate income is not taxable as "income," as the Court in that case ruled that the income of a decedent's estate -- which is an example of non-corporate income -- IS taxable as income.

Any article on tax protester arguments that follows the Wikipedia rules (verifiability, neutral point of view, and no original research) will by definition leave most normally intelligent people with the correct impression that the tax protesters are incorrect -- because that is the actual state of the law. Tax protester arguments are a legal equivalent to the argument that the moon is made of green cheese. Wikipedia would do its readers a disservice if Wikipedia were to strain to try to provide equal weight to the tax protester argument. Indeed, by including tax protester arguments in Wikipedia, I would argue we are actually giving undue weight to them. Imagine Encyclopedia Brittanica giving substantial article space to the argument that the moon is made of green cheese -- comparing and contrasting scientific theories about the moon with the green cheese argument. Here you will have a good idea of the situation.

--from [22] by Famspear, on 27 October 2006.

Here is a quote from researchers Justin Kruger and David Dunning:

...when people are incompetent in the strategies they adopt to achieve success and satisfaction, they suffer a dual burden: Not only do they reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices, but their incompetence robs them of the ability to realize it. Instead . . . they are left with the mistaken impression that they are doing just fine.

Justin Kruger & David Dunning, “Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One’s Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1999, Vol. 77, No. 6, p. 1121. See Dunning-Kruger effect.

And another:

...the skills that engender competence in a particular domain are often the very same skills necessary to evaluate competence in that domain – one’s own or anyone else’s. Because of this, incompetent individuals lack what cognitive psychologists variously term metacognition [citation omitted], metamemory, [cit. omitted] metacomprehension [cit. omitted] or self monitoring skills [cit. omitted]. These terms refer to the ability to know how well one is performing, when one is likely to be accurate in judgment, and when one is likely to be in error.

From Hatfield v. Commissioner:

In recent times, this Court has been faced with numerous cases, such as this one, which have been commenced without any legal justification but solely for the purpose of protesting the Federal tax laws. This Court has before it a large number of cases which deserve careful consideration as speedily as possible, and cases of this sort needlessly disrupt our consideration of those genuine controversies. Moreover, by filing cases of this type, the protesters add to the caseload of the Court, which has reached a record size, and such cases increase the expenses of conducting this Court and the operations of the IRS, which expenses must eventually be borne by all of us.

Many citizens may dislike paying their fair share of taxes; everyone feels that he or she needs the money more than the Government. On the other hand, as Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes so eloquently stated: "Taxes are what we pay for civilized society." Compania de Tabacos v. Collector, 275 U.S. 87, 100 (1927). The greatness of our nation is in no small part due to the willingness of our citizens to honestly and fairly participate in our tax collection system which depends upon self-assessment. Any citizen may resort to the courts whenever he or she in good faith and with a colorable claim desires to challenge the Commissioner's determination; but that does not mean that a citizen may resort to the courts merely to vent his or her anger and attempt symbolically to throw a wrench at the system. Access to the courts depends upon a real and actual wrong--not an imagined wrong--which is susceptible of judicial resolution. General grievances against the policies of the Government, or against the tax system as a whole, are not the types of controversies to be resolved in the courts; Congress is the appropriate body to which such matters should be referred.

--Hatfield v. Commissioner, 68 T.C. 895, CCH Dec. 34,628 (1977).

[edit] A lesson about U.S. Federal statutory law

Many tax protesters like to spread the false statement that the Internal Revenue Code is not really "the law." This tax protester lie is based in part on the statement that the Internal Revenue Code as published as title 26 of the United States Code is what is known as "non-positive law." It is correct to say that title 26 itself is "non-positive law" - but that doesn't mean that the Internal Revenue Code is non-positive law. Further, the statement that something "is non-positive law" is not the same as the statement that something "is not the law."

Confused? Read on.

As explained below, the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (the current Code) is POSITIVE LAW. The Code was affirmatively enacted by Congress. Every single original provision thereof and amendment thereto -- are published in the United States Statutes at Large (except for the newest Congressional Acts, to be published in the most recent as-yet-to-be published volume).

