We the People Foundation
Encyclopedia
We the People Foundation for Constitutional Education, Inc. also known as We the People Foundation is a non-profit education and research organization in Queensbury
, New York
with the declared mission "to protect and defend individual Rights as guaranteed by the Constitutions of the United States." It was founded by Robert L. Schulz, a "high-profile tax protester
", and is a leading organization in the tax protester movement. The organization formally served a petition for redress of grievances
regarding income tax
upon the United States
government in November 2002. In July 2004, it filed a lawsuit in an unsuccessful attempt to force the government to address the petition (see below). The organization has also served petitions relating to other issues since then.
The Constitution Party
noted that several of its state chairs are plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
, a tax protester who supported the Foundation and who died while serving a prison sentence for Federal tax offenses, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has stated that the We the People Foundation ("WTP"):
(IRS) seeking testimony and documents in connection with an IRS investigation. The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
affirmed the dismissal of the taxpayer's motions for a lack of subject matter jurisdiction because there was no actual case or controversy
as required by Article III of the Constitution
. The court reasoned that the summonses posed no threat of injury to the taxpayer, as the IRS had not yet initiated enforcement proceedings against him. The taxpayer was not entitled to a court order to quash the summonses until the IRS went to court to demand that he comply with the summons or otherwise face sanctions—something the IRS had not yet done.
A subsequent attempt by Schulz to obtain a court order quashing an IRS "third party" summons issued to the internet payment service known as PayPal
was rejected by a Federal court in Nebraska in June of 2006. The summons was issued to PayPal to obtain information about donations to (or purchases made at) an internet web site maintained by Schulz or We the People Foundation. The court record indicates that the IRS issued the summons to PayPal as part of an investigation of an alleged failure by Schulz to file Federal income tax returns for the years 2001 through 2004, after Schulz refused to cooperate with the IRS inquiry. Schulz lost this case on appeal on September 13, 2007. In this case, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit ruled: "Schulz's constitutional arguments challenging the IRS's authority to enforce the tax laws are without merit." On April 27, 2007, an appeal by Schulz in a similar case (from a Federal district court in California) to try to block an IRS summons was rejected by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
.
in We the People Foundation, Inc. v. United States. The Foundation took this case to the United States Supreme Court and, on January 7, 2008, the Supreme Court rejected the Foundation's case.
more than 21 million dollars. The suit alleged that Schulz had "used the two We the People entities to market a nationwide tax fraud scheme, called the Tax Termination Package, to employers and employees." The government charged that "the Tax Termination Package includes We the People forms, which the defendants falsely tell customers can be used to replace forms the IRS requires employers and employees must use in connection with federal tax withholding from wages."
On August 9, 2007, the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York
ruled that some the Foundation's activities constituted the promotion of an illegal tax shelter by means of a statement or statements that the promoter "knows or has reason to known is false or fraudulent as to any material matter" under Internal Revenue Code section 6700 , and that a court order prohibiting those activities under was appropriate. The court issued an order including an injunction
permanently barring Schulz and his We the People Foundation from (1) advising or instructing persons or entities that they are not required to file federal tax returns or pay federal taxes (see Tax protester arguments
); (2) selling or furnishing any materials purporting to enable individuals to discontinue or stop withholding or paying federal taxes; (3) instructing, advising or assisting anyone to stop withholding or stop paying federal employment or income taxes; and (4) obstructing or advising anyone to obstruct IRS examinations, collections, or other IRS proceedings. On or about August 29, 2007, much of the material on the We the People web sites was removed pursuant to the court order, a copy of which was posted on the web sites.
The court "also ordered that the names, addresses, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses and Social Security number
s of every person who received materials on how to stop paying taxes be turned over to the government." According to the New York Times, "[t]his information would make it easy for the Internal Revenue Service to identify people who followed the illegal advice and for the Justice Department
to prosecute them for tax crimes."
On February 22, 2008, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the judgment of the District Court. The Court of Appeals stated:
The Court of Appeals also reinstated the District Court's requirement that the Foundation must provide the government "the names and contact information of the individuals who have received the tax materials." The Court of Appeals stated:
newspaper in the form of an open letter addressed to Barack Obama
's presidential transition office in Chicago
, in which the Foundation disputes Obama's status as a "natural born citizen" of the United States
. The letter asserts that Obama cannot assume the office of President, and that the state electors cannot vote for his candidacy, unless Obama provides "documentary evidence before December 15, that conclusively establishes his eligibility". The letter lists specific documents that, in the opinion of the letter's author, Robert L. Schulz
, are missing or have not been made available. The letter states that the attempts to obtain the demanded evidence were unsuccessful "in a number of recent lawsuits". The group had previously said: "We make no claim regarding Mr. Obama, other than he has refused to provide proof of his eligibility to hold the office of the President of the United States, as he is required to do by the Constitution." On December 3, the same day as the second ad ran, the Tribune also ran a response examining the allegations the Foundation made.
