Tax protester (United States)

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A tax protester is someone who refuses to pay a tax on constitutional or legal grounds, typically because he or she believes that the tax laws are unconstitutional or otherwise invalid. Tax protesters are different from tax resisters, who refuse to pay taxes as a protest against the government or its policies, not out of a belief that the tax law itself is invalid.

Tax protesters raise a number of different kinds of arguments. These include constitutional arguments, such as claims that the Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution was not properly ratified or that it is unconstitutional generally, or that being forced to file an income tax return violates the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. Others are statutory arguments suggesting that the income tax is constitutional but the statutes enacting the income tax are ineffective, or that Federal Reserve Notes do not constitute cash or income. Yet another collection of arguments centers on general conspiracies involving numerous government agencies.

Legal commentator Daniel B. Evans has defined tax protesters as people who "refuse to pay taxes or file tax returns out of a mistaken belief that the federal income tax is unconstitutional, invalid, voluntary, or otherwise does not apply to them under one of a number of bizarre arguments."^[1] An illegal tax-protest scheme has been defined as "any scheme, without basis in law or fact, designed to express dissatisfaction with the tax laws by interfering with their administration or attempting to illegally avoid or reduce tax liabilities."^[2]

Some tax protesters refuse to file a tax return or file returns with no income or tax data supplied.^[3]

Origin of term

In the United States, the term "protest" as applied to a tax generally means "a declaration by a payer, esp. of a tax, that he does not concede the legality of a claim he is paying".^[4] Similarly, Black's Law Dictionary defines a tax protest as:

The formal statement, usually in writing, made by a person who is called upon by public authority to pay a sum of money, in which he declares that he does not concede the legality or justice of the claim or his duty to pay it, or that he disputes the amount demanded; the object being to save his right to recover or reclaim the amount, which right would be lost by his acquiescence. Thus, taxes may be paid under "protest".^[5]

At common law, and under some earlier tax statutes, the filing of a protest at the time of payment of an erroneous tax was a requirement in order for the payor to recover a refund of the tax at a later time. In the case of U.S. federal taxes, the rule was abolished by Congress in 1924. See generally George Moore Ice Cream Co. v. Rose, Collector of Internal Revenue.^[6] Under the current Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, the taxpayer's failure to protest does not deprive the taxpayer of the right to file an administrative claim with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for a refund and, if the claim is not allowed by the IRS, to sue for a tax refund in Federal district court.^[7]

The term "protest" is also used to describe a taxpayer's formal written request for review, by the Appeals Division of the IRS, after the IRS issues a "Thirty-Day Letter" proposing an increased tax liability following an IRS examination of a tax return.^[8]

In 1972, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania used the term tax "protestor" (protester) in United States v. Malinowski. This case, however, involved a taxpayer who was a member of the Philadelphia War Tax Resistance League who was protesting the use of tax money in the Vietnam War. The taxpayer was not making arguments that the tax law itself was invalid; he was essentially protesting the war, not the tax. The taxpayer had filed a false Form W-4, and admitted he knew that he was not legally entitled to claim the exemptions (allowances) he claimed on the W-4. Thus, Malinowski might be termed a tax resister rather than a tax protester. He was convicted, and his motion for a new trial or acquittal was denied.^[9]

A person could be both a tax protester and a tax resister if he or she believes that tax laws do not apply to him or her and also believes that taxes should not be paid based on the use to which the taxes are put. Some tax resisters have put forth legal arguments for their position — for instance that they cannot pay taxes for nuclear weapons development because this would put them in violation of the Nuremberg Principles — that could be considered varieties of tax-protester theories.

Beginning in the mid-1970s, U.S. Federal courts began using the term “tax protester” in still another, more narrow sense — to describe persons who raised frivolous arguments about the legality of Federal taxes, particularly income taxes. This particular technical sense of the term is the sense described in the remainder of this article.

History

Main article: Tax protester history

While there have been people throughout history who challenged the assessment of taxes as beyond the power of the government, the modern tax-protester movement began after World War II. One of the first people to fit this description was Vivien Kellems, a Connecticut industrialist and political activist who specifically protested monthly tax withholding. In 1948 she refused to withhold taxes from the wages of her employees, based on the claim that the government had no power to require such withholding. The IRS then seized the money owed from her bank account. She brought suit against them and, in a book she wrote, asserted that she won,^[10] although she did not challenge the constitutionality of tax withholding itself.

She lost a separate case challenging the constitutionality of withholding itself, and continued in legal battles and appeals, until her death in 1975, ultimately unsuccessful in challenging the withholding of tax.^[11] The tax-protester movement began to develop a greater following in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Many books, lectures and other materials promised to help people avoid having to pay taxes.

