Posted on 04/13/2005 10:45:43 AM PDT by Arrowhead1952
Austinite earned $2 million, said he owed zero, indictment says.
By Steven Kreytak
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Steven D. Shanklin of Austin earned $876,398 in 1998 and filed a tax return claiming he owed none of it to Uncle Sam, according to a federal indictment.
The Cisco Systems Sales and Services Inc. employee made $770,504 in 1999 and $681,955 in 2000 and didn't file a federal tax return in either year, the indictment says.
Shanklin, 48, wrote in a letter attached to his 1998 return that he knew of "no section of the Internal Revenue Code that . . . establishes an income tax 'liability,' " according to the indictment, handed up by a federal grand jury in Austin last week.
Internal Revenue Service agents and federal prosecutors disagreed, and Shanklin now faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each of three counts of tax evasion.
At his 3,000-square-foot home in Southwest Austin last week, Shanklin said he has "quite a story" to tell but can't do it until his case is resolved. He declined to comment further.
Shanklin is among the 300 or so people each year who fail to file tax returns or cite frivolous arguments in their returns and are subsequently prosecuted in federal court, according to the IRS. About 180 are convicted and sentenced to prison.
The IRS tries to draw attention to those cases to deter others from buying into bogus tax-avoidance techniques pitched in seminars, in books and on the Internet, said Harlan Carter, the special agent in charge of the San Antonio field office of the IRS criminal investigations division.
"Throughout the United States, there are constantly different types of claims that are being made" to avoid taxes, he said. "One thing that we can stress is the courts have consistently . . . held that there are no legal grounds for their failure to file and their failure to pay."
For example, some might argue that the income tax is unconstitutional or that protesters of specific government programs or actions may withhold taxes. Not true, officials say.
One argument that has circulated in Texas in recent years is that the 16th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution was not ratified properly, IRS officials said. It explicitly states that Congress may directly tax citizens and came in the late 19th century after the Supreme Court disallowed the federal income tax.
It is unclear what specific argument Shanklin cited.
The indictment says that after failing to file a return in 1999, he said in a letter to the IRS that "federal income tax laws do not exist." In 1999 and 2000, he gave his employer a tax form claiming he was exempt from withholding, the indictment says.
Shanklin is free on bail pending trial. After his arrest, he asked U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Pitman to appoint a lawyer for him, a right reserved for indigent defendants. But Tuesday at a hearing, Shanklin arrived with his own lawyers.
Pitman asked the lawyers, "I assume you'll withdraw his motion for a court-appointed, taxpayer-funded attorney?"
They did.
I'm pretty sure you can't discharge federal taxes in bankruptcy.
I have seen the Larkin Rose video. It is VERY convincing. Its premise is basically this: If you are a US citizen, you only owe federal income taxes on income earned outside the US.
Also, they seem to have a problem with judges in that judges refuse to hear their case. Even though the case appears to be strong, and the IRS has just plain admitted that the average IRS agent can not show you where the tax code says you must pay taxes, the judges will still throw out the arguments without even allowing the case to be heard with some remark along the lines of "everybody knows you have to pay taxes."
The video uses computer graphics of the tax code to show one section pointing to another, pointing to another until you finally get to the bottom line. From what I saw, not only do we not need to pay taxes on domestic income, but they change the code every couple of decades to change where the wording is, and how it is worded, but it still says the same thing.
It is, indeed, very suspicious. However, this is not a battle I choose to fight. If it gets bad enough, I will in fact join John Galt in the mountains. It isn't that bad yet.
Meanwhile, my friend is doing just fine. Twelve years and counting. They better hurry up before he dies of old age.
On a side note, he pays his state b & o taxes...
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.— That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
Yeah... It may be getting time to remind a few people of what the US is supposed to be. That what is has become is anathema to a Free People. That ain't gonna help guys like this Cisco rep. He's gonna flush his entire fortune on an uncaring court system that no longer gives a sh*t for "justice".
Not filing a return is the key to the whole thing. A return is a legally binding document. Once you file a return showing you owe no tax, they can come for you legally, which is the mistake the man in the story made. If you don't file, because you honestly believe you shouldn't (and the fact that the rest of the lemmings do it is not a reason to do it) they have to prove you should. This woman won and only had to give up her stuff.
You can file bankruptcy against taxes that are owed from more than three years ago, once you file and 280 days have passed. Buy gold and put it in the ground. Or just move to mexico.
>> I'm pretty sure you can't discharge federal taxes in bankruptcy.<<
I was VERY sure. But I was wrong. Back child support is a different matter, though...
Are we talking Federal "Pound Me In the A$$" Prison.