Queensbury, New York
Queensbury is a town in and the county seat of Warren County, New York, United States. The town is located in the southeastern part of the county. The population was 25,441 at the 2000 census. The town is named in honor of Queen Charlotte, the consort of George III of Great Britain and Ireland. It...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
with the declared mission "to protect and defend individual Rights as guaranteed by the Constitutions of the United States." It was founded by Robert L. Schulz, a "high-profile tax protester
Tax protester (United States)
A tax protester is someone who refuses to pay a tax on constitutional or legal grounds, typically because he or she believes that the tax laws are unconstitutional or otherwise invalid...
", and is a leading organization in the tax protester movement. The organization formally served a petition for redress of grievances
First Amendment to the United States Constitution
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering...
regarding income tax
Income tax in the United States
In the United States, a tax is imposed on income by the Federal, most states, and many local governments. The income tax is determined by applying a tax rate, which may increase as income increases, to taxable income as defined. Individuals and corporations are directly taxable, and estates and...
upon the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
government in November 2002. In July 2004, it filed a lawsuit in an unsuccessful attempt to force the government to address the petition (see below). The organization has also served petitions relating to other issues since then.
Revocation of tax-exempt status
As of March 8, 2010, the Foundation reported on its web site that the Internal Revenue Service revoked the Foundation's tax exempt status for federal income tax purposes, and that the Foundation intended to contest the revocation in court. The Foundation stated that it was officially notified of the revocation on January 27, 2010, and that the revocation was effective retroactively to the year 2003. The report also stated that the IRS was preparing to execute levies against the Foundation for alleged tax deficiencies stemming from the revocation of tax exempt status. In a statement on January 29, 2011, the Foundation indicated on its web site that it was contesting the revocation in the U.S. Tax Court. The records of the U.S. Tax Court show that the Foundation filed its petition on September 21, 2010, and that the related entity, We The People Congress, Inc., also filed a petition on that same date. Trial in both cases is to be held in New York, New York, and a trial date of December 5, 2011, has been set.National Clean Elections Lawsuit
In November 2007, the We the People Foundation filed a federal lawsuit, with plaintiffs in all 50 states, claiming that electronic voting machines are inefficient means of counting citizens' votes and calling for hand counts of paper ballots nationwide. The "National Clean Elections Lawsuit" was filed in federal court in New York and served in all 50 states in early November 2007..The Constitution Party
Constitution Party (United States)
The Constitution Party is a paleoconservative political party in the United States. It was founded as the U.S. Taxpayers' Party by Howard Philips in 1991. Phillips was the party's candidate in the 1992, 1996 and 2000 presidential elections...
noted that several of its state chairs are plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
Tax cases
We the People Foundation and Robert L. Schulz have been the subject of federal investigations, and the have been directly and indirectly involved in various court cases regarding federal income taxation.Tax protester arguments promoted by the Foundation
In a case involving Richard Michael SimkaninRichard Michael Simkanin
Richard Michael Simkanin was a tax protester who was imprisoned after having been convicted on twenty-nine counts of United States federal tax crimes.- Background :Simkanin owned a company in Bedford, Texas, called Arrow Custom Plastics, Inc...
, a tax protester who supported the Foundation and who died while serving a prison sentence for Federal tax offenses, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has stated that the We the People Foundation ("WTP"):
-
- promotes the view that, despite common misconceptions, there is actually no law that requires most Americans to pay income taxes or most companies to withhold taxes from employees' paychecks. WTP also espouses the view that the Sixteenth Amendment was fraudulently declared to have been ratified.
IRS investigation
In one case, Robert L. Schulz filed motions in a federal court to quash administrative summonses issued by the Internal Revenue ServiceInternal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service is the revenue service of the United States federal government. The agency is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury, and is under the immediate direction of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue...
(IRS) seeking testimony and documents in connection with an IRS investigation. The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals...
affirmed the dismissal of the taxpayer's motions for a lack of subject matter jurisdiction because there was no actual case or controversy
Case or controversy
The Case or Controversy Clause of Article III of the United States Constitution has been deemed to impose a requirement that United States federal courts are not permitted to hear cases that do not pose an actual controversy — that is, an actual dispute between adverse parties which is capable of...
as required by Article III of the Constitution
Article Three of the United States Constitution
Article Three of the United States Constitution establishes the judicial branch of the federal government. The judicial branch comprises the Supreme Court of the United States and lower courts as created by Congress.-Section 1: Federal courts:...
