Oswald Tax Records

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

Marina Oswald Porter permission to release tax records and tax information to the La Fontaines: [Page 1] [Page 2]

Tax Information scans [1][2][3][4][5]

Horne Memo selections:

• Pages [9][10][11][12][13][14]
  
• Index to memo

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Update 8/2012: The entire memo is not online.