October 5, 2001

IRS, Chris Roginsky
600 Arch Street, Room 3208
Philadelphia, PA 19106

Dear Mr./Ms. Roginsky

I am in receipt of your letter of 10/4/01, in which you request a meeting with me concerning my alleged "tax shelter promotion." While I find your request to be rather bizarre, I will most definitely be attending that meeting (9:00 a.m., 10/18/01, at the Jenkintown (PA) office of the IRS). I hereby inform you that I will be bringing two witnesses, and that I will be audio-recording that meeting (see 26 USC § 7521).

At the meeting, please be prepared to tell me exactly what "promotion" you think I am involved in. To be frank, I view this action by the IRS as nothing more than an attempt to silence my web site, located at http://www.taxableincome.net, and your citation of 26 USC § 6700 as the legal basis for this attempted censorship is laughable. As the text of that section makes abundantly clear, it only applies to those who create or sell a plan, organization, or entity, and who (falsely) tell others that some deduction is allowed, or some income is exempt from taxation, "by reason of holding an interest in the entity or participating in the plan or arrangement."

Not only do I sell nothing related to federal taxation, but the information which I give away for free has nothing at all to do with any plan or organization, participation in which would cause anyone’s income to be exempt. My information is about what the federal income tax statutes and regulations themselves already show to be taxable; it is not about any plan that people can participate in which would cause their income to become nontaxable. The sections about "abusive tax shelters" therefore have no application to myself, or to anything I am involved in.

Nonetheless, I will be at the meeting you requested, and I will bring with me materials relevant to the issue.

Sincerely,