In 1973, a disbarred attorney named Jerome Daly lost an appeal on his conviction for willfully failing to file federal income tax returns. In rejecting Daly's appeal, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit noted that one of Daly's contentions involved his "seemingly incessant attack against the federal reserve and monetary system of the United States. His apparent thesis is that the only 'Legal Tender Dollars' are those that contain a mixture of gold and silver and that only those dollars may be constitutionally taxed. This contention is clearly frivolous."^[12] In a case before the United States Tax Court in 1974, Everett and Dorothy Vernaccini argued that the Internal Revenue Service should allow them certain deductions on the theory that the record keeping requirements of Internal Revenue Code section 274 were unconstitutional under the Thirteenth Amendment (prohibiting slavery and involuntary servitude), and under the theory that the record keeping requirements violated 42 U.S.C. § 1994 (which prohibits "peonage"). The Tax Court rejected those arguments.^[13]

In 1975, the term “tax protester” began to appear in reported court decisions. The first two reported federal cases may have been Gilbert v. Miriami^[14] and United States v. Scott,^[15] coincidentally decided only two days apart. In Gilbert v. Miriami, the taxpayer (Walter Gilbert) sued the District Director of Internal Revenue (Charles Miriami) asking for injunctive and declaratory relief from enforcement of the internal revenue laws, including a request for a judgment that the statute prohibiting most suits to restrain the assessment or collection of Federal taxes was unconstitutional. The court rejected the taxpayer's claims.

In Scott, the court noted that an undercover government agent had sworn out an affidavit regarding the agent’s infiltration into a "tax-protester" organization. The case involved James Walter Scott, the leader of that organization. Scott had failed to file tax returns from 1969 to 1972, based on Constitutional arguments against the validity of the income tax. Scott argued unsuccessfully that the Sixteenth Amendment was not properly ratified, that federal reserve notes were not legal tender and that he was not required to report their receipt as income, and that he was not required to file tax returns if he felt they would incriminate him. The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld Scott's conviction.^[16]

In 1977, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, in the case of Ex parte Tammen, referred to a tax-protester group called the "United Tax Action Patriots" or "UTAP":

The evidence shows that the organized tax-protestor group is growing rapidly. It has spread eastward from the West Coast and is adding substantially and wrongfully to the workload of the federal courts. The goal of UTAP is to do away with federal income taxation by making the burden so heavy on the IRS and the federal courts that the government will have to yield. It is their philosophy that the Sixteenth Amendment was improperly passed and therefore invalid, and that anyone attempting to enforce the income tax laws is violating the rights of the taxpayers and should be treated as a criminal.

The organization meets on a regular basis for the purpose of teaching its members the various and sundry methods of obstructing the Internal Revenue Service. Many of their speakers travel about the country to appear on the programs at these meetings. The members are told at these meetings that they should file protest type tax returns, commonly known as "porth" returns, containing only the name and address of the taxpayer; and that they should object to the completion of the form on various and sundry constitutional grounds. They are also instructed to file W-4 statements claiming as many as 99 exemptions to avoid the withholding of any tax from their salaries. Since such returns will obviously result in the matter being referred to the Audit Division of the Internal Revenue Service, they are further instructed that upon being requested to appear for an audit they should resist, if possible; and that if forced to appear, they should make every effort to disrupt such proceedings to the point of making a farce of them. They are told that in all cases they should avoid giving any correct or meaningful answers to questions propounded to them. If their actions ultimately result in court proceedings, they are to take whatever action is necessary to delay, obstruct and disrupt all such proceedings. Their philosophy involves the subversion, not only of the Internal Revenue Service, but also of the federal judicial system by tying up its courts in fruitless proceedings involving tax protestors.^[17]

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals stated that people are attracted to the "tax protestor movement's illusory claim that there is no legal requirement to pay federal income tax." The court called the tax-protester arguments "wholly defective and unsuccessful."^[18] Ideas associated with the tax-protester movement have been forwarded under different names over time. These ideas have been put forth, for example, in the broader Christian Patriot and Posse Comitatus movements, which generally assert that the Constitution has been usurped by the federal government.

The tax-protester phenomenon is not restricted to the United States. Similar arguments are raised in the context of other legal systems in other countries.^[19]

Arguments

Main article: Tax protester arguments

In 1986, the Seventh Circuit observed:

Some people believe with great fervor preposterous things that just happen to coincide with their self-interest. “Tax protesters” have convinced themselves that wages are not income, that only gold is money, that the Sixteenth Amendment is unconstitutional, and so on. These beliefs all lead — so tax protesters think — to the elimination of their obligation to pay taxes.^[20]

Arguments made by tax protesters generally fall into several categories: that the Sixteenth Amendment was never properly ratified; that the Sixteenth Amendment does not permit the taxation of individual income, or particular forms of individual income; that other provisions of the Constitution such as the First, Fifth, or a "Missing Thirteenth Amendment" eliminate an obligation to file a return; that citizens of the states are not also citizens of the United States; that the statutes enacted by the United States Congress pursuant to their constitutional taxing power are defective or invalid; that the tax code does not apply to inhabitants of U.S. territories; and that the government and the courts engage in various conspiracies to conceal the above deficiencies.

