Joe Banister is a graduate of San Jose State University and was a Certified Public Accountant for 15 years. In 1993 he accepted appointment to the Department of the Treasury, IRS Criminal Investigation Division, as a Special Agent (Criminal Investigator). Mr. Banister is believed to be the first and only IRS Criminal Investigation Division Special Agent ever to conduct an off-duty investigation about claims that the federal income tax is fraudulently administered and enforced. After confronting top IRS officials about the validity of those claims, including his own IRS supervisors, he was encouraged to resign and did so from the IRS on February 25, 1999. He has spoken out against the fraudulent administration and enforcement of the federal income tax ever since.