Posted on 01/04/2008 5:06:16 AM PST by Man50D
A lawyer who was acquitted by a federal court trial jury of Internal Revenue Service accusations he failed to filed income tax returns for two years now is suing several IRS agents over their alleged improper disclosure of his personal information in the case.
A spokeswoman in the office of lawyer Tom Cryer told WND the case was assembled and filed by Cryer between Christmas Day and the end of 2007 and is expected to be placed on the docket in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana.
Last summer in federal court a jury voted 12-0 to find Cryer, of Shreveport, not guilty of the IRS allegations. He had been indicted on 2006 on government claims he failed to pay $73,000 to the IRS in 2000 and 2001.
His successful defense was based on a challenge to the IRS to prove a constitutional foundation for the nation's income tax.
Now his claim against the government's agents, according to a report in the Shreveport Times, explains four IRS criminal investigation division workers tried to destroy his reputation during the course of their investigation in the case.
The lawsuit alleges IRS agents Jimmy H. Sandefur, Darrin A. Heusel and Judge Armand, and a trainee, Patrick Potter "entered into a smear and fear campaign to destroy Plaintiff's good reputation and law practice."
Cryer alleges the federal workers repeatedly violated federal laws that restrict the disclosure of tax information, release of information about an investigation and publicizing information about a grand jury investigation.
The report said Cryer's lawsuit alleges the agents continually raised those issues in telephone calls, during personal visits and in letters exchanged with Cryer's clients during their investigation.
The action seeks $1,000 in damages for each incident in which a federal agent compromised Cryer's confidential information.
(Excerpt) Read more at worldnetdaily.com ...
I agree. I’m self-employed, and aside from the HUGE chunk of income the Feds take in the first place, they have truly draconian penalties, usurious interest rates, and vicious enforcement policies that I am sure have driven more than one person to suicide. In addition, it is a disincentive to work, because you know that the more you earn, the more trouble you’ll have with the IRS. It shouldn’t be this way.
I don’t object to paying taxes (although I’d like more control over how they’re spent) but we’ve got to find some other way of doing it.
What it is, is a shake the tree sortie. They know it, they just are now going around and seeing if you can prove, years later, if you were clear.
That's silly, unless you actually owe the amount claimed.
I was audited 30 years ago and the agent decided that expenses paid for via credit card weren't deductible in the current year, they had to wait until the next year to be deducted. I owed about 30 bucks. Big deal. I got my 30 bucks back the next year. The credit card versus cash payment problem is no longer the case, even as a cash basis taxpayer, BTW.
I owned an outfit doing $5 million a year in sales which was audited in '93. The IRS guy was camped out in my offices for a week. He left with no change whatsoever to the corporate return.
If you don't owe it, don't pay it. The only reason you would ever need a lawyer is if you are taking a very aggressive position.
The current IRS rate for underpayments is 7%. It changes quarterly, according to market rates.
Do you really think that 7% is "usurious" or are you just foaming at the mouth?
We were audited once. The IRS guy was not nice, until....he found out that the IRS owed us almost $4000. We did get a little interest. Haven’t been audited since and that was about 25 years ago.
Yet another apocryphal story.
In this case, I suspect that your buddy is pulling your leg for whatever reason. Tax enforcement personnel have better things to do than bother anyone about $17 for this year or any year.
I know, you're ready to man the ramparts against the "Tax Gestapo," but you really ought to come up with a better reason than some fantasy.
Both of you should learn about something called a search engine.
Google ‘Tom Cryer’.
You will find he is an ultra high rated trial attorney that at one time prosecuted tax cheats until on one case his research led him to understand a great deception in tax code history. It was this Damascus Road conversion that led him to take on the IRS and win.
He has a website where all is explained. He often remarks that if it were not for his considerable skill as a trial attorney, he would be in a federal prison today.
The IRS attorneys tried every tactical diversion in court to squelch his defense but he anticiplated their motions and countered successfully.
If this was an arena of gladiators, the IRS usually kills their prey within minutes, whereas against Cryer they were slain.
Bottomline is that there is too much power in America’s KGB. May you never experience firsthand the truth of that statement.
Yeah, I heard a story where the IRS was really the KGB and they were really mean. Then the IRS admitted this was true and they are now in real trouble. Let’s get rid of them and tax. Urban myth.
They can stick their stinking “fare tax”.
We worked our whole lifes and paid high income tax rates, maximum Socialist Security, and Mediscare taxes on the money earned yet managed to save for retirement. Now some want to tax it again when I spend the savings in retirement.
You got your way of sleeping at night and I have mine. I watch enough on shows such as 60 minutes etc. to see what happens to some people if they happen to draw the little gestapo agent. Granted most agents are decent enough people there is also the occasional Mike Nifong among them. A couple thousand dollars is not worth the sleepless nights IMHO.
Well, at least he won.
bump
can you provide more details inot this woman’s comments?
Yea, I know about his website. However, it does not include anything directly (meaning legal documents) about that specific trial. It just includes his ranting. Ranting, I might point out, that has been REJECTED in a number of court cases. I want to know WHY he prevailed when so many others did not. The only way I feel comfotable about this is to read the legal documents about the case myself. That means that Tom Cryer’s webpage is worthless. It also means doing a websearch just turns up other people talking about what they think — NOT original documents.
BTW, I checked the webpage listed above and it is also worthless. What others say about the IRS is worthless. What happened in that specific courtroom is all that is important.
If you disagree, I suggest you stop paying taxes and see how you do with the IRS.
This just might be the first lawyer I actually like.
I saw NOTHING on that webpage that shows any original legal documents from the trial. The arguments he made were no different from the arguments that have been made many times before and which have been rejected many times before. Aren’t you the least bit interested in the original sources or are you willing to go up against the IRS by saying “Tom Cryer did it. Why can’t I?”
LOL, that's one of the funniest things ever written, anywhere.
You're a funny guy. And obviously a TP.
Cryer will probably be disbarred.
If, perish the thought, you both should ever be convicted of tax crimes, would you like to share a cell with him?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.