Posted on 04/13/2007 1:08:43 PM PDT by SmithL
SANTA CRUZ -- Tax time is here again -- for most people, anyway.
Risking frozen bank accounts and even jail time, some are refusing to pay the portion of their federal income tax they believe goes to support the military and the war in Iraq. Although the IRS doesn't release information about the number of tax scofflaws -- and local accounts say they are few -- some in Santa Cruz do defy the taxman.
Scott Kennedy, in fact, has been doing it for 30 years. Kennedy, 59, a conscientious objector to the Vietnam War, has not paid a full federal tax bill since the 1970s as his way to protest war and object to the billions of dollars spent by the U.S. government on bolstering defense.
"It's a valid moral stance," said Kennedy, a former Santa Cruz mayor.
"To me, it's not just an extraordinary waste of resources, but withholding taxes is part of the effort to build a more humane world community. We're happy to pay taxes for a good purpose."
Kennedy estimates that 50 percent of his federal taxes goes to the military, and he withholds that money from the check he sends the IRS when filing his return. He includes a letter explaining his actions. However, the IRS often catches up with Kennedy and demands repayment.
On a few occasions, Kennedy has had his bank accounts seized. The IRS recently garnished Kennedy's wages, which resulted in forcing his employer, the Resource Center for Nonviolence, to pay $1,548 in unpaid federal income taxes, interest and penalties for 2005. The Resource Center complied with the IRS order by issuing a check in the full amount. The money will be taken from Kennedy's wages.
Local accountants say the number of tax resisters such as Kennedy is actually pretty small. Santa Cruz tax accountant Everett Meisser says none of his clients attempt to dodge the IRS, although plenty of them are procrastinators and file for extensions.
"I've never encountered someone who asks for war tax resistance," Meisser said.
There is no law that permits taxpayers to refuse to file a tax return or not pay taxes based on an estimate of what the government spends on programs or policies with which they disagree on moral, ethical, religious or other grounds.
The courts have repeatedly rejected arguments made by tax dodgers, said Jesse Weller, a San Francisco-based spokesman for the IRS.
"Ultimately, each of us is responsible for what is on our tax return," Weller said.
"And those who don't pay their fair share increase the taxes for everyone else who file an honest and accurate return."
Still, Santa Cruz resident Alexander Gaguine is withholding $5,000 from the amount he owes the federal government this year. As he's done for the past two years, Gaguine, 57, is protesting what he sees as the "illegal war" in Iraq through his refusal to pay what he owes the government.
"If everyone stopped paying for it, we'd come home from there," he said. "I just think it's an immoral war, an illegal war."
Gaguine also had a lien put on his bank account by the IRS and has been forced to pay interest and stiff penalties.
"I didn't respond to their warnings," Gaguine said.
Penalties for snubbing tax payments can include up to five years in prison and $250,000 in fines, depending on how the crime is classified.
Agreed. Let the conservatives fund crime, defense, national security, protection of borders, etc.
Let the liberals fund welfare, abortion, legal bills for illegal aliens, etc.
Let's see who's money runs out first.
Next Tuesday, my 16-year-old son will get his second opportunity in as many years to send “big bucks” (for him) to the IRS.
He’s worked the past two summers mowing lawns for a large residential real estate developer. They pay him on a 1099. Therefore, although he doesn’t make enough to pay income tax, he does have to pay self-employment tax (e.g. both halves of FICA).
Since he doesn’t have a checking account, he’ll be handing me ~$150 cash so I can write the check on his behalf.
No surprise that he’s easily one of the most conservative-minded kids in his school. ;O)
Rubbish. Money is fungible. No income tax revenue, individual or corporate, is earmarked for any particulat purpose. It all goes into the U.S. Treasury general fund.
1040 taxes pay for interest on the national debt and for waste.
More rubbish. Usually the claim is that "individual income taxes are all eaten up by the interest on the national debt," which is an old tax protestor myth.
FY07 individual inoome tax receipts were about $1.17 trillion.
FY07 net interest on the national debt was about $239 billion, or less than than 25% of individual income tax receipts.
film produced by an award-winning Hollywood director
Russo's idiotic movie is a pile of recycled tax protester nonsense and garbage, suitable for viewing only if you want a few laughs.
