On the morning of February 18th, 2010, Andrew Joseph Stack III boarded his single-engine Piper Dakota airplane, headed south toward downtown Austin and flew full speed into an IRS collections office, killing himself, one worker and wounding several more.

For years Stack had attended Tax Meetings, where discussion centered on the illegality of the IRS, the income tax laws and alleged methods to escape federal taxation. Citizens like Stack have traditionally been labeled "tax protestors," individuals who claim and act on the premise that the income tax and IRS are illegal.
 
The aftermath of Stack's plane crash (Getty Images)

While the cause is overwhelmingly populated by Libertarians, the political party of "maximum freedom and minimum government," it is a ragtag collective. "They fall into several categories," explains David Cay Johnston, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and contributor to Tax.com. "Some are economically unsuccessful and lost their money in scams, and instead have shifted blame to the government. Some are anarchists and claim to be such. More than a few are con artists who make money off tax defier schemes."

Now fringe members of the Tea Party can be added to the list. Former Senate candidates, such as Sharron Angle, ran on declarations to remove the 16th Amendment, which grants Congress the power to collect taxes. Followers of such candidates inevitably come in contact with the rich history of claims tax protestors assert.

In one press release by an organization called the Tea Party Patriots, the group adopts historical claims as its own, stating, "The Tea Party argues that even if the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was properly ratified, which is debatable, the IRS still has no legal right to tax the income of American citizens."