Austin Plane Crash: Joseph Andrew Stack Left Sick Suicide Note for IRS to Take "Pound of Flesh"

By: Neil Katz
Topics: Daily Blotter

(AP Photo/Courtesy Grant Abston)

(AP Photo/Jack Plunkett)

(CBS)

NEW YORK (CBS) Joseph Andrew Stack, the man the FBI believes crashed a small plane into an Austin office complex out of anger at the IRS, may have left a disturbing online manifesto in which he ranted against the IRS, the Catholic Church, tax loopholes, bailouts and his own sorry state of affairs.

Photo: Echelon Building, Austin, Texas Feb. 18, 2010.

PICTURES: Austin Plane Crash

"Well, Mr. Big Brother IRS man, let's try something different; take my pound of flesh and sleep well," someone named Joe Stack wrote. The Web page signed today as his death date. It was created Feb. 16 and last modified this morning at 6:42 a.m. according the page's source code. The FBI said they believe it is real.

Photo: Echelon Building, Austin, Texas Feb. 18, 2010.

PICTURES: Austin Plane Crash

The FBI believes Stack burned down his own house Thursday and crash landed a plane into the Echelon building in Austin where the IRS maintains several offices. CNN reported that as many as 190 IRS employees work in the building.

At least one person was missing and two people were taken to a hospital, according to Assistant Austin Fire Chief Harry Evans. Their conditions and identities were not immediately known.

Photo: Echelon Building, Austin, Texas Feb. 18, 2010.

PICTURES: Austin Plane Crash

Joe Stack's web page starts out "If you're reading this, you're no doubt asking yourself, 'Why did this have to happen?'"

He talked about the "storm raging in my head" and railed against taxation without representation. "Anyone who really stands up for that principal is promptly labeled a 'crackpot', traitor and worse," the page says.

Stack was angered by a "handful of thugs and plunderers (that) can commit unthinkable atrocities" including bailed out GM executives and the drug and insurance companies who "are murdering tens of thousands of people a year and stealing from the corpses and victims they cripple."

He was pissed at politicians of all stripes and outraged at the IRS, which he believed unfairly gave tax loopholes to big corporations and the Catholic Church, but not regular Americans.

He said he tried to exploit the same loopholes but it backfired. That "little lesson in patriotism cost me $40,000+, 10 years of my life, and set my retirement plans back to 0," he wrote.

He hoped that the "the American zombies wake up and revolt," and at times expressed that he was at a breaking point.

"I know I'm hardly the first one to decide I have had all I can stand," he wrote. "It has always been a myth that people have stopped dying for their freedom in this country, and it isn't limited to the blacks, and poor immigrants. I know there have been countless before me and there are sure to be as many after. But I also know that by not adding my body to the count, I insure nothing will change. I choose to not keep looking over my shoulder at "big brother" while he strips my carcass, I choose not to ignore what is going on all around me, I choose not to pretend that business as usual won't continue; I have just had enough. "

He ended with," The communist creed: From each according to his ability, to each according to his need. The capitalist creed: From each according to his gullibility, to each according to his greed."

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PICTURES: Joe Stack
PICTURES: Austin Plane Crash

MORE ON CRIMESIDER
February 18, 2010 - Joe Stack Bomb Threat Called Off, FBI Clears Georgetown Airport After Austin Crash
February 18, 2010 - Joe Stack: Plane Crasher Talked Politics But "No Obsession," Says Woman Who Knew Him Through Band
February 18, 2010 - Joe Stack Bomb Threat: FBI Searching Georgetown Airport for Car Bomb after Austin Plane Crash
February 18, 2010 - Joe Stack Pictures: First Photos of Alleged Austin IRS Plane Crasher
February 18, 2010 - Joe Stack Suicide Note Full Text: "American Zombies Wake Up and Revolt"
February 18, 2010 - Austin Plane Crash: Joseph Andrew Stack Left Sick Suicide Note for IRS to Take "Pound of Flesh"
February 18, 2010 - Austin Plane Crash: Pilot Joseph Andrew Stack May Have Targeted IRS Offices, Says FBI
February 18, 2010 - Plane Crash Austin: Complex That Houses FBI Office on Fire

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by Badbeat March 9, 2010 7:22 AM EST: Joe Cryer an attorney has already proven that the IRS is completely bogus. He was found not guilty for income tax evasion by a jury. He proved that the IRS has no authority to collect or levy federal income tax period. CBS news didn't cover the biggest story of all times. Why?? Please google read become educated. What are fundamental rights? These rights are granted by God and was the basic principal this country was founded on? His wife should sue for wrongful death.; Reply to this comment


by KHLady7 February 20, 2010 1:40 PM EST: What he did was beyond terrible but at the same time it's not surprising one bit. The government is really starting to screw us over.; Reply to this comment


by rockcutr February 20, 2010 9:16 AM EST: It has taken a long time for people to realize that we are all slaves to the outragous tax system in this the republicans country. Sure democrats are sort of in the lead but, they are all snobs. There is a pure hate for those of us that support them. It is like we all have teenage children which by law we must feed and water. We must spare the rod because some namby pampy said that was wrong. Karl Marx for president!
Might just as well, the poly ticks are not hiding their anti american ways very well. We may only hope for the consciousness of turning away from "you have it and we will kill you to get it mentality of washington". Might not kill but, shall surely ruin our lives just as any sociopath would do.; Reply to this comment


by starving1968-3 February 20, 2010 8:39 AM EST: Conservatives could learn a lot from Tiger Woods' wife Elin, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty said at the Conservative Political Action Conference today.

