Dear A-Letter Reader:
Since 9-11, many Americans have begun to learn the need for constant vigilance against the depredations of not only possible terrorists, but by our own US government
Yesterday I talked with a person attending a conference in Florida who related in detail how a neighbor, with whom he had a legal dispute, had "turned him in" to the IRS, alleging he was engaged in tax evasion of some sort. Three years later, after $70,000 in defensive legal fees, this wrongfully person accused was cleared.
Last year it came out that the FBI allowed a person in Boston to be murdered to protect a favored FBI informant and then lied about it; an FBI agent was convicted in this case. The FBI also allowed an innocent man to sit in jail for 20 years in Boston, convicted on false FBI testimony meant to protect FBI informants. And former Atty. Gen., John Ashcroft wanted to deputize every American to spy on every other American in his notorious TIPS proposal that fortunately failed.
To fight for your rights, you must be able to justify every aspect of your lifestyle in writing with carefully kept records. The IRS probably won't catch the drug kingpin raking in millions a year, but a hard-working businessman who communicates with Switzerland too often may be stalked.
If the IRS thinks your lifestyle is unusually expensive for what they perceive to be your social position, you could become the target of an investigation. (IRS agents have been known to skulk around country club parking lots, trying to match suspected tax evaders to luxury vehicle ownership).
The IRS claims to have 1,000 "controlled informants," people who regularly inform on others for pay. Some of them are accountants. (Doesn't that give you a warm fuzzy feeling?) Michael Levine, a retired US Customs and DEA officer, says there are 15,000 informants on the federal payroll. That's not counting the 10,000 casual informants who claim IRS rewards each year for turning in friends and neighbors, many of seeking revenge or settling a score.
Informing is big business. A congressional investigative report revealed that in three recent years, the US Justice Dept. spent $125.6 million paying informants. This huge sum was based on a percentage of the cash and assets seized as a result of the informant's information. Many of these stool pigeons are ex-cons and small-time crooks who made deals with the law to avoid jail time. And some are "jail house informants" seeking to get out by informing on other inmates, truthfully or not.
And these days almost anything government wants to make a crime, they can; money laundering, conspiracy, tax evasion are all terribly elastic concepts.And then there is "terrorism" -- a cover for almost anything government wants to do in secret or otherwise.
Be wary of situations that invite someone with a grudge to turn informer to hurt you. A fired employee or disgruntled ex-spouse may get even by telling lies to a government bureaucrat accusing you of cheating on your taxes or laundering money.
You don't have to be paranoid, but you do need to be careful.
That's the way it looks from here.
Bob Bauman, Editor
PS: You get far greater privacy by going offshore with your assets and even making your home offshore. Find out more by clicking here:LINK: http://www.isecureonline.com/reports/190STHOW/E190FB72/