                                             July 29, 2002

    Mr. Gerald Klaas
    5109 Melvin Drive
    Carmichael, CA 95608

    Dear Mr. Klaas:

    I am responding to your letter of June 24, 2002, challenging the constitutionality
    of the 16th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.  You believe that
    my earlier response to you did not answer, in a satisfactory manner, your petition
    for redress of grievances guaranteed to you by the 1st Amendment.

    As I read the 1st Amendment, it provides, among other things, that the "Congress
    shall make no law respecting...the right of the people peaceably to assemble,
    and to petition the Government for redress of grievances."  The fact that I did not
    give you the answer you want does not, in my opinion, impinge upon your 1st
    Amendment right to petition the Government for redress of grievances.

    You have asked me to prove to you that the 16th Amendment was properly
    ratified in 1913.  Under our form of government, with its separation of powers, it
    is the responsibility of the judicial branch, not the executive branch, to determine
    whether federal laws are constitutional.  Please note Article III, Section 1 of the
    Constitution, which provides that: "The judicial Power of the United States, shall be
    vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress
    may from time to time ordain and establish."  Under Article III, Section 2 of the
    Constitution: "The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity,
    arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties..."

    The Congress of the United States enacts the tax laws, the IRS administers
    those laws, and the judicial branch of the government determines whether those
    laws are constitutional.  In Brushaber v. Union Pacific R.R., 240 U.S. 1 (1916),
    the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the income tax laws
    enacted subsequent to ratification of the 16th Amendment.  Since that time, the
    courts have consistently upheld the constitutionality of the federal income tax.

    Sincerely,
    Floyd L. Williams

    [signed Floyd L. Williams]

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