Tax court reversal `incredible' Judge alters secret finding in fraud trial

chicagotribune.com ^ | June 24, 2005 | Maurice Possley

[Jubal Harshaw]

...i n 1999, a U.S. Tax Court judge ruled that [Burton]Kanter and two of his business partners had engaged in a fraudulent kickback scheme that deprived the Internal Revenue Service of more than $30 million.

The tax court judge wrote that he had adopted the findings of the original trial judge, who determined that they had underpaid taxes after a lengthy trial ...

Had he lived, Kanter would have learned last month that the trial judge actually ruled in his favor, but that finding--kept secret under tax court rules--was inexplicably reversed by the U.S. Tax Court judge in his official court opinion.

[Jubal Harshaw]

READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE!!! According to the article, Kantor was found at trial to have NOT committed fraud. He was not informed of that finding; instead, the government hid the finding, and the next judge issued a (non-hidden) ruling that stated that the original trial HAD found him guilty of committing fraud. It took years of appeals for his estate to even find out that he'd been exonerated at trial.

[Enterprise]

Laws? We don need no steenkin laws. We're Judges.

[thoughtomator]

Did you know there are still people who have the charming notion that you have a right to a public and speedy trial? And, amazingly enough, that you also have the right to know what the judge actually rules?

[Still Thinking]

Juries and media for all tax court trials.

[Itzlzha]

READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE!!! According to the article, Kantor was found at trial to have NOT committed fraud. He was not informed of that finding; instead, the government hid the finding, and the next judge issued a (non-hidden) ruling that stated that the original trial HAD found him guilty of committing fraud. It took years of appeals for his estate to even find out that he'd been exonerated at trial.

Wow! Only ONE respones here...stolen from another FReeper, I do not remember who it was...

Judge. Tree. Rope.
Some assembly required.

[Founding Father]

"How could the tax court judges essentially lie about what was in the report?" said Julie Roin, a law professor at the University of Chicago who has followed the case.

Until 1984, trial judges' findings were made public, but at that time the rules were changed to keep the trial judges' findings secret and not part of the court record.

Richard Pildes, a New York University law professor who also represented Kanter, said, "There's no way to know from the public record whether this went on in one of these cases or hundreds of these cases. It's such a betrayal of the public trust."

More and more I believe the biggest criminals in this country are those who work for the government and apparently, judges are at the top of the list.

[Enterprise]

"I think there is an absolute arrogance in Tax Court that they could do whatever they wanted to do without reporting to anyone--in secret," Dick said."

If adverse rulings can be made and kept secret, it is a powerful argument for the abolishment of the IRS. This would be a perferct opportunity for hearings and this judge should be called to testify.

[combat_boots]

Your tag line is outstanding.

The courts can now decide

when you live.
what property you may have--if you have the money.
when you die.

[Jack Black]

ping. hard to get the original aricle.

[muawiyah]

The biggest criminals are still outside the government, but it's not surprising at all to find one judge telling a lie about what another judge ruled, and a third backing both of them up.

Did you follow the "Terri" threads? Lots of them concerned this very issue. Amazingly we have a lot of Freepers (probably lawyers, friends of lawyers, judges, or their dad was a lawyer and he didn't do this stuff) who justified all flaws in an original hearing as having been justified if an appellate judge said it was OK even if it wasn't.

This sort of thing is supposed to be most common in malpractice cases where records have been sealed at the request of the defendant.

No doubt open records are best.

It's also a good idea to pay your taxes on time.

[bpjam]

tax courts should be abolished. I'd rather face a military tribunal because at least you would have honorable people judging you.

[wildbill]

I'm not one of those wild-eyed tax resistors,but the power to tax is the power to destroy.

Having it done in secret is absolutely the worst idea that the Congress ever had.

[sirthomasthemore]

Founding,

The governing/monied/power elite is becoming much to transparent- almost so arrogant in their power, they don't even try to conceal it anymore. (e.g. recent European votes on Constitution; Kelo v New London; recent bankruptcy limitations on the average citizen, but not corporations)

Clean your muskets and sharpen your pitchforks and get ready to ride to the sound of the guns. :-)

[Mark in the Old South]

Re: "I'd rather face a military tribunal because at least you would have honorable people judging you."

I love the military but......

I was in the Navy and I remember the investigation into the explosion on the Battleship Wisconsin.

Government is not to be trusted. The Founding Fathers knew this but almost no one remembers today. Oh Republicans don't trust Demoncrats and the Democrats don't trust Repugnats but they never think to look at their own party with suspicious eyes.

[Enterprise]

Thanks. On another thread a poster asked me to explain my tagline in English. This was my response:

"I bees the gummint. Yu gots property. Gimme it."

[Still Thinking]

You're kidding, right? The tagline IS in English.

[NetValue]

"Having it done in secret is absolutely the worst idea that the Congress ever had."

But that is not all. Today the tax code is so complex that if the IRS says you owe a tax (no matter what amount) you will NEVER be able to prove them wrong without going bankrupt under the legal expenses.

Talk about a corrupt system.....

[Enterprise]

"You're kidding, right? The tagline IS in English. "

LOL - well I thought so too!

[wildbill]

Here's a hint. Have them do your taxes to show you where you were wrong. My tax lawyer (an old IRS hand) told me to take everything in the way of records I could find--not excepting the wastebaskets and dump them into boxes. He was explicit in using the word 'dump."

They have to go through everything and put it in order in order to fill out your tax forms (which you are not required to accept by the way). It takes them a tremendous amount of time and they are judged on how much money they make the IRS vs. how much time they put in.

They are required by law to do this and you haven't compromised your position at all. They finally brought all my paperwork back to me, neatly arranged in categories and dates, and have left me alone ever since.

[Saundra Duffy]

What do you make of this? This article in today's Fresno Bee:

Ex-IRS agent who fights taxes wins acquittal

Sacramento - A former IRS special agent who publicly challenged U.S. income tax law has been acquitted on federal charges that he had helped file false tax returns.

Joseph Banister, 42, of San Jose, has become a prominent opponent of the federal income tax since he quit the Internal Revenue Service in 1999 after delivering a 95-page memo to his bosses questioning the law's legality. He has since become a lecturer and expert witness on the tax protest circuit.

A U.S. District Court jury in Sacramento found Banister not guilty of criminal charges Thursday, officials said. The case involved tax returns that Banister, a certified public accountant, prepared for Walter Thompson, who owned a company in Lake Shasta.

Thompson claimed he owed no taxes, sought a refund for taxes he had paid and did not withhold taxes from worker paychecks. He was convicted of tax fraud in January and sentenced to six years in prison.