I pulled into a parking space on Tuesday evening. The car I faced (a decomposing mid-80s Toyota) had a bumper sticker on the front which said “I Do NOT Pay War Taxes!” along with some other info from some resistance group and a telephone number. I pulled out a sheet from my Franklin Planner and wrote: “A more accurate bumper sticker for your car would state ‘I CHEAT ON MY TAXES but since I probably don’t have any tax liability anyway the IRS just doesn’t waste it’s time investigating me! Call 1-800-D1P-SH** to learn more!”. I folded it, tucked it under the wiper, and was tempted to wait and see what kind of misfit would come back to find it. I briefly considered pulling out and backing my car into the space so that the patriot would see my “It will be a great day when all children go to private schools and the money wasted on public education goes to building bombers!” smiley stealth sticker but concluded I’d probably end up getting my car keyed...
Sounds like you lost the argument so much that you can’t argue it anymore other than to throw out insults.
Russo’s film is not idiotic as you will see this summer as it gets distributed. And he calls out the income tax receipts and explains how they get distributed. So your snipe gets nowhere.
Taxes are not ‘fungible’.
FICA taxes cannot be used for any other purpose than what it was intended. But the government can borrow from it which they do. However, they must make a ledger entry to show their borrowings, i.e. an IOU. Same with any other lawful tax.
Taxes are appropriated for defense and are matched by corporate taxes. They have always been matched by corporate taxes. Defense budgets are set and if there was no personal income tax, the government would get the funds from corporate taxes in the same manner they did before the personal income tax was snuck in and expanded.
Tax laws are always passed for a purpose. There is no law for the 1040 taxes. There are regulations but no law. So don’t go linking to regulations because that’s been done before and the person who did could not find the original law. In order for a law to exist a President must have signed it into law. No President signed the 1040 income tax into law.
You don’t like Russo because he is waking people up. You obviously have a tie in to the business and have an attitude towards those that are questioning the current monster. And your predecessors were clever to inch those personal income taxes up real slooooww like a frog brought to a slow boil. Personal income taxes started out voluntary, applied only to a few wealthy individuals at a very low rate and over the decades especially since the 1960s have mushroomed to soak the middle class. As long as they were small they were not bothersome but now the tax gorilla has grown from a cute baby to a dangerous silverback.
And with the so-call ‘Federal’ Reserve creating money out of thin air and causing inflation, people’s earnings get diluted, weakened and that is effectively a tax.
There are so many taxes in American society at so many strata that in order to get an estimate on the true tax rate, a group of academics have to be tasked to conduct a study and write a report.
There is no transparency and for good reason. If people could see the amount of embedded taxes they pay in all the products they buy, they would be complaining more than they do now.
It’s a shell game, a massive one.
And Russo never says don’t pay taxes. He merely wakes people up so they will listen to people that are going to reform this pig. And reform is coming that’s a fact because of demographic changes. You can’t snipe away all you want you’re just one tax guy against the nature of an aging population, and a society that thorws alot of unborn Americans into the abortion mill because they can’t afford a living, because of taxes and inflation.
And are you going to tell us inflation is low? Bread and milk maybe but what about housing? What about the rising property taxes on those inflated homes?
The American casino game has as it aim to get ahead of the IRS and the Federal reserve in terms of tax breaks and activities that best inflation. More than 90% of Americans lose at that game. A few get ahead and think they won.
One of those protestors was Ronald Reagan.
You don't know what you're talking about. I have absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with any aspect of the "business" of taxes. Never have, never will. The only thing I have to do with taxes is to pay 'em.
But, that you would jump to a ridiculous conclusion doesn't surprise me at all considering that you are obviously completely clueless about both tax law and Russo's moronic movie.
Taxes are not ‘fungible’.
I didn't say taxes are fungible, I said money is fungible.
Taxes are appropriated for defense and are matched by corporate taxes. They have always been matched by corporate taxes.
Do you just make this stuff up as you go along or do you really believe hogwash like that?
