For most people -- including you, the reader -- there may be a huge potential payoff if you can legally and relatively safely reduce your taxes to the absolute minimum. Achieving Fiscal Freedom -- or coming as close to it as possible and prudent -- may bring about a dramatic expansion of your level of freedom, not to speak of your financial well-being.

Most of what follows applies to the US. Some of the strategy and tactics suggested may also apply to Canada -- see Detax Canada -- and Australia (being researched).

Elsewhere, your best strategy is probably to earn income outside "high-tax jurisdictions" -- see the Freedom Technology Resource Directory, Live Free and Offshore sections, as well as the the Offshore Pages on this website.

For many people, the first decision is probably to decide whether it's worth it to explore this area. For most people there may be a huge potential payoff if you can legally and relatively safely reduce your taxes to the absolute minimum. Achieving Fiscal Freedom -- or coming as close to it as possible and prudent -- may bring about a dramatic expansion of your level of freedom, not to speak of your financial well-being.

I believe that you can take a "brief preliminary tour" of a number of web pages, and based on this brief exploration, make a decision whether or not to study the area of fiscal freedom in more depth. I suggest you don't spend too much time at any particular website; the main idea is to find out what information, options, resources, and support might be available to you, whether anyone is actually "beating the taxman," and how easy or difficult it might be.

Don't be deterred by "IRS terror stories" from the media. They tend to create a very slanted picture in that they don't highlight the millions who successfully "beat the IRS" every year. Anyway, here are the websites to explore:

• American Contracting Services. If you work for a company that automatically deducts some of your pay, you may be able to arrange that they lease you through AMC, much as they would lease someone from ManPower.
• Henry Newman's Tax Freedom Network. Have a quick look at this page.
• LAW and DEFENSE - Attorney Joe Izen. You can use the Fifth Amendment to refuse to provide the IRS with information.
• Ferris Magnuson, Jr. Dedicated to any person who wants to learn about his rights, as guaranteed by the 5th Amendment, particularly relating to the IRS. Important information on opinion letters.
• Enrolled Agent John J. Schlabach. You can get an official opinion letter from an IRS-recognized authority that tells you about your obligations, if any, to the IRS.
• Curtis and Curtis - Attorney at Law. You can get an official opinion letter from an Officer of the Court and legal authority that tells you about your obligations, if any, to the IRS.
• Bill Conklin - Paralegal and Tax Consultant. Note the cases he has won. He also provides professional opinion letters.
• Former Judge John Rizzo. Besides providing general assistance in dealing with the IRS, he also provides professional opinion letters.
• IRS Defense. A substantial list of experts to provide opinion letters concerning your obligations, if any, to the IRS.
• Freedom Technology Core Concept #3. Here you can get some idea of the potential risk involved in attempting to "beat the IRS."
• 'Is the Federal Income Tax Mandatory or Voluntary?' by Larry Becraft, Attorney at Law, Huntsville, Alabama
• 'Unvolunteering From the IRS (An Actual Case History)'. A Comprehensive example of how to handle IRS correspondence.
• Tax Tactics. Dawn Miller's expertise on decoding IRS letters and the IMF (Individual Master File). Probably the most comprehensive information available on how to respond to IRS letters and demands.
• Tenessee Man Freed on Tax Charges.
• Maryland Man Beats IRS.
• 'Case Dismissed upon Demand for Bill of Particulars' by Robert Wangrud.

The purpose of the above is to provide you with information to enable you to make a rational decision as to whether further study is worth your time. Note that I'm not yet suggesting that you decide whether or not to exit the tax system. I believe that decision may require further study first.

Suppose it's going to take 50 hours of further study to determine whether or not you should exit the tax system. Suppose that you value your time at $50 per hour. That would mean that the price of preparing to make the decision will $2,500 in invested time.

Suppose that, from taxes you would otherwise pay, you would save $25,000 per year if you exited the tax system -- a conservative estimate for someone who earns $50 per hour or $100,000 per year.

Suppose that you can now "guesstimate" that after having spent a further 50 hours studying, there will be a 10% chance of you deciding to actually exit the tax system. This calculates to a potential benefit gained from your 50 hours of study of $25,000 divided by 10, equaling $2,500. This would make it a break-even proposition -- except that the $2,500 price for studying doesn't represent out-of-pocket expenses, while the $2,500 projected gain represents potentially extra cash in your pocket.

Many individuals and businesses who "toe the line," file "their returns," and pay "their taxes" have been ruined by the IRS. If you meekly obey them, there's a risk they'll ruin you. By obeying them, you also provide them with information they can use against you.

If you decide to exit their system, you stop providing them with information they can use against you. On the one hand, it's now more difficult for them to ruin you; on the other hand, because you're defying them (from their perspective), they may decide to attempt to ruin you.

I suggest that after 50 hours of study you may be in a position to legally exit the tax system with no more risk than driving your car. But the decision whether or not to exit the tax system should be taken after the 50 hours of study.

Here's what you may want to study:

• The websites mentioned above and some of the material they link to.
• Chapter 7 of Economic Rape of America.
• The Seize Your Freedom path.
• Some of the reports at the Tax Report Directory on this website.
• The Offshore Pages on this website.
• Some of the materials linked to from the Taxation, Offshore, Privacy, and Live Free sections of the Freedom Technology Resource Directory.

A final very important point to appreciate is that if you handle correspondence from the IRS appropriately and competently -- and all the examples you need for doing this are available to you at the links I've provided -- you can reduce the risk of having to defend yourself in court so it's far below your risk of dying in a car accident.

Here's wishing you Fiscal Freedom!

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