# Was the 16th Amendment properly ratified?

| Prove it. Earn $20 $27. | Earn the money Up the Ante! Text: 16th Amendment The Evidence This site: Short Version Press Room The Open Letter

On this page I am chronicling my effort to get the above question answered. The 1st Amendment to the Constitution grants to me the right to petition the federal government for redress of grievances. And so, here in this public forum, and through US Postal Mail to my congressman, as well as members of the federal bureaucracy, I ask the question, "Was the 16th Amendment (income taxes) properly ratified?" One might think this is a simple question with a simple answer. I challenge you to get an "official" answer, as is your right under the 1st Amendment. I have yet to get a direct, official answer from any member of the federal government. Maybe you will fare better than I?

## My request:

My request is simple. I wish for the federal government to prove to me that the 16th Amendment was properly ratified in 1913. I worded my request in a letter to Floyd L. Williams, National Director for Legislative Affairs of the IRS, like this:

> I would like an "official" response which states the EXACT language of the 16th Amendment that was ratified by each of the "enough states ratifying the 16th Amendment even without Ohio", enumerated by state. So I expect your response to me to say, "Dear Mr. Klaas, the 16th Amendment reads, 'The Congress shall have power......' , and then enumerate for me the "enough states" that you count, and the date on which this EXACT language was ratified by that particular state legislature.

That's a simple request, is it not? Certainly, if the 16th Amendment was properly ratified, they would have no problem answering the question directly. So far, I've received only double-talk, misdirection, and circular arguments. I encourage you to try this for yourself, see if you can excercise your 1st Amendment right. Ask your congressman, your senators, any federal employee; just try to get someone to "officially" verify for you the three-fourths majority of state legislatures that passed the EXACT language of the 16th Amendment, as you read it in today's Constitution.
If you're the first one to get me the answer, proving the 16th Amendment was properly ratified in 1913, I'll give you twenty bucks! (plus whatever Joe kicks in.)

Good luck exercising your rights,
Gerald Klaas

A. Tax Bill says, " Up the ante!"

Maybe your friends would like to see this page?
This'll help.

---snip---

Hey,
You won't believe this Libertarian nut. He thinks that the
16th Amendment was fraudulently ratified, and is offering
CASH to the first person to prove him wrong. Check it out.
http://www.sacto.com/taxes

---end snip---

There are also more "spread the word tools" on the copyright rules page.

And one final comment. Paraphrasing Bob Schulz of the We The People Foundation,

> Either we have a Constitution, or we do not. Either we have a right to petition and receive redress for grievances, or we do not. Either we have a right to have our government operate within the rules of the Constitution, or we do not.

Again, I, Gerald Klaas, of Sacramento, California, challenge you, average Joe citizen, to test your First Amendment right. Please, report back to me, let me know, did the Constitution work for you any better than it has for me? And don't forget, if it does, and you are the first average Joe citizen who gets an official response proving the valid ratification of the 16th Amendment, I'll give you the cash. And if the cash is unclaimed as of December 31, 2004, I'll use it toward a foreign vacation, just to remind myself why I still love this country regardless of the bureaucratic run-around.

This page, and every page on this site ( http://sacto.com/taxes ), is copyright ©2002 Gerald Klaas. Permission is granted to copy and redistribute for private, non-commercial, non-government use. Specific rights claimed can be found on the "copyright" page of the site http://sacto.com/taxes Photocopying or other duplication of this page will encumber you to the payment of royalties as specified in the "copyright" page.