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Response to Letter from Solicitor - Sent 3 Jun 1998

3 June 1998

Burt Hinkel, Esquire
c/o Fickle, Boggle & Gaggle, Attorneys at Law
257 Thorn Bush Place
Extortionburg, West Carolina 66666

Dear Mr. Hinkel,

I am in receipt of a letter from you dated 28 May 1998, which carries the heading: RE: 1997 Extortionburg Earned Income Tax. You state:

As Solicitor for the Extortionburg Earned Income Tax Office, which collects the earned income tax for Extortionburg under an intermunicipal agreement, we have received your letter of March 7, 1998, regarding your 1997 Extortionburg earned income tax.

Our records indicate that you were a resident of Extortionburg for all or part of 1997 and as such are required to file and pay the appropriate earned income tax.

Mr Hinkel, you are in error and proceeding upon a false assumption if you believe that I have any obligation to file an Extortionburg Earned Income Tax Return with you or to pay you an "earned income tax."

I am hereby giving NOTICE UPON YOU of those errors and also declaring my objection to any such presumed claim by you or anyone else in your office. I deny that I have any obligation under the law to file the "earned income tax return" to which you refer and I deny that I have any "tax due."

I want to make it clear that it is my intention to obey all laws that legitimately impose a requirement or obligation upon me. However, I have no desire to volunteer where no obligation exists, especially when the waiver of my rights is involved. I am relying on what the Supreme Court held long ago:

"An individual may be under no obligation to do a particular thing, and his failure to act creates no liability; but if he voluntarily attempts to act and do a particular thing, he comes under an implied obligation in respect to the manner in which he does it."

Guardian T&D Co. v. Fisher (1906) 26 S.Ct. 186,188.

Moreover, it is a well-established principle of American jurisprudence that any law that conflicts with the U.S. Constitution is null and void.

The general rule is that an unconstitutional statute, whether federal or state, though having the form and name of law, is in reality no law, but is wholly void, and ineffective for any purpose; since unconstitutionality dates from the time of its enactment, and not merely from the date of the decision so branding it, an unconstitutional law, in legal contemplation, is as inoperable as if it had never been passed...
Since an unconstitutional law is void, the general principles follow that it imoses no duties, confers no rights, creates no office, bestows no power or authority on anyone, affords no protection, and justifies no acts perfomred under it...
No one is bound to obey an unconstitutional law and no courts are bound to enforce it...
Indeed, insofar as a statute runs counter to the fundamental law of the land (U.S. Constitution) it is superseded thereby.

16 American Jurisprudence 2d 256 (1979 edition)

Therefore, I have determined that I am not required to file the "earned income tax return" to which you refer and that you have no basis in law to request that I do so. My letter of 7 March 1998 explicity explains the basis of my legal position.

If you agree with my determinations, as set forth in my letter of 7 March 1998 and in this letter, I make timely demand that you notify me of the actions you have taken to correct your error. If you disagree with my determination I will expect you to document your position and authority with at least the following documents:

1) All documents on which you base your claim that I have any obligation to the Extortionburg Earned Income Tax Bureau, as an agent of the IRS or the United States federal government, and that I am the one who is required to provide money, documents and records to you.

2) Copies of all documents that demonstrate that I m obligated to produce money, documents and records to you.

3) All documents of determination that indicate I am one who is liable or subject to any statute that you or the Extortionburg Earned Income Bureau claim to have authority to enforce.

4) Copies of all documents that identify the facts on which those determinations were made.

5) Copies of all statutes on which those facts were applied to make any of the determinations that I am one who is liable or subject.

6) Copies of the Notices sent or served upon me prior to making those determinations.

7) Copies of your delegation of authority to inquire into my personal affairs or make any demand upon me, and the delegations of authority of those who made the above determinations that I am liable or subject to those determinations.

8) Copies of your document of appointment to the position which you now hold and copies of the documents that identify by name, title, position, individual identification number, and office, each party who participated in any aspect of the above determinations.

9) The document that describes the procedural format for expungement of alleged determinations, improperly or unlawfully made within the Extortionburg Earned Income Tax Bureau.

My authority for making this demand for verification of your authority has been well established by the U.S. Supreme Court as follows:

"Whatever the form in which the Government functions, anyone entering into an arrangement with the Government takes the risk of having accurately ascertained that he who purports to act for the Government stays within the bounds of his authority... and this is so even though, as here, the agent himself may have been unaware of the imitations upon his authority."

Federal Crop Insurance Corporation v. Merrill, 332 U.S. 380 at 384 (1947).

I will expect your response as to my demand for the correction of your error or the documents requested above within 30 days of your receipt of this letter. If you need additional time, please make your request in writing and it will be granted.

If I do not hear from you, within that time, your lack of response will establish the presumption that you do not have the documentation or the authority to support your claim of any requirement or obligation upon me.

Sincerely,

George Patrick Franklin
Certified Mail Receipt No. Z 123 456 789

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