[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 15 (Wednesday, January 25, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H596]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    AMERICANS GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT IN DISPUTES WITH THE IRS

  (Mr. TRAFICANT asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. TRAFICANT. Mr. Speaker, I say to my colleagues, tell me, 
Congress, when did the IRS waive the Bill of Rights? Check this out. In 
Colorado, the IRS said that David and Millie Evans owed them $42,000 in 
back taxes. Three weeks later they said it was a mistake, it is 
$100,000, so they settled it for $22,000.
  Evans sent a check. IRS stamped it, received it, and IRS called them 
and said, ``We don't have your check prove it.'' They took them to 
court. They liened their house. They sold their business. They took 
their retirement account, all their bank accounts.
  It went to court, the court said the Evanses were not guilty. The IRS 
appealed the decision, saying the judge wrongfully instructed the jury 
by saying the burden of proof was on the IRS. They said, ``You must 
overturn this because the tax code is quite clear, the burden of proof 
is on the Evanses.'' The case was overturned.

                              {time}  1110

  Unbelievable, Congress. If there is a Contract With America, the 
American people do support much of your contract. They support this 
contract, the basic tenet of our Bill of Rights: you are innocent until 
proven guilty, and damn it, if it is good enough for the Son of Sam, it 
is good enough for mom and dad.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Duncan). The Chair would advise the 
gentleman from Ohio that he should avoid profanity in his remarks.

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