Such arguments are usually summarily dispensed with when presented in federal court. For example, the Fifth Circuit once noted:

We perceive no need to refute these arguments with somber reasoning and copious citation of precedent; to do so might suggest that these arguments have some colorable merit. The constitutionality of our income tax system—including the role played within that system by the Internal Revenue Service and the Tax Court—has long been established... [Petitioner's argument] is a hodgepodge of unsupported assertions, irrelevant platitudes, and legalistic gibberish.^[21]

In that case, the court viewed the tax-protester arguments as sufficiently frivolous to merit the imposition of sanctions--in this case twice the costs spent by the government in defending the litigation--for even bringing them up.

Penalties

In the United States, "protesting" Federal income taxes is not, in and of itself, a criminal offense.

Frivolous tax returns

The United States Congress has, however, enacted Internal Revenue Code section 6702 "in an effort to deter tax protesters from filing frivolous returns." This statute was enacted as part of the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982.^[22][23]

The penalty under section 6702 is a civil (non-criminal) penalty, and is $500 for positions taken on or before March 15, 2007. For positions taken after that date, the penalty amount has been increased to $5,000.^[24] The Internal Revenue Service has issued a list of positions considered to be legally frivolous.^[25] Shauna Henline, the senior technical adviser of the Frivolous Return Program at the Internal Revenue Service, has testified that the IRS receives about 20,000 to 30,000 frivolous tax returns per year, and that approximately 100,000 related letters and other documents are received each year.^[26]

In some cases, taxpayers have argued that section 6702, the "frivolous argument" penalty statute, is itself unconstitutional. That argument was rejected in Hazewinkel v. United States (taxpayer's arguments — that sections 6702 and 6703 violate both procedural and substantive due process because there is no right to a prior hearing, and that the word "frivolous" is unconstitutionally vague — were rejected).^[27] See also Pillsbury v. Commissioner, a case in which taxpayer Leecil Pillsbury's argument — that section 6702 violates the Fifth Amendment Due Process Clause of the Constitution — was ruled to be without merit.

In that case, the court also ruled the following taxpayer arguments to be invalid: (1) the argument that section 6702 is an unconstitutional Bill of Attainder; (2) the argument that section 6702 unconstitutionally authorizes the imposition of cruel and unusual punishment; (3) the argument that section 6702 unconstitutionally violates the doctrine of separation of powers; (4) the argument that section 6702 unconstitutionally violates the taxpayer's First Amendment rights to petition the government for redress of grievances.^[28] See also Duke v. Commissioner (tax-protester argument that 6702 was unconstitutional was rejected by the court),^[29] Kane v. United States (taxpayer's argument — that because section 6702 does not define the term "frivolous," the statute is unconstitutionally vague — was rejected),^[30] and Hudson v. United States (taxpayer's arguments — that section 6702 unconstitutionally violates taxpayer's First Amendment rights, that section 6702 violates due process rights by failing to provide a hearing before assessment of a penalty, that section 6702 is an unconstitutional bill of attainder, and that section 6702 is unconstitutionally vague — were ruled to be without merit).^[31]

Frivolous litigation in United States Tax Court, and appeals of Tax Court decisions

In 1939, Congress enacted section 1117(g) (entitled "Proceeding Frivolous") of the Internal Revenue Code of 1939, giving the Board of Tax Appeals (now called the United States Tax Court) the power to impose a civil monetary penalty of up to $500 against any party who instituted a proceeding "merely for delay" before the Board of Tax Appeals. In 1954, this provision was continued with the enactment of section 6673 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954. The current version of section 6673 (in the 1986 Code) provides that frivolous arguments may result in a penalty in U.S. Tax Court of up to $25,000.^[32] Similarly, the Internal Revenue Code also provides that the U.S. Supreme Court and the federal courts of appeals may impose penalties where the taxpayer's appeal of a U.S. Tax Court decision was "maintained primarily for delay" or where "the taxpayer's position in the appeal is frivolous or groundless."^[33]

Frivolous litigation in United States District Court

In a non-criminal case in a United States district court, a litigant (or a litigant's attorney) who presents any pleading, written motion or other paper to the court is deemed to have certified that, to the best of the presenter's knowledge and belief, the legal contentions "are warranted by existing law or by a nonfrivolous argument for the extension, modification, or reversal of existing law or the establishment of new law".^[34] Monetary civil penalties for violation of this rule may in some cases be imposed on the litigant or the attorney under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.^[35] In one 2007 case, for example, the Seventh Circuit issued an order giving such an attorney "14 days to show cause why he should not be fined $ 10,000 for his frivolous arguments".^[36]

Frivolous litigation in various other appeals

Congress has enacted section 1912 of title 28 of the United States Code providing that in the United States Supreme Court and in the various courts of appeals where litigation by the losing party has caused damage to the prevailing party, the court may impose a requirement that the losing party pay the prevailing party for those damages.^[37] A person who raises a frivolous argument in a Federal appeals court may also be subject to monetary penalties under Rule 38 of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure.^[38]