IN FY07, defense totalled $571 billion. Corporate income taxes were $342 billion. In the last 20 years the total for defense has never been less than $268 billion. In 6 of those 20 years, corporate income taxes were less than $100 billion, the lowest being $63 billion.
Defense and corporate income taxes have nothing to do with each other. They have never "matched."
There is no law for the 1040 taxes. There are regulations but no law.
You're a tax protester, right?
You might want to read these sections of the IRC:
26 USC 1 imposes a federal tax on taxable income.
26 USC 61 defines gross income as all income from whatever source derived.
26 USC 63 defines taxable income as gross income minus allowable deductions.
26 USC 6011 and 6012 require the filing of a return.
26 USC 6151 requires the payment of the tax by the individual required to file the return.
So don’t go linking to regulations
Who said anything about regulations other than you?
You don’t like Russo because...
I don't like Russo or his useless movie because he's a conspirazoid kook who put out absolute junk which will get people in trouble if they believe his idiocy and follow through on it.
Personal income taxes started out voluntary
Individual income taxes have never been voluntary. Ever.
I highly doubt it you have no connection to the tax business.
Russo’s movie features several Congressional respresentatives, former IRS agents, former Cabinet Secretaries, Ron Paul, IRS case jurors, professors of consitutional law, respected authors and policy specialists.
These people are not an assorted lot of ‘tax protestors’ which you wrongly malign as nonfilers. They are protesting the illegality of the 1040 tax as unconstitutional. It is evident that this beast has gone too far. As observed by one poster who reported that their son is mowing lawns and getting a 1099 cut on him and having to pay both sides of FICA. That’s just one example of the hideousness that has developed that did not exist a few years ago.
And your figures were wrongly attributed and interpreted.
It is you that have no clue other than to try and confuse people from learning the truth about where taxes go. And you’re not going to stop the reform that is coming.
1040 taxes go to nothing other than interest on an unnecessary debt and waste. That’s a fact.
Page 83:
http://www.unclefed.com/IRS-Forms/2006/i1040.pdf
BS.
Russo never said not to pay taxes. He only advocates not going along with National ID, voting against the North American Union.
Russo a kook? You’re the kook for thinking the reputable people featured in his film are kooks. He goes out of his way to hear both sides and finds the IRS can’t answer simple questions and they think they do not need to follow the law themselves. It’s all in his film. They are caught with their own lies.
As far as your lame retort that I said taxes are not fungible, you were responding to my reporting the fact that 1040 taxes do not go for military expenditures, corporate taxes do and you said “money is fungible”, a clear reference to the tax statement.
Go ahead and backpeddle on it, you had no argument to begin with.
As far as defense expenditures exceeding corporate income taxes, look at the amount borrowed 13% and the corporate income taxes 11% totalling to 24%. Then look at National Defense outlays. What are they? That’s right, exactly 24%. It’s all right there on page 83 of the IRS’ own pub.
So the government is giving corporations a break and getting the ‘Fed’ Reserve to create money out of thin air to fund the military. Hence, we have a deficit and an injection of money digits and paper that didn’t exist before.
I say there is no 1040 law. You didn’t answer. You lamely retorted I am a tax protestor. I pay the 1040 taxes because they have the guns, and I protest the illegality of the income tax.
You got a problem with that?
What else you got?
Nada. A whole lot of BS.
Hey scumbag,
the fact that you use such terms as ‘tax protester’, the fact you can’t show the law, the fact that you claim the income tax was never voluntary, etc....
clearly shows...
you’re in the business.
And your moniker is a classical psych projection of what you think you’re going after.
The fact is Americans are going to pay taxes but they are going to get rid of the likes of you out of their lives by going with the Fair Tax and then electing reps that will jump over themselves to cut it term after term.
Give it up scumbag, you can’t stop the age demographic from collapsing the scam. You’re in a tunnel with a train coming right at you and there’s nothing you can do, nothing.
Are you would be wrong. No surprise there.
They are protesting the illegality of the 1040 tax as unconstitutional
And they would be wrong, just like you. See Brushaber v. Union Pacific 240 U.S. (1916).
their son is mowing lawns and getting a 1099 cut on him and having to pay both sides of FICA. That’s just one example of the hideousness that has developed that did not exist a few years ago.
