History Film / HarrysWar

Harry Johnson (Edward Herrmann) has a sweet but eccentric Aunt Beverly (Geraldine Page), who runs a household filled with surplus military equipment and questionably-sane survivalists. She's also in a tangle with the Internal Revenue Service -- she doesn't think she owes them a cent, but IRS is convinced (because of its own bookkeeping errors) that she owes a whillion zillion dollars in income tax. Harry helps her take her case to Tax Court, but the judge rules against her, and she dies from a heart attack due to all the stress.

''Harry's War'' is a 1981 film directed by Keith Merrill.

Something snaps within Harry at this point. He's seen enough. He's convinced the bureaucratic, bullyish IRS killed her just as surely as if they'd put a gun to her head and pulled the trigger. Borrowing a tank (!) from the late Aunt Beverly's military supplies, he crashes into the set of a talk show where an IRS director (Creator/DavidOgdenStiers) is telling America that they'll all go to jail if they don't pay their taxes.

Something snaps within Harry at this point. He's seen enough. He's convinced the bureaucratic, bullyish IRS killed her just as surely as if they'd put a gun to her head and pulled the trigger. Borrowing a tank (!) from the late Aunt Beverly's military supplies, he crashes into the set of a talk show where an IRS director ([[Series/{{MASH}} David Ogden Stiers]]) is telling America that they'll all go to jail if they don't pay their taxes.

* YouFailLawForever: More than one example.
** During his speech after breaking into the talk show in a tank, Harry says that the Constitution doesn't authorize the IRS.
*** Oh really, Harry? How about Article 1, Section 8, Clause 1: "The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States"
*** And if that wasn't blatant enough, how about Amendment 16: "The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration."
*** While it's true the Constitution doesn't specificially authorize an ''Internal Revenue Service'' to collect taxes, it's pretty blatant about the (nearly unlimited) taxing power it gives the Federal government, and every court in the land agrees that an agency to enforce the Federal tax laws is well within the rights of the Executive branch.
** Aunt Beverly claims that the Tax Court judges are all in the hip pockets of the IRS, since it's the IRS that pays their salaries (and can hit them with severe audits if they don't toe the line the IRS wants). In RealLife, many neutral parties have criticized the Tax Courts for being ''too soft'' on tax cheats out of judicial dislike for the IRS.

Something snaps within Harry at this point. He's seen enough. He's convinced the bureaucratic, bullyish IRS killed her just as surely as if they'd put a gun to her head and pulled the trigger. Borrowing a tank (!) from the late Aunt Beverly's military supplies, he crashes into the set of a talk show where [[Series/{{MASH}} David Ogden Stiers]] is telling America that they'll all go to jail if they don't pay their taxes.

-->"I declare war on the IRS!"
--->-- Harry Johnson

Harry Johnson has a sweet but eccentric Aunt Beverly, who runs a household filled with surplus military equipment and questionably-sane survivalists. She's also in a tangle with the Internal Revenue Service -- she doesn't think she owes them a cent, but IRS is convinced (because of its own bookkeeping errors) that she owes a whillion zillion dollars in income tax. Harry helps her take her case to Tax Court, but the judge rules against her, and she dies from a heart attack due to all the stress.

Something snaps within Harry at this point. He's seen enough. He's convinced the bureaucratic, bullyish IRS killed her just as surely as if they'd put a gun to her head and pulled the trigger. Borrowing a tank (!) from the late Aunt Beverly's military supplies, he crashes into the set of a talk show where [[{{MASH}} David Ogden Stiers]] is telling America that they'll all go to jail if they don't pay their taxes.