Treatment by Internal Revenue Service

Prior to the Internal Revenue Service Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998 (the "1998 Act"), the Internal Revenue Service had defined a tax-protester scheme as "any scheme without basis in law or fact for the ostensible purpose of expressing dissatisfaction with the substance, form, or administration of the tax laws be [sic; "by"] either interfering with tax administration or attempting to illegally avoid or reduce tax liabilities."^[39]

The IRS has not released records indicating whom the agency defined as "illegal tax protesters" (coded as TC-148). In testimony before Congress in 1997, former IRS historian Shelley L. Davis contended that the IRS kept lists of citizens "for no reason other than that their political activities might have offended someone at the IRS [ . . . .]" and she charged that "anyone who offers even legitimate criticism of the tax collector is [labeled by the IRS as] a tax protester [ . . . ]"^[40]

After the 1997 congressional hearings, Congress responded with the 1998 Act. Subsection (a) of section 3707 of the 1998 Act now prohibits "officers and employees of the Internal Revenue Service" from designating a taxpayer as an “illegal tax protester” or using any similar designation for a taxpayer.^[41] By contrast, subsection (b) of section 3707 provides: "An officer or employee of the Internal Revenue Service may designate any appropriate taxpayer as a nonfiler, but shall remove such designation once the taxpayer has filed income tax returns for 2 consecutive taxable years and paid all taxes shown on such returns."^[42]

The IRS has prescribed procedures for its personnel to handle frivolous returns (whether considered valid returns or not) in the "Frivolous Return Program" section of the Internal Revenue Manual.^[43] The IRS has concluded, in Service Center Advice 200107034 dated November 15, 2000, that the statutory prohibition on the use of the term "illegal tax protester" by IRS personnel does not prohibit the IRS from maintaining a database of frivolous tax return filers as part of its Frivolous Return Program. IRS Advice 200107034 states (in part):

The Frivolous Return Program in Examination [an administrative component of the IRS] has the specific assignment of processing assessments of frivolous return penalties pursuant to [Internal Revenue Code] section 6702. The employees of that unit receive documents from throughout the country that IRS employees believe may qualify as frivolous returns under section 6702. The employees reviews the documents and determines how to proceed.

When the documents come into the Frivolous Return Program, employees enter initial data into a computerized inventory database. [ . . . ] Initial data includes name, social security number, and tax examiner assigned the case. Later, a tax examiner reviews the documents to see if they qualify as frivolous. If the documents meet the frivolous test, the tax examiner does a compliance check to see if the taxpayer is properly filing returns. If the taxpayer is properly filing returns and is not potentially subject to a frivolous return penalty, then the tax examiner deletes the individual from the database [ . . . ]^[44]

According to the IRS:

[ . . . ] Congress enacted section 3707 because of its concern that taxpayers may be stigmatized by a designation as an "illegal tax protester." [ . . . ] Under section 3707(a)(2), the IRS is required to remove illegal tax-protester designations from its individual master file and disregard any illegal tax-protester designation in a place other than the individual master file in the case of any illegal tax-protesters designation made on or before July 22, 1998, the date of the enactment of section 3707. Although section 3707 prohibits the IRS from designating taxpayers as illegal tax protesters, it does provide that the IRS may designated [sic] any appropriate taxpayer as a nonfiler. However, the nonfiler designation must be removed once the taxpayer has filed income tax returns for two consecutive years and paid all taxes shown on the returns. Section 3707(b).

We conclude [ . . . ] that Congress was concerned that innocent taxpayers may have been mislabeled as illegal tax protesters. However, Congress did not intend to limit the IRS's ability to maintain records and to make designations, other than the illegal tax-protesters designation, where such designations are appropriate.

As a result of the enactment of sections 3707 [of the 1998 Act] and 6702 [of the Internal Revenue Code], the IRS [ . . . ] has tried to balance these competing obligations by focusing on the conduct of the taxpayers and specifically identifying those frivolous arguments asserted rather than applying a general label of tax protester.^[44]

The Criminal Investigation (CI) division of the Internal Revenue Service investigates reports of violations of the federal criminal tax statutes,^[45] including tax evasion under 26 U.S.C. § 7201, willful failure to file tax returns or pay tax under 26 U.S.C. § 7203, willful filing of false returns under 26 U.S.C. § 7206, and violations of other statutes, and refers tax cases to the Tax Division of the U.S. Department of Justice for prosecution.