. The court reasoned that the summonses posed no threat of injury to the taxpayer, as the IRS had not yet initiated enforcement proceedings against him. The taxpayer was not entitled to a court order to quash the summonses until the IRS went to court to demand that he comply with the summons or otherwise face sanctions—something the IRS had not yet done.
A subsequent attempt by Schulz to obtain a court order quashing an IRS "third party" summons issued to the internet payment service known as PayPal
PayPal
PayPal is an American-based global e-commerce business allowing payments and money transfers to be made through the Internet. Online money transfers serve as electronic alternatives to paying with traditional paper methods, such as checks and money orders....
was rejected by a Federal court in Nebraska in June of 2006. The summons was issued to PayPal to obtain information about donations to (or purchases made at) an internet web site maintained by Schulz or We the People Foundation. The court record indicates that the IRS issued the summons to PayPal as part of an investigation of an alleged failure by Schulz to file Federal income tax returns for the years 2001 through 2004, after Schulz refused to cooperate with the IRS inquiry. Schulz lost this case on appeal on September 13, 2007. In this case, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit ruled: "Schulz's constitutional arguments challenging the IRS's authority to enforce the tax laws are without merit." On April 27, 2007, an appeal by Schulz in a similar case (from a Federal district court in California) to try to block an IRS summons was rejected by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit is a U.S. federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:* District of Alaska* District of Arizona...
.
Lawsuit over right to petition in connection with federal taxes
In a separate case, Schulz and his We the People Foundation organization argued unsuccessfully that, based on the First Amendment right of the people to petition the government for a redress of grievances, the government should have a duty to respond to a taxpayer's demand for an explanation as to why taxpayers are subject to income tax. On May 8, 2007, the argument was rejected by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia CircuitUnited States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit known informally as the D.C. Circuit, is the federal appellate court for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Appeals from the D.C. Circuit, as with all the U.S. Courts of Appeals, are heard on a...
in We the People Foundation, Inc. v. United States. The Foundation took this case to the United States Supreme Court and, on January 7, 2008, the Supreme Court rejected the Foundation's case.
Permanent injunction halting certain Foundation activities
On April 3, 2007, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it had sued Schulz and two organizations, We the People Foundation for Constitutional Education Inc., and We the People Congress Inc., in connection with an attempt to stop the sale of an alleged tax fraud scheme reported to have cost the U.S. TreasuryUnited States Department of the Treasury
The Department of the Treasury is an executive department and the treasury of the United States federal government. It was established by an Act of Congress in 1789 to manage government revenue...
more than 21 million dollars. The suit alleged that Schulz had "used the two We the People entities to market a nationwide tax fraud scheme, called the Tax Termination Package, to employers and employees." The government charged that "the Tax Termination Package includes We the People forms, which the defendants falsely tell customers can be used to replace forms the IRS requires employers and employees must use in connection with federal tax withholding from wages."
On August 9, 2007, the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York
United States District Court for the Northern District of New York
The United States District Court for the Northern District of New York serves one of the 94 judicial districts in the United States and one of four in the state of New York. The U.S. Attorney for the district is Richard S. Hartunian...
ruled that some the Foundation's activities constituted the promotion of an illegal tax shelter by means of a statement or statements that the promoter "knows or has reason to known is false or fraudulent as to any material matter" under Internal Revenue Code section 6700 , and that a court order prohibiting those activities under was appropriate. The court issued an order including an injunction
Injunction
An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a court order that requires a party to do or refrain from doing certain acts. A party that fails to comply with an injunction faces criminal or civil penalties and may have to pay damages or accept sanctions...
permanently barring Schulz and his We the People Foundation from (1) advising or instructing persons or entities that they are not required to file federal tax returns or pay federal taxes (see Tax protester arguments
Tax protester arguments
Tax protester arguments are a number of objections raised by individuals who deny that a person has a legal obligation to pay a tax for which the United States government has determined that person is liable....
); (2) selling or furnishing any materials purporting to enable individuals to discontinue or stop withholding or paying federal taxes; (3) instructing, advising or assisting anyone to stop withholding or stop paying federal employment or income taxes; and (4) obstructing or advising anyone to obstruct IRS examinations, collections, or other IRS proceedings. On or about August 29, 2007, much of the material on the We the People web sites was removed pursuant to the court order, a copy of which was posted on the web sites.
The court "also ordered that the names, addresses, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses and Social Security number
Social Security number
In the United States, a Social Security number is a nine-digit number issued to U.S. citizens, permanent residents, and temporary residents under section 205 of the Social Security Act, codified as . The number is issued to an individual by the Social Security Administration, an independent...
s of every person who received materials on how to stop paying taxes be turned over to the government." According to the New York Times, "[t]his information would make it easy for the Internal Revenue Service to identify people who followed the illegal advice and for the Justice Department
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
to prosecute them for tax crimes."
