Re: POLI: Encouraging Tax Evasion

Mighty Xerxes (MXerxes@hotpop.com)
Mon, 19 Jul 1999 18:21:17 -0400

At 2:24 PM -0400 7/17/99, Michael S. Lorrey wrote:

> Legally, only US Citizens who are one or more of the following:
>
> a) federal employees
> b) federal benificiaries (loans, welfare, SSI, fed. retirement, etc)
> c) officers of corporations
> d) maintain accounts in federally insured financial institutions
>
> are actually mandated by the federal tax code to pay income tax. All
> others are not liable for tax, but can volunteer to pay.

Michael,

This kind of positive statement requires a citation to the U.S. Code or the decision of an authoritative court.

I would bet that most U.S. citizens would love it if it were true that only those four classes of citizens were required to file income tax returns and/or pay income tax, but, as a skeptic, I would also bet that if you tried to use this defense in a tax evasion case, you would get your butt thrown in jail (or at the very least, lose on the tax issues).

Absent a citation to support the assertion that this is actually the law of the land, it seems like all you are doing is in fact, as the subject line suggests, "Encouraging (Illegal) Tax Evasion." The police power of the United States is very real if they can get their hands on you. People may want to take the risk of reaping the benefits of successful tax evasion, but the risks of criminal and civil punishment do exist. And as both a skeptic and a pessimist on the government's use of its coercive power, I doubt that the U.S. Government exempts everyone not in one of those four classes from the federal income tax.

But I'd be very happy to be proven wrong....