"She said, I've had enough," Pawlenty said. "We should take a page out of her playbook and take a 9-iron and smash the window out of big government."

And idiots like Pawlenty can't explain why someone would take their plane and fly it into an IRS building in Austin, effectively "smashing out the windows".

But that pales in comparison to the jokes that are being made at CPAC about the plane attack, while the building hasn't even finished smoking yet.; Reply to this comment


by formrusmcsgt February 20, 2010 8:37 AM EST: Joe Stack's web page starts out "If you?re reading this, you?re no doubt asking yourself, 'Why did this have to happen?'"
---
Wrong again, Joe.

It didn't "have to happen". You could have sought treatment instead.; Reply to this comment


by atx7 February 20, 2010 12:24 AM EST: This man is hardly a hero, he's a coward. Those who actually praise his actions should be ashamed of themselves. That is a terribly cruel insult to the victims and their families who were involved. Consider how you would feel if it were your family and friends who endured that tragedy.

I understand that people get irritated with the government but that doesn't mean one should fly their plane into the building. Obviously, this man had some deep seeded mental problems. He also allegedly burnt his home down prior to going to the airport to get his plane.

I think it's sad when people play the victim in situations. How convenient it is to blame someone else for your problems. Evidently it was reported that he has had prior audit issues in California where he lived prior to Texas.

So I did some math :

Average price for his plane : about $40,000
Hangar Rental Fee: from $100-680 a month

Seems like an expensive hobby for someone who's out of work and has no money to live on. I have an idea, sell the plane,pay your bills and take a lesser job to make ends meat until something better comes along. Seems to be what everyone else does when times are tough.

The true victims of this are the people who were in the building, their families, the employee who was unaccounted for , their families and Mr. Stacks own wife and children. Thanks to his thoughtless actions there will be lots of scars and heartbreak for those people.

I will keep them in my thoughts and prayers, and I hope that many others will do the same.; Reply to this comment


by tuftskins February 19, 2010 8:36 PM EST: I think we are headed for a war. The People v. the Political Class.; Reply to this comment


by noloyalisti February 19, 2010 3:21 PM EST: Why would anyone in their right mind defend or be a fan of a deranged, suicidal maniac? Scotty, beam me up there is no intelligent life down here.; Reply to this comment

by MockStorm February 19, 2010 1:39 PM EST

If history serves correct, maybe this guy is on to something. People like to sit here and vent on the internet instead of doing something about it. History wasn't made by people who sit back complaining on the internet and it definetely wasn't made by talking. History and change has always been made by selfless sacrifice. When the CEO's stole millions of dollars from the tax payers all anyone did was spam about it. Maybe if we all had a bit more intestinal fortitude and ran a plane into the houses of every CEO who scr***d the american people like this guy and took revenge on these milionaire CEO's, they might stop doing this to the middle class and lower class americans. As long as we do nothing other than spam complaints, nothing will really get any better. More and more people are getting tired of all the c**p we see going on in this country. I see change in the future and it will come from men and woman who are willing to give there lives for it. Hey pak31, you speak of God. So let me ask you. How many people have been killed in the name of some God? More people have been killed in the name of God than any other thing on this planet. Wars have been had, millions have died in the name of God. At least this guy died for something I can see, feel, and watch my kids go through. Don't bring some God into this. This is men scr***ng men, not God.

Reply to this comment


by noloyalisti February 19, 2010 1:57 PM EST: We just need to unite against the top 1%. They have the money to buy off the politician to write laws to give them even more. Our entire capitalist system has been ruined by the predators at the big corporations. They never have enough. Why don't we just admit what is right in front of us, I don't get it.


by pak31 February 19, 2010 8:43 AM EST: All I can say is that I am shocked. I have read more posts, here and elsewhere, supporting this guy than being upset with him. I can't believe that people are on this guy's, no nonexistent side. I agree the government/IRS is messed up but how can any human support some guy who takes out his own personal frustration with no respect for others around him. He left his wife homeless and killed a person at the building. Yeah, I look up to him, right. Government is made up of people, but God's laws to me are higher. He defied everything the man upstairs stands for. Just because he' had a tough life(boo hoo) he thinks he has the right to ruin ours??? What a nut.; Reply to this comment