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Not your typical celebrity tax trial
By JJ MacNab | January 8, 2008
Nobody likes to pay taxes.
Just about everyone complains, several people cheat, a tiny minority even practices civil disobedience by simply refusing to pay, willing to risk prison rather than having their money fund things like the war in Iraq.
One rapidly expanding group goes a whole lot further – they deny that taxes exist at all. Their cult-like beliefs are absurd to anyone outside their group, but they remain true to the teachings of their anti-tax gurus, despite pleas from their families, certain financial ruin, and devastating losses in the courts resulting in loss of property and in extreme cases, prison. Wesley
Snipes is a member of this group.
It is important to differentiate between traditional tax protesters (people who practice civil disobedience) and tax deniers (people who believe that they are tax free because of some secret knowledge, usually gleaned from the misinformation that spreads like a disease on the internet.)
- War Tax Protester: One typical example of a tax protester is someone who refuses to pay federal income taxes because a portion of that money will fund events the protester finds morally repugnant (war in Iraq or torture in Guantanamo Bay, for example.) That protester may reduce her tax check by the percentage used to fund the military, she may voluntarily live a life of poverty so that she falls below the amount where taxes are imposed, or she may simply refuse to pay. In any case, she is practicing civil disobedience, and understands that her actions may result in negative personal consequences. When she recruits others to follows her acts, she appeals to their emotional commitment to a cause, and new members to the group understand the risks inherent in their acts.
- Tax Denier: In comparison, a tax denier pays no income taxes because he believes that he is privy to a secret knowledge that exempts him from such obligations. He has read a website, attended a seminar, or purchased a book that shows him how certain words in the Tax Code and regulations have magical meanings that render him tax-free. The rest of us can’t see the magical meanings because we’re uneducated “sheeple” who are either too stupid or too ignorant to comprehend the true and hidden meaning of words like “person”, “individual”, or “includes.” When 100% of the courts in the US find such arguments frivolous, a tax denier doesn’t rethink his position, he simply surmises that 100% of the courts are in on the massive conspiracy to make Americans believe that taxes exist.
This isn’t going to be a typical income tax evasion trial. Snipes didn’t hire high priced tax lawyers or Big Four accountants to sell him a tax shelter that simply didn’t work or was untested in the courts. He didn’t fudge on a few overly aggressive deductions or try to sneak his income offshore like many people in his tax bracket. He instead bought into a belief system where hundreds of taxpayers before him have tried the same tired arguments and lost.
Topics: Snipes, Tax Deniers, Willfulness | 10 Comments »
10 Responses to “Not your typical celebrity tax trial”
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January 18th, 2008 at 11:24 pm
Nice blog! I’m very glad to see that you have pointed out the significant difference between a tax protester and a tax denier, since that is something most people don’t understand.
January 18th, 2008 at 11:42 pm
[...] Here’s a taste of what you’ll find there: [...]
January 18th, 2008 at 11:44 pm
Looks like your trackback isn’t working. I posted an entry at http://elfninosmom.wordpress.com/2008/01/19/cool-blog-on-snipes-trial/ directing people to your blog.
January 19th, 2008 at 5:24 am
Very. Nicely. Done.
January 23rd, 2008 at 7:20 pm
Great cliff notes. Clean, clear, to the point. I am concerned however, that Mr. Snipes is a willful victim, but a victim nonetheless. He isn’t a lawyer. He isn’t an accountant or even a financial planner, and as a prime candidate for scams–a person with lots of money–his decision making seems some what out of character considering his overall history. I think that like most super stars, he has suffered from some type of money mania. It happens to people who suddenly become rich. Over all, Mr. Snipes has been consistently descent, but it seems that he has suffered some type of mental break down in his ability to make sound decisions concerning his money. I have seen it before. Older people are scammed constantly. Heck, TV is one big scam. lol. I think his best defense is temporary insanity. Just a thought, but the most recent years of protest about paying money that he obviously can afford to pay, seems irrational and ulitmately out of character.
January 26th, 2008 at 10:28 am
In the late 70’s and 80’s, I was a CPA/tax practitioner in Central MN. The “movement” was especially strong in our area and I encountered all kinds of assorted “nuts” advancing these basic arguments.
It took far too long a time for the IRS to deal with this–(like I don’t think anyone went to jail until the 90’s a good ten years after this activity first surfaced) but eventually they were all punished in some way shape or form.
Regretably, it took the IRS far to long and in the process I saw a fair number of “basically” decent (perhaps a little simple-minded) people get caught up in something they wouldn’t have if it hadn’t appeared to them that the more visible and vocal protesters were getting away with something.
Conclusion, Mr. Snipes with his high profile, needs to go to jail to if nothing else to send a message. If he doesn’t it would send a terrible message and could be the end of our albeit imperfect system of voluntary compliance.
January 26th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
Let me keep this simple for all of the tax protesters out there–People, simply file and pay your taxes on time, honestly. If not, there are many third world contries Mr Snipes can move to. Its not free to live in America. If you file your taxes when you are supposed to file them, with honest information, you will have NO problems with the IRS. IRS even offers very very VERY generous payment options to all taxpayers. The IRS is MORE than fair! See if your some of your other creditors will accept payments or frivilous documents stating you dont have to pay up!! Remember-ALL TAXPAYERS (or non-taxpayer, in Mr Snipes case) ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THEMSELVES no matter what accountant/lawyers they hire!!
Mr Snipes is a criminal! Remember– People that are not self employed like Mr Snipes, and earn wages, get their taxes non-voluntarily!!! It was up to Mr snipes to send in his taxes on his own, like most other hard working self employed individuals. He didnt. Any small business would have been CLOSED DOWN due to this. I commend the last persons comments–
“Conclusion, Mr. Snipes with his high profile, needs to go to jail to if nothing else to send a message. If he doesn’t it would send a terrible message and could be the end of our albeit imperfect system of voluntary compliance.”
People file documents protesting paying taxes every day, quoting the IRC, code after code. These documents are nothing more than classified waste. Garbage. so dont even bother.
January 26th, 2008 at 9:57 pm
I disagree with respect to the terminology point. At one point a “tax protester” did indeed mean someone who protested the payment of a tax which they recognize as being legally assessed. However, the term, “tax protester,” has since come to be used by courts to mean the person who makes the arguments set forth under the label of “tax denier.” A LexisNexis search of cases brings up zero hits for “tax denier,” but over fifteen-hundred for “tax protester,” the bulk of which (recently) refer to those putting forth frivolous and erroneous theories.
A meager but committed crew on Wikipedia spend a good portion of their leisure time maintaining the ever-growing set of articles which describe and debunk tax protester theory. We have on several occasions defended challenges to demonstrate that it is proper to refer to tax protesters as such.
January 27th, 2008 at 3:56 am
Moral tax protesters are feminine and greedy tax deniers are male?
January 27th, 2008 at 4:07 am
Love the blog, you should be with the NY Times.