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And then there's the story of one Robert Beale, former member of WND's board of directors and stockholder, and father of WND columnist Theodore "Vox Day" Beale:

* Tax-protesting CEO's fugitive life is over

* Ex-CEO regrets 'mission' to take on IRS

[snip]

Beale later began reading books about the tax code. One was by Irwin Schiff, one of the nation's leading anti-tax crusaders. Beale attended one of Schiff's seminars.
In February 2006, Schiff, 78, was sentenced to more than 13 years in federal prison for advising people that no U.S. law requires them to pay income tax.

(Who was it that said earlier that, "Like it or not, the tactics worked and should encourage us to study them as a means of further limiting a Federal entity that has way too much abusive power"? Well, study that, LOL!)

Bottom line: Maybe the income tax is a BAD tax. Hell, I don't know anyone who likes it. Maybe it's even a "wrong" law. But, the fact is, it's THE law.

Break it -- and, unless you find a jury with an axe to grind, you WILL go to prison -- lose your life savings, your home, your car, maybe even your family -- but, at least you'll be in the company of the "experts" who go around teaching people how to "de-tax" themselves, eh?

Bottom line: Maybe the income tax is a BAD tax. Hell, I don't know anyone who likes it. Maybe it's even a "wrong" law. But, the fact is, it's THE law.

And the fact that you are willing to get down on bended knee and submit to bad law is an example of what Eisenhower meant when he said, "History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid."

Instead of criticizing Mr. Cryer for doing what was unthinkable 30 years ago, we should be looking at what he did as an example of how to fight back when a federal entity possessing an abusive power intrudes into our lives.

Earlier, someone asked for some original documents. I found some that don't cost anything. After Mr. Cryer submitted a Motion to Dismiss:
Government's Response
Cryer's Reply
Cryer's Trial Brief
Proposed Jury Instructions
Proposed Voir Dire Questions

You’re almost right.

You said:
“But, the fact is, it’s THE law.”

No, it’s not a fact. But it is what IRS attorneys use in court.

Most lose in court against the IRS because they don’t have the trial experience or resources to win period.

The IRS ‘folds’ on cases involving persons able to fund high rated tax attorneys. IOW they generally won’t take someone to court that can afford to fight. They will settle out of court. Those that get dragged to court usually have lost before they get there and the IRS is just using them to score points. There are cases where such people do win in court but the IRS likes to keep their trial statistics high so they ‘fold’ or settle before getting to court.

Cryer himself said that he would be in prison today if not for his considerable skill as a trial lawyer and his knowledge of IRS tactics.

The bottomline is that the IRS badly miscalculated Cryer. They should have dropped the case or tried to settle with him. But like St. Paul he had his moment on the Road to Damascus and turned from prosecuting tax cheats to advocating the code was not lawful. His prominence in society, especially in legal circles egged the IRS attorneys on to confront him. They couldn’t keep him quiet. So they tried to smear him in the press and now they are being sued for it.