Fact check: No, Congress has not passed NESARA
The claim: NESARA has been implemented
As misinformation continues to affect American politics, an older conspiracy theory has started to recirculate online.
“How many of you are NOT filing a tax return since NESARA was been instituted as of last week?” reads an April 4 Facebook post.
NESARA stands for the National Economic Stabilization and Recovery Act, a set of economic proposals developed in the 1990s. They were never presented to Congress.
Still, the acronym has been the subject of conspiracy theories since the early 2000s, when blogger Shaini Goodwin claimed the act had passed and that then-President George W. Bush and the Supreme Court suppressed it.
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Other recent posts mentioning NESARA have circulated on Twitter. While some were tweeted on April Fool’s Day, the posts have continued to spread since then.
Despite NESARA’s resurgence, the conspiracy theory’s claims are still wrong. The legislation has not been passed or reintroduced. While Goodwin has repeatedly claimed NESARA is going to be implemented, her predictions haven’t come true.
USA TODAY reached out to social media users who shared the claim for comment.
NESARA conspiracy theory is baseless
Congress has not introduced or passed a bill resembling NESARA this year. USA TODAY could find no evidence that such a bill is forthcoming.
The NESARA conspiracy theory began to recirculate during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the BBC.
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“Many of those who get sucked in, develop an almost cult-like belief in NESARA that inspires them to make horrific financial decisions that they think will make them rich,” the news outlet reported in August 2021. “It’s a fantasy whose real life impact is dividing families and ruining lives.”
Harvey Barnard, an engineer from Louisiana, created the NESARA proposal in the 1990s.
NESARA called for an array of monetary and fiscal policy changes, such as abolishing the Federal Reserve System and establishing three new kinds of currency. “Necessities of life” would no longer be taxed, along with personal income, corporate income and capital gains, according to the full text of the bill.
The News Tribune in Tacoma, Washington, reported in 2004 that the bill was never introduced or discussed in Congress.
NESARA’s popularity grew when Goodwin – also known as “Dove of Oneness” – began to blog about it in daily “Dove reports,” according to the News Tribune’s reporting. She claimed the law had actually been passed.
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Barnard shot down that claim.
“If you believe any of that, you might also want to start looking for ocean front property in Nebraska,” he told the News Tribune at the time.
Still, Goodwin kept promoting the falsehood that NESARA had been secretly passed in 2000 and would abolish the Internal Revenue Service, forgive debts and “declare peace,” according to the News Tribune. To keep the secret, Goodwin falsely claimed, Bush planned the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and launched the Iraq war.
Our rating: False
Based on our research, we rate FALSE the claim that NESARA has been implemented. The NESARA conspiracy theory, which promises debt forgiveness and the abolition of the IRS, has been debunked. No such bill has ever been introduced in Congress.
Our fact-check sources:
- USA TODAY, Jan. 20, 2021, Anyone can fall for ‘fake news,’ conspiracy theories: The psychology of misinformation
- Congress.gov, accessed April 8, Legislative search results
- BBC, August 21, 2021, Nesara: The financial fantasy ruining lives
- The News Tribune, July 18, 2004, Snared by a Cybercult Queen, Dove of Oneness
- The News Tribune, August 6, 2004, Documentary spotlights NESARA cult; Dove’s followers
- Nesara.org, accessed April 13, Executive summary (archived)
- Nesara.org, accessed April 13, The National Economic Stabilization and Recovery Act (archived)
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