In July 2008, the office of the Treasury Department's Inspector General for Tax Administration reported that the number of federal criminal tax investigations referred by the Internal Revenue Service to the Justice Department is at an eight-year high. According to the report, the fiscal year 2007 ended with 4,600 investigations. The increase is nearly 50 percent from fiscal year 2002 to year 2007. The report also concluded that federal criminal tax convictions increased by 6.7% from fiscal year 2006 to fiscal year 2007. The number of persons convicted in fiscal year 2007 was 2,155.^[46]

Treatment by the U.S. Department of Justice

Part of the Taxation in the United States series
Tax protest in the United States
History
Arguments
Constitutional · 16th Amendment Statutory · Administrative · Conspiracy
People
Robert Clarkson · Vivien Kellems Irwin Schiff · William J. Benson Wayne C. Bentson · Tom Cryer Richard Michael Simkanin
Related topics
America: Freedom to Fascism The Law that Never Was Cheek v. United States Titles of Nobility Amendment Tax avoidance and tax evasion Tax resistance Christian Patriot movement Posse Comitatus
v · d · e

The Department of Justice may obtain a federal court ruling to the effect that a specific tax-protester activity constitutes the promotion of an illegal tax shelter under Internal Revenue Code section 6700 (26 U.S.C. § 6700), and may obtain a court order prohibiting that activity under 26 U.S.C. § 7408, as it did in the case of United States v. Robert L. Schulz, We the People Foundation for Constitutional Education, Inc., and We the People Congress, Inc..^[47] The Tax Division of the U.S. Department of Justice prosecutes violations of the federal criminal tax statutes, generally after an investigation and referral of a case by the Criminal Investigation division of the Internal Revenue Service. See, e.g., subsection (d) of 26 U.S.C. § 7602.

As of February 2008, the Department of Justice was reported to be "planning a crackdown on the so-called tax-protester movement."^[48] United States Assistant Attorney General Nathan Hochman, the head of the Tax Division of the Justice Department, stated: "Too many people succumb to the fallacy, the illusion, that you don't have to pay any tax under any set of conditions [ . . . ] That is a growing problem."^[44] According to a Bloomberg News report, the U.S. government has a 97 percent conviction rate in criminal tax denier cases.^[44]

On April 9, 2008, U.S. Assistant Attorney General Nathan Hochman announced the launch of the National Tax Defier Initiative, also known as the "TAXDEF Initiative."^[49] In the announcement, Hochman stated:

Now, tax non-compliers come in a wide variety of folks, some of which can be brought into compliance through education, and other of which can only be brought into compliance through enforcement. Today, I want to focus on a particularly pernicious and egregious character in the tax non-compliance world: the tax defier.

The tax defier is not someone who has a legitimate legal or factual dispute with the government about the amount of their tax due. We welcome such legitimate disputes administratively before the IRS, or in [court]. The tax defier is not someone who is merely exercising his or her first amendment rights to challenge the tax policy choices of Congress.

Instead, the tax defier is someone who rejects the fundamental basis, the legal underpinnings of our entire tax system, and flies in the face of legal precedent going back decades that has upheld the Constitutional and statutory validity of that system. And, this is important, and taxes [sic] specific and concrete action to violate the law. It is the tax defier’s conduct which results in frivolous returns, bogus tax schemes, and frivolous claims that threatens the foundation of our tax system, in which will be and can be vigorously countered. Although the tax division and the IRS have been effective at times at going after tax defier activity, the problem demands constant vigilance.

Today, I want to renew and revitalize the tax division’s commitment to going after tax defier conduct by announcing the creation of the National Tax Defier Initiative, or the TAXDEF Initiative.

[ . . . ]

To the extent that protest defines someone who stands on a soapbox and decries the appropriateness of a particular tax policy, it’s a completely legitimate act to do so. However, when that protest turns into defiant conduct, which is the [filing] of a frivolous return, a bogus claim, engaging some of these bogus tax defier techniques on my right and left - that’s when the tax defiant conduct becomes criminal or civil prosecutable. [ . . . ] we decided to use the term tax defier to focus on the 100% illegitimate part of what these folks are doing. And, again, what we’re prosecuting is the conduct, not the mere exercise of their first amendment rights.^[44]

In United States v. Amon, Alan Amon was convicted of filing a false withholding allowance certificate under 26 U.S.C. § 7205. Rather than having been indicted by a grand jury, Amon had been charged by the U.S. Department of Justice in a document called an information. He appealed the conviction, in part on the ground that the government's prosecution of him was "unconstitutionally selective." The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit noted that the trial court had agreed that Amon was "selected for prosecution because he is an active and outspoken [tax] protester."^[50]

The trial court ruled that Amon's "status as an active protester was insufficient to establish selective prosecution" and that no illegal discrimination occurs where the government prosecutes individuals for actions they take in failing to comply with tax laws where an effect of the prosecution is "...to dissuade others from engaging in that kind of tax protest." The Court of Appeals agreed, stating: "Merely showing that the Government elected, under established IRS directives, to prosecute an individual because he was vocal in opposing voluntary compliance with the federal income tax law, without also establishing that others similarly situated were not prosecuted and that the prosecution was based on racial, religious or other impermissible considerations, does not demonstrate an unconstitutionally selective prosecution."^[44]

Responses

Many Appeals Courts have made blanket statements repudiating tax-protester arguments. For example, see the Seventh Circuit case of United States v. Buckner:^[51]

For the record, we note that the following beliefs, which are stock arguments of the tax protester movement, have not been, nor ever will be, considered "objectively reasonable" in this circuit:
(1) the belief that the Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution was improperly ratified and therefore never came into being;
(2) the belief that the Sixteenth Amendment is unconstitutional generally;
(3) the belief that the income tax violates the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment;
(4) the belief that the tax laws are unconstitutional;
(5) the belief that wages are not income and therefore are not subject to federal income tax laws;
(6) the belief that filing a tax return violates the privilege against self-incrimination; and
(7) the belief that Federal Reserve Notes do not constitute cash or income.