Self-employment taxes did not suddenly spring up just "a few years ago." The law applying to the kid and everyone else has been there for many decades.
And your figures were wrongly attributed and interpreted.
Prove it.
I won't wait, because you can't.
Page 83 of the link shows all right there. You obviously don’t want to discuss it.
Your court case is BS. Russo’s film clearly shows it’s BS.
I got news for you, boys mowing lawns have not had a 1099 cut on them except in the very recent past.
The fact that you are defending this tripe shows clearly...
YOU ARE IN THE BUSINESS!
What’s your GS grade? 6, 7? You act like it. Couldn’t get a real job so you got one of those jobs where you don’t even have to spell. Enjoy it while it lasts.
Like I said the train is coming at you and you can’t do anything about it.
Unless you are willing to shed blood and have your blood shed to preserver freedom, you will never have it or bestow it upon fututre generations.
It is clear that those in power, have no intention of repealing forever the income tax. People need to start saying no and backing it up.
The Fair Tax movement is gathering more and more support in Congress every year.
No need to shed blood, just pay your taxes and vote for the reform.
You don't understand what the U.S. Treasury's general fund is, do you?
All tax receipts (including FICA, after they borrow them from the "trust" funds) go into it. Proceeds from debt issues go into it. One dollar is the same as the next. No income tax dollar is earmarked for anything, contrary to your delusions.
I'm not going to bother to address the rest of your incoherent burblings about the budget except to again quote your exact and completely incorrect words: Taxes are appropriated for defense and are matched by corporate taxes. They have always been matched by corporate taxes.
I say there is no 1040 law. You didn’t answer.
I guess you missed this:
26 USC 1 imposes a federal tax on taxable income.
26 USC 61 defines gross income as all income from whatever source derived.
26 USC 63 defines taxable income as gross income minus allowable deductions.
26 USC 6011 and 6012 require the filing of a return.
26 USC 6151 requires the payment of the tax by the individual required to file the return.
the fact that you use such terms as ‘tax protester’, the fact you can’t show the law, the fact that you claim the income tax was never voluntary, etc....clearly shows... you’re in the business.
Actually, all it shows is that you have a very hard time reading simple English and that you like to jump to ridiculous conclusions.
your moniker is a classical psych projection
Wrong yet again. This seems to be a pattern of yours. It actually derives from my dislike for Billy Jeff Xlinton.
Now, I agree that taxes are too high and spending is too high. However, I'm not dumb enough to fall for a pile of garbage put on the screen by a conspirazoid nutball like Russo. His waste of perfectly good film will accomplish exactly nothing other than to make fools out of people who believe his rot.
Morally speaking they should learn the golden rule :
He who has the gold makes the rules.
And its corrolary :
He who has the guns takes the gold.
So since the IRS has more muscle than the scofflaws....
Morally they are going to loose ...........
Got an argument? Make it. I'm not reading any link until you actually make an argument. Want to quote something and then provide the source of your quote or data? Fine. However, you have yet to actually make any argument.
You were given all the info that backs up my statements. It’s all right there. The fact you choose to ignore it shows you haven’t got anything to backup your crap.
Like was said, it’s coming at you and you can’t do anything about it.
You’re not going to convince anyone that your projected kookiness onto those that are orders of magnitude more respected than you is nothing but petulant childishness.
You’ve already backpeddled on one claim and now you’re spinning back to it.
And then you have the audacity to cite USC that has no law to back it. A law is something that a President signs into existence and that gets implemented through USC. Every statute in USC has a law backing it except the personal income tax. The 1040 taxes have no law behind them, they were slipped in as very small amounts on a very few wealthy individuals and then expanded into the monstrosity of today to the extent that kids mowing lawns are getting 1099’d.
The personal income taxes are illegal and you can’t find the President that signed them into existence nor the law that authorized them into the USC.
I knew if you persisted you’d bring the USC into it and now I know you are in the business. There is no way you’re not connected. Go ahead and keep spewing the lies. No one’s believing.
You just proved my point. It’s right on page 83. Don’t want to look at it? I know why. Because it destroys your facade.
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