On February 22, 2008, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the judgment of the District Court. The Court of Appeals stated:
-
- Defendants principally argue that the tax materials at issue constitute protected political and/or educational speech under the First Amendment of the Constitution. Defendants further argue that their actions in promoting the materials are otherwise protected under the First Amendment's Petition Clause, on the theory that the government has yet to respond to defendants' repeated inquiries as to whether, and on what basis, any information in the tax materials is false. [ . . . ] We have considered all of defendants' arguments and find them to be without merit.
The Court of Appeals also reinstated the District Court's requirement that the Foundation must provide the government "the names and contact information of the individuals who have received the tax materials." The Court of Appeals stated:
-
- The district court found that defendants' illegal activities were harming individuals, who were exposing themselves to criminal liability by following the defendants' ill-conceived instructions. [ . . . ] Requiring defendants to provide the identity and contact information of the recipients of the tax materials enables the government to monitor the defendants' obligation under the injunction to provide a copy of the district court's order to recipients of the tax materials. Moreover, the district court found that the defendants' illegal actions were harming the government [ . . . ] Requiring defendants to provide the identity and contact information [ . . . ] enables the government to monitor whether the recipients of defendants' materials are violating the tax laws. Thus, we find no abuse of discretion with respect to the district court's imposition of the reporting requirements in Paragraph C of the injunction.
Contempt proceeding
On April 7, 2008, the government filed a motion in the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York, asking the court to hold Robert L. Schulz and the We the People Foundation in civil contempt of court for failure to comply with the court order requiring Schulz to turn over, to the government, the names and contact information of the individuals who have received tax materials from the Foundation. On April 28, 2008, the District Court issued an order holding We the People Foundation and the other defendants in contempt of court, imposing fines of $2,000 per day on Robert Schulz, the We the People Foundation, and We the People Congress, effective retroactively to April 28, 2008, if the defendants did not comply with the court order by 4:00 p.m. on Monday, May 5, 2008. At 3:55 pm on May 5, 2008, Schulz filed a document with the court asserting that he had turned the material over to the United States attorney's office earlier that day.Disputing President Obama's citizenship
We The People Foundation placed a full-page advertisement in the December 1 and 3, 2008 Chicago TribuneChicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
newspaper in the form of an open letter addressed to Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
's presidential transition office in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, in which the Foundation disputes Obama's status as a "natural born citizen" of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The letter asserts that Obama cannot assume the office of President, and that the state electors cannot vote for his candidacy, unless Obama provides "documentary evidence before December 15, that conclusively establishes his eligibility". The letter lists specific documents that, in the opinion of the letter's author, Robert L. Schulz
Bob Schulz
Robert Louis Schulz, the Founder and Chairman of We the People Foundation for Constitutional Education and We the People Congress, is a constitutional activist with a decades-long focus on holding government accountable to the Constitution, through the First Amendment Right to Petition.An engineer...
, are missing or have not been made available. The letter states that the attempts to obtain the demanded evidence were unsuccessful "in a number of recent lawsuits". The group had previously said: "We make no claim regarding Mr. Obama, other than he has refused to provide proof of his eligibility to hold the office of the President of the United States, as he is required to do by the Constitution." On December 3, the same day as the second ad ran, the Tribune also ran a response examining the allegations the Foundation made.
See also
- Tax protester argumentsTax protester argumentsTax protester arguments are a number of objections raised by individuals who deny that a person has a legal obligation to pay a tax for which the United States government has determined that person is liable....
- Tax protester constitutional argumentsTax protester constitutional argumentsTax protester constitutional arguments are assertions that the imposition of the federal income tax violates the United States Constitution. These kinds of tax protester arguments are distinguished from related statutory arguments and conspiracy arguments, which presuppose the constitutionality of...
- Tax protester statutory argumentsTax protester statutory argumentsTax protesters in the United States make a number of statutory arguments that the assessment of the federal income tax in the United States violates the statutes enacted by the United States Congress and signed into law by the President...
- Tax protester historyTax protester historyA tax protester, in the United States, is a person who denies that he or she owes a tax based on the belief that the constitution, statutes, or regulations do not empower the government to impose, assess or collect the tax. The tax protester may have no dispute with how the government spends its...
External links
- We The People Foundation and Give Me Liberty portal, official sites [Note: As of August 29, 2007, most of the material on these sites was removed, pursuant to Federal court order. At least some of the material appears to have been restored as of late September 2007.]