Arguments about constitutionality

Main article: Tax protester constitutional arguments

The case of Cheek v. United States involves a U.S. Supreme Court decision on tax-protester arguments. The Cheek case involved John L. Cheek, a tax protester who was prosecuted for tax evasion under 26 U.S.C. § 7201. In Cheek, the Court stated:

Claims that some of the provisions of the tax code are unconstitutional are submissions of a different order. They do not arise from innocent mistakes caused by the complexity of the Internal Revenue Code. Rather, they reveal full knowledge of the provisions at issue and a studied conclusion, however wrong, that those provisions are invalid and unenforceable. Thus, in this case, Cheek paid his taxes for years, but after attending various seminars and based on his own study, he concluded that the income tax laws could not constitutionally require him to pay a tax.^[52]

The Supreme Court in Cheek continued:

We do not believe that Congress contemplated that such a taxpayer, without risking criminal prosecution, could ignore the duties imposed upon him by the Internal Revenue Code and refuse to utilize the mechanisms provided by Congress to present his claims of invalidity to the courts and to abide by their decisions. There is no doubt that Cheek, from year to year, was free to pay the tax that the law purported to require, file for a refund and, if denied, present his claims of invalidity, constitutional or otherwise, to the courts. See 26 U.S.C. 7422. Also, without paying the tax, he could have challenged claims of tax deficiencies in the Tax Court, 6213, with the right to appeal to a higher court if unsuccessful. 7482(a)(1). Cheek took neither course in some years, and, when he did, was unwilling to accept the outcome. As we see it, he is in no position to claim that his good-faith belief about the validity of the Internal Revenue Code negates willfulness or provides a defense to criminal prosecution under 7201 and 7203. Of course, Cheek was free in this very case to present his claims of invalidity and have them adjudicated, but, like defendants in criminal cases in other contexts who “willfully” refuse to comply with the duties placed upon them by the law, he must take the risk of being wrong.^[53]

After a remand by the Supreme Court, the tax protester in Cheek was ultimately convicted, and the conviction was upheld on appeal. The Supreme Court refused to hear his petition for review of his conviction after the remand, and he was sent to prison.^[54]

If a jury finds that a criminal defendant had a subjective good faith belief due to a misunderstanding based on the complexity of the tax law (and not based on an argument about its constitutionality), that belief may be a defense with respect to the element of willfulness, even if the belief is unreasonable.^[55] This is due to the general mens rea requirement needed to hold someone criminally liable and the specific intent (required by the word "willfully" in the statute) as defined in the Cheek case and other court cases (see specific intent crimes). Persons acquitted of criminal tax evasion may still be sued civilly, and may be required to pay the taxes assessed, along with civil penalties.

See also

• Full Payment Rule
• Christian Patriot
• Civil disobedience
• David Wynn Miller
• Redemption movement
• Sovereign Citizen Movement
• Tax resistance
• Potentially dangerous taxpayer (IRS Designation)

