Just two days short of Guy Fawkes Day (ref. V for Vendetta)
By Peter Hendrickson

Commerce Twp., Michigan: 15 years ago this 3rd of November, 2018, the very first 100% income tax refund in modern American history was issued by the United States. That $10,152.96 refund was of everything withheld during 2002 as Social security, Medicare and normal federal income taxes from the $58,965 salary of Peter E. Hendrickson.

Hendrickson’s deep research into the history of the tax, the judicial decisions concerning its nature and the fine print in tax law which is rarely seen by anyone, even IRS officials and judges, had revealed an actually quite limited scope to the tax. That research had also exposed a structural design by which people who have actually done nothing taxable are made to seem as though they had, causing the tax to be much more widely applied over the last 80 years or so than necessary or proper.

Deploying his unique knowledge, Hendrickson simply rebutted the misrepresentation of his earnings on which the IRS typically relies in determining tax liability. After what ended up being an extraordinary amount of attention to his claims by the tax agency, he received that first complete refund.

Even before that initial proof of concept, Hendrickson had published his research and findings in a 2003 book, ‘Cracking the Code- The Fascinating Truth About Taxation In America’ (ISBN 0-9743936-0-6). By the time Hendrickson’s own second complete refund issued a year later (of everything withheld from him in 2003), more and more Americans were doing the same. Continue reading →