When an Act of Congress becomes law (generally, by being signed into law by the President, or by becoming law through Congressional override of a presidential veto, etc.), the actual physical document is sent to the National Archives and Records Administration. An official pamphlet of the text of the Act is published. This pamphlet is called a "slip law." This is the first step in the official publication of statutes.

Later, the Acts of Congress are published by the United States Government Printing Office in chronological order, in a book publication called the United States Statutes at Large. These kinds of publications are referred to as "session laws." This is the second step in the official publication of statutes.

The third step in the official publication of statutes is that some, but not all, of the text of an Act of Congress is codified (arranged by topic) in a separate publication called the "United States Code."

From time to time, Congress has also enacted other codes -- separately from the United States Code. Further, some portions of the United States Code -- certain "titles" -- have been specifically enacted as "positive law" by the Congress.

Certain other titles have not been specifically enacted as positive law. Instead, the texts of those titles are copied from Acts of Congress that have been enacted as positive law.

The Internal Revenue Code of 1939, like the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, was a Congressional enactment. Both the 1939 Code and the 1954 Code were therefore published in the United States Statutes at Large (volume 53 part 1, in the case of the 1939 Code).

The Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is the current Code, and is a set of statutes enacted by the U.S. Congress. Notice that I said "the Internal Revenue Code of 1986" and not "title 26, the Internal Revenue Code". It's confusing, but "Title 26, the Internal Revenue Code," is not positive law, and the "Internal Revenue Code of 1986" is positive law.

"How can this be?" you may ask. Well, read on.

According to the United States Statutes at Large (published by the United States Government Printing Office) the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, the predecessor to the current 1986 code, was enacted by the Eighty-Third Congress of the United States with the phrase "Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled" and was "approved" (signed into law, in this case by then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower) at 9:45 A.M. on August 16, 1954. The 1954 Code was published as volume 68A of the United States Statutes at Large. Section 1(a)(1) of the enactment states: "The provisions of this Act set forth under the heading 'Internal Revenue Title' may be cited as the 'Internal Revenue Code of 1954'. Section 1(d) of the enactment is entitled "Enactment of Internal Revenue Title Into Law", and the text of the Code follows, beginning with the statutory Table of Contents. The enactment ends with the approval (enactment) notation on page 929 of volume 68A of the Statutes at Large.

All amendments to the 1954 Code (including the Tax Reform Act of 1986, which changed the name of the '54 Code to "Internal Revenue Code of 1986") without a single exception have been Acts of Congress. Every single amendment is given both a public law number and a "statutes at large" volume and page number. EVERY SINGLE AMENDMENT TO THE 1954/1986 CODE WAS ENACTED BY CONGRESS, AND HAS BEEN PUBLISHED IN THE UNITED STATES STATUTES AT LARGE!!!!! Many tax protesters seem to be blissfully ignorant about this point.

In addition to "the Internal Revenue Code" as scattered through the various volumes of the United States Statutes at Large, there is a separate code called "title 26 of the United States Code." The name of title 26 is also -- can you guess? -- the Internal Revenue Code.

The Title 26 version of the Internal Revenue Code is compiled by the Law Revision Counsel of the U.S. House of Representatives. The tax protesters try to confuse people on terminology. The fact that title 26 itself -- meaning the actual, physical publication known as "title 26" -- is "non-positive law" does not change the fact that the Internal Revenue Code of 1939, the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 (and, as renamed, the Internal Revenue Code of 1986) as amended to this very day are POSITIVE LAW. All were enacted in the form of ACTS OF CONGRESS, and every single Code with EVERY SINGLE AMENDMENT has been published in the United States Statutes at Large (except for amendments made most recently, and those are published as "slip law" pamphlets until the Government Printing Office can issue the latest volume of the Statutes at Large).