References

1. ^ Daniel B. Evans, "The Tax Protester FAQ", at [1]. See also Robert L. Sommers, Testimony Before The Senate Finance Committee, "Taxpayer Beware: Schemes, Scams and Cons: Trust Scams on the Web", April 5, 2001, U.S. Senate web site, at [2]. See also David Cay Johnston, "White Hats Take to the Web to Dispel Anti-Tax Schemes," New York Times, March 25, 2004, at [3]. Evans is also cited by tax law professor James Edward Maule. See James Edward Maule, "For Would-Be Travelers on the Noncompliant Federal Income Tax Protester Path," Villanova University School of Law, at [4]. See also Joseph A. Gambardello, "Street's position on taxes rejected often by courts," Philadelphia Inquirer, Feb. 16, 2008, at [5].
2. ^ Jennifer E. Ihlo, Senior Trial Attorney, Special Counsel for Tax Protest Matters (Criminal), Tax Division, United States Department of Justice, "The Gold Fringed Flag: Prosecution of the Illegal Tax Protester," United States Attorneys' Bulletin, Vol. 46, No. 3, p. 15 (U.S. Dep't of Justice, April 1998).
3. ^ Bruce I. Hochman, Michael Popoff, Dennis L. Perez, Charles P. Rettig & Steven R. Toscher, "Tax Crimes," p. A-4, Tax Management Portfolios, Vol. 636, Tax Management, Inc., a subsid. of The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. (1993).
4. ^ Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American Language, p. 1142 (World Publishing Company, 2d Coll. Ed. 1970).
5. ^ Black’s Law Dictionary, p. 1101 (5th Ed. 1979).
6. ^ 289 U.S. 373 (1933).
7. ^ See generally 28 U.S.C. § 1346(a)(1); 26 U.S.C. § 6532(a); and subsection (b) of 26 U.S.C. § 7422.
8. ^ Donald C. Alexander & Brian S. Gleicher, "IRS Procedures: Examination and Appeals," p. A-46 & A-47, Tax Management Portfolios, Vol. 623, Tax Management, Inc., a subsid. of The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. (2d ed. 2004). The late Donald C. Alexander was a former Commissioner of Internal Revenue.
9. ^ See generally United States v. Malinowski, 347 F. Supp. 347, 73-1 U.S. Tax Cas. (CCH) paragr. 9355 (E.D. Pa. 1972), aff'd, 472 F.2d 850, 73-1 U.S. Tax Cas. (CCH) paragr. 9199 (3d Cir. 1973), cert. denied, 411 U.S. 970 (1973).
10. ^ Vivien Kellems, Toil, Taxes and Trouble (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1952)
11. ^ Vivien Kellems Papers.
12. ^ United States v. Daly, 481 F.2d 28, 73-2 U.S. Tax Cas. (CCH) paragr. 9574 (8th Cir.) (per curiam), cert. denied, 414 U.S. 1064, 94 S. Ct. 571 (1973).
13. ^ Vernaccini v. Commissioner, 33 T.C.M. (CCH) 321, T.C. Memo 1974-66 (1974).
14. ^ 75-2 U.S. Tax Cas. (CCH) paragr. 9603 (N.D. Ill. 1975).
15. ^ 521 F.2d 1188 (9th Cir. 1975).
16. ^ United States v. Scott, 521 F.2d 1188 (9th Cir. 1975).
17. ^ Ex parte Tammen, 438 F. Supp. 349, 78-1 U.S. Tax Cas. (CCH) paragr. 9302 (N.D. Tex. 1977) (footnotes omitted).
18. ^ United States v. Sloan, 939 F.2d 499 (7th Cir. 1991), cert. denied, 502 U.S. 1060 (1992).
19. ^ Shanoff, Alan “Detaxers tax their credibility” The Kingston Whig-Standard 16 March 2009[6]
20. ^ Coleman v. Commissioner, 791 F.2d 68, 69 (7th Cir. 1986).
21. ^ Crain v. Commissioner, 737 F.2d 1417, 18 (5th Cir. 1984).
22. ^ Pub. L. No. 97-248, 96 Stat. 324, sec. 326(a) (Sept. 3, 1982), effective for documents filed after September 3, 1982.
23. ^ Kahn v. United States, 753 F.2d 1208, 85-1 U.S. Tax Cas. (CCH) paragr. 9152 (3d Cir. 1985). In footnote 3 of the Kahn decision, the U.S. Court Appeals for the Third Circuit states: "The Senate Finance Committee, in articulating the reasons for change, expressed its concern 'with the rapid growth in deliberate definance [sic; probably should read "defiance"] of the tax laws by tax protesters.' S. Rep. No. 494, supra, at 277, 1982 U. S. Cong. & Ad. News at 1023-24." Id.
24. ^ See 26 U.S.C. § 6702, as amended by section 407 of the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006, Pub. L. No. 109-432.
25. ^ See Notice 2010-33, 2010-17 I.R.B. 1 (April 2010), Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Department of the Treasury, modifying and superseding IRS Notice 2008-14, 2008-4 I.R.B. 310 (Jan. 14, 2008), modifying and superseding IRS Notice 2007-30, 2007-14 I.R.B. 883 (March 15, 2007); see also Notice 2010-33, I.R.B. 2010-17 (April 26, 2010).
26. ^ Rick Cundiff, "Trial notebook: a good reason to quit early," Jan. 24, 2008, Ocala Star-Banner, at [7].
27. ^ 84-1 U.S. Tax Cas. (CCH) paragr. 9152 (D. Minn. 1983).
28. ^ Pillsbury v. Commissioner, 84-1 U.S. Tax Cas. (CCH) paragr. 9211 (E.D. Mich. 1984).
29. ^ 84-1 U.S. Tax Cas. (CCH) paragr. 9221 (S.D. Tex. 1984).
30. ^ 84-1 U.S. Tax Cas. (CCH) paragr. 9229 (D. Ariz. 1984).