You might be able to avoid criminal charges. However, once they catch you, they'll look back and figure out how much tax you owe, and add penalties plus interest. Twelve years of not paying taxes? They'll take everything he owns and garnish his income.
This is my favorite part:
"Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."
Every now and then I ask myself, "if not now, when?"
If you had no assets, that might be a way to get rid of some of your back taxes. However, any assets you had would be used by the court to pay off creditors.
>> Twelve years of not paying taxes? They'll take everything he owns and garnish his income.<<
Assuming he is still in the US. ;)
The only people that can get away with this pretty cleanly are the self employed with no employees, which my friend is. Pulled in $160 an hour for about half of those years that I knew him. He is in his late 40's. He can be set up pretty comfortably wherever he moves...
The BATFE would have to be loading people into box cars before even a percentage would shift a butt cheek.
I was there. Rented my home, owed more on my car than it was worth. The only asset I had was a very high paying job. A divorce and years of massive child support and maintenence led to the condition.
It's almost too easy. 8^>
Yep.
The only problem I can see is, if you abolish the government and 'start over', what kind of government will you end up with?
What will it be based on, because a new constitution would have to be drafted by the 'survivors' of such an overthrow.
You may end up with a government worse than what we have now.
Change in the government is the key. But finding people willing to stand up FOR the Constitution and not fight against it.
Ammending the Constitution to lay out it's EXACT meaning would do much to silent the 'living Constitution' crowd.
I wouldn't make legal decision based on a video I received in the mail. When they say the IRS has not answered these questions, there is no way to prove their assertion. The courts have made these decisions. No one has legally avoided paying income taxes using these tapes. No one. Even the grifters who sell them have been reduced to admitting they are a lie.
You are responsible for paying income taxes on your income, not just your reported income.
http://www.quatlosers.com
Read it and weap.
That's it??? Only 300 people in the US fail to file?
That doesn't sound right. I would have thought it would be many thousands ...
I once went 3 years without filing (after my Mom passed away and I was handling her estate, I just couldn't manage to do 2 tax returns per year.) When I called the IRS, they were very understanding about it, I filed for those 3 years at one time, and that was that ... the penalty was not very severe at all ... maybe a couple of percent on the amount owed.
I'm just blowing steam. There is nothing we can do. It is too big. Whatever happens will be because the government implodes first, not because a bunch if "constitutionalists" took up arms.
The book of revelation is very clear that in the end times things will be worse than they have ever been in human history. That should put the fear of God into any student of history.
Technology has precluded history from repeating itself as it did in the past. When the US goes down - and it will because that is the inevitable fate of all nations - it will not be pretty. It will be devastating internationally and could throw the world into the next "dark ages" with a nuclear/technological twist.
I use the example of breaking a strand. A small or short lived nation going down is the equivalent of pulling a thread until it snaps. When the US goes down, it will be the equivalent of pulling a six foot thick steel cable until it snaps. I wouldn't want to be anywhere near it at the decisive moment. By "nea," I mean on the same planet.
Say what you will. And I have already stated that I choose not to fight this battle. If I were to fight it, it would go down something like this: Earn for a few years, liquidate, leave country.
End of story.
I know too many people that have done this, albeit for completely legitimate reasons. And if you never filed a return and skipped to, say, mexico, the IRS would never really be sure of just how bad you "ripped them off."
Court Rules Irwin Schiff Owes
U.S. Treasury Over Two Million Dollars
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Department of Justice announced today that on June 14, 2004, a federal court in Las Vegas ruled that Irwin A. Schiff, a well-known promoter of frivolous tax evasion excuses, is liable for over $2 million in individual income tax liabilities and related interest and penalties, in civil litigation brought by the government to recover Schiff’s unpaid income taxes for the years 1979 through 1985.
Schiff maintained that he should be excused from the imposition of civil fraud penalties because he allegedly has recently been diagnosed as suffering from a “chronic and severe delusional disorder” that resulted in his irrational and incorrect beliefs pertaining to the federal income tax system. The court declined to accept Schiff’s diminished-capacity defense.
The June 14 Order is not related to the grand jury’s March 24, 2004, indictment of Schiff and others on charges of criminal conspiracy and multiple violations of the internal revenue laws.
This matter was handled by the Justice Department’s Tax Division. The Tax Division represents the IRS in civil litigation to collect taxes in high-profile, complex or precedent-setting cases. Eileen J. O’Connor, Assistant Attorney General for the Tax Division, thanked trial attorneys Henry C. Darmstadter and Guy P. Jennings for their work in this matter.
For more information on this case and on the Department of Justice’s other tax-scam enforcement actions, go online to http://www.usdoj.gov/tax/03_tax_167.htm
Schiff says his own schemes were "delusional".
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