Posted on 06/22/2003 10:10:59 AM PDT by freepatriot32
LAS VEGAS — A tax protester may not sell his book that contends paying income tax is voluntary, a federal judge ruled June 16.
U.S. District Judge Lloyd D. George wrote in an order banning the book that Irwin Schiff is not protected by the First Amendment because he has encouraged people not to pay taxes.
"There is no protection ... for speech or advocacy that is directed toward producing imminent lawless action," George wrote in support of the preliminary injunction on the book, The Federal Mafia: How It Illegally Imposes and Unlawfully Collects Income Taxes.
The Internal Revenue Service claims Schiff has 3,100 clients attempting to evade $56 million in taxes.
Government attorneys have argued Schiff had been advocating the "false and frivolous position that paying federal income taxes is voluntary," and one called it one of the largest tax scams in U.S. history.
Schiff said the judge's order was wrong on all counts and he planned to appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.
"There's a reason why my book is called The Federal Mafia and this is a perfect example," he said. "The government has just thrown the First Amendment out of the window, and if anybody can't see that they should be declared legally blind."
Schiff has been convicted twice on tax charges since 1978.
The IRS raided Schiff's office Feb. 11, and the government later filed a civil complaint against him and two associates in March. George issued a temporary order March 19 against Schiff, ordering him to stop selling his book, lecturing and giving seminars.
The latest ruling, in effect indefinitely, means Schiff, 75, cannot sell his book through his Web sites or the Las Vegas, Nev., office of his company, Freedom Books. The order also prohibits Schiff and his associates from preparing tax returns for others or assisting in tax preparation.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada filed a friend-of-the-court brief saying Schiff's expression of his opinions should not be outlawed.
"It is unfortunate that the judge did not see the First Amendment violation," ACLU lawyer Allen Lichtenstein said. Lichtenstein also said the injunction only limits Schiff from distributing the book.
"There's a bit of irony that the injunction prevents Mr. Schiff from distributing the book but doesn't prevent anybody else" from doing so, he said. "One has to wonder what's the point since the book is clearly available to the public."
Eileen J. O'Connor, assistant Attorney General in charge of the Justice Department's Tax Division in Washington, D.C., praised the judge's ruling.
"Today's order is another in the long line of court orders stopping the sale of fraudulent tax scams," she said.
Can he yell "FIRE" in a crowded theater?
As the Judge ruled: "There is no protection ... for speech or advocacy that is directed toward producing imminent lawless action," .
Does this apply to MALDEF and other illegal immigrant supporters as well? What about the people who want to help out illegals by placing water and food at border crossing points in the desert?
I didn't think so...
Yelling fire in a theater is not similar at all to encouraging people to go on tax protest.
Aye, this may be so. But does this mean he can't publish his book?
Mein Kamph comes to mind. There are others (i.e. How to Kill a Black Man). There probably have been more illegal acts, murders, and human disasters propagated by books than by the spoken word. Directly advocating them (unlawful activities) is what this ruling is about.
It's not so much that I want to do any of those things but I don't know how far I'd want to go in setting a precedent that forbade people to call out for these sorts of non-violent, non-cooperative actions. The Feds don't go after ELF/ALF like this although they are actually calling for violence. You go over to Raisethefist.com and they've got complete manuals on anarchy and how to battle the police yet the Feds leave that stuff up. This fellow isn't telling anybody to torch McDonald's. He's simply advocating they not pay their taxes.
And you would likely end up with major troubles.
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