All,
Please refer to Horne Memo D131 on the Oswald Tax Records.
The memo is over 200 pages of notes, correspondence, and documents
concerning the ARRB's search for records to include in the JFK
collection under the JFK Act given to JFK Lancer by the author
Doug Horne.
Included with this memo are:
A letter from Howard T. Martin, Director Disclosure Operations
Division IRS, dated 12/19/78 that states --
We are in receipt of an authorization from Mrs. Marina Oswald
Porter, permitting the release of tax returns and tax return
information of her deceased husband, Lee Harvey Oswald for the
years 1956 through 1963 to your committee. Attached are copies
of tax returns and tax return information of Lee Harvey Oswald.
The material consists of copies of income tax returns for 1956,
1958, 1959, and 1962 together with a summary of income for those
years, the originals of which remain in the custody of the National
Archives.
-end quote-
Horne has noted at the bottom of this document:
"Aileen Summerlin's handwriting ---> (arrow pointing
at a handwritten notation on this document that reads, "from
HSCA file 20-1998-4520 180-10110-10130" (A very important
lead to a significant discovery..."OPEN IN FULL"...
on 9/18/98)
-end note-
The next page is a reproduction of this letter from the IRS.
Horne has noted:
"Original letter and attached docs located in HSCA Security
Classified Files, Box 5, folder "JFK 164".
and at the bottom of this page Horne writes:
"Memo for file:
9/18/98
Aileen Summerlin and Bill Lovelace of IRS made this letter available
to me in August '98 after I rcvd responsibility for IRS records.
(They cannot find the actual waiver signed by Marina in 1978,
however.) Summerlin told me to check HSCA record number 180-10110-1030..."
on the following page:
"...which is the record number for this file."
*Summerlin told me that if the HSCA had released these 4 returns
to a third party, then whatever that 3rd party did with the information
was of no concern to the IRS.
*Lovelace told me it was the IRS's opinion that EITHER the
HSCA (now defunct) OR whoever legally holds the documents in
record 180-10110-10130 (i.e. House Committee on Govt. Operations)
could release the records today.
9/18/98: I discover that they had been "OPEN-IN-FULL"
since 8/16/93!!! (See RIF) -end quotes-
The next page is the RIF below:
AGENCY: HSCA
RECORD NUMBER: 180-10110-10130
RECORD SERIES: SECURITY CLASSIFIED FILES
AGENCY FILE NUMBER: JFK-164
DOCUMENT INFORMATION
ORIGINATOR: HSCA
FROM: Howard T. Martin
TO:Robert G. Blakey,
DATE: 12/19/78
PAGES: 31
SUBJECTS: Oswald, Finances, Income Tax
DOCUMENT TYPE: LETTER
CLASSIFICATION: U
RESTRICTIONS: OPEN IN FULL
CURRENT STATUS: O
DATE OF LAST REVIEW: 08/16/93
COMMENTS: Box 5
Horne has written at the bottom:
"open in full" status (apparently declared by NARA
on 08/16/93) not discovered by the Review Board staff until 9/18/98.
end quote
In late September 1998, I received the ARRB's final report
on CD-ROM. I noticed the following endnotes on chapter 8, page
168:
"According to the ARRB's final report, "In the spring
of 1997, Marina Oswald provided limited consent to the IRS to
release Lee Harvey Oswald's tax returns to researchers Ray and
Mary La Fontaine. Marina Oswald declared her intent to have the
La Fontaines release these returns to the public, but to our
knowledge they have not done so. Absent Marina Oswald's consent,
the IRS is legally obligated under Section 6103 to withhold the
Oswald tax returns from public disclosure."
end quote
I gave this information to several researchers letting this
"cat out of the bag" and soon afterwards the tax documents
attached to RIF 180-10110-10130 were posted on the "Truth
Is Redacted" Web Site -- after John McAdams posted atleast
one of them on his web site.
Hopefully, this will clarify that Marina Porter has the legal
authority to release ANY of Lee Oswald's tax records and other
tax information to the public at any time. As you will read in
Mrs. Porter's letter to the IRS, she fully expected the LaFontaine's
to make the tax records public at once. They did not and have
no excuse that I can see. Their legal protection for this is,
once the Service has made a release to an authorized third party,
that third party is under no further restrictions re:re-disclosure.
However, the IRS CANNOT release this information.
Because of the vital information on both the tax records and
Armstrong's claim of falsification disproved by Horne and included
in the memo, I have decided to place some of the referenced material
below.
I have taken considerable time and web space to put these documents
online but they are only representative of the whole picture.
I suggest that persons interested purchase the Horne Memo for
an accurate chronicle of the Oswald tax records.
Sincerely,
Debra
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