Just as importantly, the actual TEXT of the physical publication known as "Title 26, Internal Revenue Code" (the non-positive law published by the U.S. Government Printing Office) AND the actual TEXT of "Internal Revenue Code of 1986 as amended" (the positive law as enacted by Congress and published in the Statutes at Large, also published by the same U.S. Government Printing Office) ARE IDENTICAL -- or are PRESUMED in COURT to be identical. If you YOU THE TAXPAYER believe that there is some discrepancy between the text of the Internal Revenue Code published as title 26 and the Internal Revenue Code published and scattered through the volumes of the United States Statutes at Large -- you are out of luck -- UNLESS YOU THE TAXPAYER can show the court that there is an actually physical difference in the text. The burden is on you, the taxpayer.

Even if you the taxpayer can locate an actual difference between the text as published in title 26 and the text as published in the Statutes at Large, the court is legally bound to follow THE LAW, which is the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 as published and amended in the United States Statutes at Large and published by the U.S. Government Printing Office.

Consider the following from the case of Ryan v. Bilby. The taxpayer, Dennis Ryan, been convicted of failure to file tax returns, and had sued the district court judge, the prosecutor, the taxpayer's own attorney, two magistrates and the IRS agents in the case. Ryan's lawsuit was thrown out. He then appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which ruled against Ryan and stated:

Ryan's primary contention on appeal is that, as Congress has never enacted Title 26 of the United States Code into positive law, the defendants violated his constitutional rights by attempting to enforce it. [footnote omitted] Thus, he concludes, the district court erred by dismissing his suit. This contention is frivolous.

Congress's failure to enact a title into positive law has only evidentiary significance and does not render the underlying enactment invalid or unenforceable. See 1 U. S. C. §204(a) (1982) (the text of titles not enacted into positive law is only prima facie evidence of the law itself). Like it or not, the Internal Revenue Code is the law, and the defendants did not violate Ryan's rights by enforcing it.

--from Ryan v. Bilby, 764 F.2d 1325, 85-2 U.S. Tax Cas. (CCH) paragr. 9524 (9th Cir. 1985). The Court of Appeals imposed penalties on Mr. Ryan under 28 U.S.C. section 1912, in the form of ordering him to pay double costs, for filing a frivolous apppeal.

Now for the kicker.

What tax protesters also do not grasp is that many lawyers, government agencies, and even the courts themselves DO NOT ALWAYS USE THE NON-POSITIVE LAW publication, which is "title 26" as published by the Government Printing Office. We use commercially published versions of "title 26" as published by Thomson/West Publishing, CCH, and other private publishers. Many internet users refer to the Cornell University Law School web site for the text of the United States Code (including the text of title 26), not understanding that the Cornell University Law School "version" is not an "official" publication of the law.

The VAST MAJORITY OF STATUTORY TEXTS are physically published by PRIVATE PUBLISHERS in the United States, and have been so since the late 1800s! NOBODY CARES THAT TITLE 26 AS PUBLISHED BY THE GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE IS NON-POSITIVE LAW, when most people don't use a government-published "official" copy anyway.

Tax protesters impotently talk themselves in circles about "positive law" and "non-positive law" without ever connecting with this basic truth: Whether a particular verbatim physical reprint happens to be positive law or non-positive law is relatively unimportant from a legal standpoint. A verbatim reprint of the actual enactment -- even if re-printed on the back of a restaurant menu -- is still the law.

In summary, let's review:

1. "Title 26 is non-positive law." -- A CORRECT STATEMENT.

2. "Title 26 is not the law." -- WRONG. Although title 26 is non-positive law, title 26 is still prima facie THE LAW.

3. "The Internal Revenue Code is not a statute enacted by Congress." --WRONG. See below.

4. "The Internal Revenue Code is not the law." -- WRONG. See below.

5. "The Internal Revenue Code is not positive law enacted by Congress." -- WRONG. See below.

In the above list (items 1 through 5), where you see "Internal Revenue Code" without the qualifying phrase "title 26," the phrase "Internal Revenue Code" is used to refer to the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 enacted on August 16, 1954 -- and as amended by subsequent Acts of Congress including the 1986 act which changed the name of the Code to Internal Revenue Code of 1986. All such materials are positive law, all such materials were enacted by Congress, and all such materials are published in the United States Statutes of Large, a U.S. Government Printing Office publication which is legally conclusive as to what the text of the statute is.

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