While serving as a Gun-Carrying Special Agent in the IRS Criminal Investigation Division, Joseph Banister was challenged to disprove claims that the federal income tax was being illegitimately administered and enforced.
Bound by his oath to the U.S. Constitution and a deep sense of personal integrity, Banister did what few in his position would dare: he launched a thorough, independent investigation into the claims.
What he discovered shook him to his core. Rather than bury his findings, he brought them to his superiors at the IRS — and was promptly fired for it. The government then went further, attempting to indict and silence him through criminal prosecution.
In 2005, a federal jury acquitted Joseph Banister on all counts. His story is a landmark moment in the history of government accountability and individual conscience.