Firstly, this post is not to endorse, condone, encourage or other such stuff as violence, suicide, murder-suicide, homicide, rampages or screwing with the IRS. If you do that you are out of your mind, hurting the cause you wish to bring to light and are just plain an idiot. You're also taking out external problems on yourself and others causing great suffering of innocent people. Do not go there, ever, ok?

If you're a techie and you got wiped out financially:

1. you are not alone
2. you need to join forces with other techies and get a political voice

Put your anger and outrage where it belongs and demand political action through the right channels. Behavior as Mr. Stack here, is never justified.

If you are going to the dark side, look, that doesn't help anybody and all you're doing is helping the bastards win.

Now, onto Joe Stack's suicide note, which is attached here because the FBI is busy bringing down this guy's website and monitoring all of his online activity, due to their investigation.

The relevant passage is Sec. 1706 of the IRS code:

SEC. 1706. TREATMENT OF CERTAIN TECHNICAL PERSONNEL.

(a) IN GENERAL - Section 530 of the Revenue Act of 1978 is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new subsection:

"(d) EXCEPTION. - This section shall not apply in the case of an individual who pursuant to an arrangement between the taxpayer and another person, provides services for such other person as an engineer, designer, drafter, computer programmer, systems analyst, or other similarly skilled worker engaged in a similar line of work."

(b) EFFECTIVE DATE. - The amendment made by this section shall apply to remuneration paid and services rendered after December 31, 1986.

Now why would that be a reason for an engineer to go down the slippery slope of rage based insanity?

Because when Congress changed the IRS code, and the IRS who interprets the law, it destroyed thousands of engineering independent contractors status. In the past, an individual could act easily as a small business, complete with all taxes and deductions allowed to a small business and take on projects directly with large companies, working in house, using their engineering workplace.

In fact it is necessarily for a consultant to do so on large, complex projects where equipment being used for advanced R&D is in the millions of dollars.

Independent consultants peddle their expertise, a unique niche of specialty skills.

But when the IRS did this, to capture those lesser skilled individuals who were being denied permanent employment and benefits so a corporation could save a buck, instead they captured these very experts, who ran their businesses by moving from technical firm to technical firm, utilizing their specialty skills and knowledge per project as needed.

That independent consultant, engineer, was charging lawyer rates, $100-$600 an hour, and the firm, corporation contracted with that individual directly. Just like attorneys or marketing strategists or financial advisers, these skills are only needed for a period of time, hence are really a small business service and not amenable to long term permanent employment. These are specialty skills, needed for a particular project or period only.

Corporations would pay those rates and still do, for they needed that level of expertise, but unfortunately, again to the Sec. 1706, the engineer no longer is getting that money, instead a 3rd party contract house is, like a glorified slave trader.

Even worse, corporations will only use certain contract houses and it's not based on skills, expertise, ability, it's all based on some inside contract arrangement and preferred vendor status. Get it? Now trading people is considered to be a vendor. One is just a body and individuals with their technical expertise are traded like sacks of corn and potatoes.

In 1987 when Sec. 1706 passed, corporations ran scared and instead used a host of 3rd party vendors, as IRS buffers, who turn around and take 20% to 80% of that contractor's gross receipts, paid out as 1099-misc. That 3rd party does nothing but act as an IRS buffer so a corporation will not be held liable if that independent consultant is deemed to be an employee of that firm.

Engineers and specialty skilled consultants are not the same as other types of contractors or even programmers. Often a firm needs this expertise, but per project, often lasting at least 1 year to 5, but they do not need these specialty skills longer than that because the project is then over.

So, what the IRS did was screw over thousands of highly skilled independent consultants and made 3rd party contract houses, like Manpower, Kelly Services, etc. proliferate and in fact these contract houses plain steal from the consultants pocket and offer nothing except a legal buffering for a corporation to avoid paying FICA and other taxes.

Here is an example of yet another organization making a killing out of stealing from the independent consultants pocket's by simply providing a legal buffer for the corporation using that consultant.

So, while the actions of Joe Stack are not condoned the reality is he's right on this point. Sec. 1706 was basically legal theft from an entire occupation sector, the high skilled technical and professional consultant.

Bear in mind when dealing with these 3rd party contract houses, they just take a cut of the money, they are not providing health care, insurances, retirement or even the ability to obtain unemployment insurance after a contract is completed.