31. ^ 766 F.2d 1288, 85-2 U.S. Tax Cas. (CCH) paragr. 9575 (9th. Cir. 1985) (per curiam).
32. ^ See 26 U.S.C. § 6673.
33. ^ See paragraph (4) of subsection (c) of 26 U.S.C. § 7482.
34. ^ Rule 11(b)(2), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
35. ^ Rule 11(c), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
36. ^ United States v. Patridge, 507 F.3d 1092, 1097 (7th Cir. 2007).
37. ^ See 28 U.S.C. § 1912.
38. ^ See, e.g., Crain v. Commissioner, 737 F.2d 1417, 84-2 U.S. Tax Cas. (CCH) paragr. 9721 (5th Cir. 1984) (per curiam).
39. ^ Kline v. Internal Revenue Serv. (In re Kline), 26 Fed. Appx. 849, 851 n.1, 2002-1 U.S. Tax Cas. (CCH) paragr. 50,303 (10th Cir. 2002).[8]
40. ^ IRS Nightmares Get Senate Hearing: Finance panel hears from parade of witnesses critical of tax agency, CNN AllPolitics, Sept. 24, 1997, at [9]
41. ^ Sec. 3707(a), Pub. L. No. 105-206, 112 Stat. 685 (July 22, 1998).
42. ^ Sec. 3707(b), Pub. L. No. 105-206, 112 Stat. 685 (July 22, 1998).
43. ^ Internal Revenue Manual, IRM Part 4, Chapter 10, Section Frivolous Return Program, at [10].
44. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Service Center Advice 200107034, National Office Service Center Advice Memorandum for Associate Area Counsel, Salt Lake City, Nov. 15, 2000, Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Dep't of the Treasury.
45. ^ See generally "Criminal Investigation (CI) At-a-Glance," Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Dep't of the Treasury, at [11]. In the Internal Revenue Code, the CI division is referred to as the "Intelligence Division" of the IRS. See subsection (b) of 26 U.S.C. § 7608. The Intelligence Division, formerly known as the "Intelligence Unit," changed its name to "Criminal Investigation" in July of 1978 (see "The History of IRS Criminal Investigation (CI)," Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Dep't of the Treasury, at [12]), although section 7608 has not been amended by Congress to reflect this change.
46. ^ George L. Yaksick, Jr., CCH News Staff, "IRS Referrals of Criminal Tax Investigations at Eight-Year High," Federal Tax Day, July 21, 2008, Item #T.2, CCH Tax Research NetWork (online), citing "Statistical Portrayal of the Criminal Investigation Division's Enforcement Activities for Fiscal Years 2000 Through 2007" (July 9, 2008), Reference Number 2008-10-133, Inspector General for Tax Administration, U.S. Department of the Treasury, at [13].
47. ^ Per curiam opinion, Feb. 22, 2008, case no. 07-3729-cv, United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
48. ^ Robert Schmidt, Feb. 20, 2008, "Tax Deniers Targeted by U.S. Officials After Wesley Snipes Case," Bloomberg News, at [14].
49. ^ U.S. Dep't of Justice, "Transcript of Nathan J. Hochman, Tax Division's Assistant Attorney General Announcing Creation of the National Tax Defier Initiative," April 9, 2008, at [15].
50. ^ United States v. Amon, 669 F.2d 1351, 81-2 U.S. Tax Cas. (CCH) paragr. 9495 (10th Cir. 1981), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 825, 103 S. Ct. 57 (1982).
51. ^ 830 F.2d 102 (7th Cir. 1987).
52. ^ Cheek v. United States, 498 U.S. 192, at 205-206, 111 S. Ct. 604, 112 L. Ed. 2d 617, 91-1 U.S. Tax Cas. (CCH) paragr. 50,012 (1991) (footnote omitted).
53. ^ Cheek, 498 U.S. 192, at 206.
54. ^ United States v. Cheek, 3 F.3d 1057, 93-2 U.S. Tax Cas. (CCH) paragr. 50,473 (7th Cir. 1993), cert. denied, 510 U.S. 1112, 114 S. Ct. 1055 (1994).
55. ^ Cheek v. United States, 498 U.S. 192 (1991).

External links

• The Truth About Frivolous Tax Arguments An Internal Revenue Service publication
• Tax Protester FAQ by attorney Daniel B. Evans
• Income Tax: Voluntary or Mandatory? Professor Jonathan Siegel at George Washington University Law School explains the errors in some popular tax-protester myths.
• Attorney Bernard J. Sussman analyzes court treatment of various tax-protester arguments
• Is the Income Tax Unconstitutional? by Sheldon Richman, Foundation for Economic Education: In Brief June 23, 2006
• tax-protester web site claiming the Average American is not liable for filing and paying income taxes
• Here Is The Law Making the Average American Liable for Income Taxes by non-profit organization Financial & Tax Fraud Education Associates, Inc.
• Web site of former tax protester Dr. Greg Williams
• Web site of tax protester Tom Cryer, Esq.
• Web site of tax protester and former decorated I.R.S. Criminal Investigation Special Agent, Joe Banister
• Tax-Protesters Gallery page at the financial-fraud-and-scam info site, Quatloos!