Posted on 04/28/2008 9:29:20 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Wesley Snipes had only been convicted of misdemeanors concerning his failure to file income tax returns.
And the action movie star had submitted written character testimonials from Denzel Washington, Woody Harrelson, and television's Judge Joe Brown to assist him in the judge’s consideration of his sentencing.
Through his attorneys, Snipes asked for probation rather than prison, which is the normal sentence with a conviction of someone without a criminal history. Still, in spite of it all, U.S. District Judge William Terrell Hodges sentenced Snipes to three years in prison.
Why did this happen?
Well, in February 2008, a federal jury acquitted Snipes of felony tax fraud and conspiracy (which could have placed him in the slammer for more than a decade) but convicted the actor on three misdemeanor counts of failing to file a tax return.
Snipes’ two co-defendants, a defrocked accountant and a tax protest leader, were convicted on the felony counts and may go to jail for 10 years.
Because Snipes is a celebrity, his case has received an enormous amount of publicity. In defense of his actions, he essentially asserted tax protest arguments that have consistently been brushed aside by the courts.
Unfortunately, unscrupulous people sell books, tapes and the like, which end up convincing some people that they don’t have to pay income tax.
Snipes claimed that the tax code did not mandate payment of income taxes by citizens who earned the money in this country. He additionally claimed that the IRS is not a legitimate government entity and therefore had no legal authority to collect taxes.
Jurors found that the actor failed to file for three years.
In the sentencing memo filed by his lawyer, Snipes also asserted that he didn’t have to file returns because he “was a 'stateless person' or 'nonresident alien.'”
The prosecutors’ sentencing memo stated that Snipes' policy was “to send checks received at his business office for deposit offshore.”
In addition, the memo stated that the actor paid approximately “$498,000 in personal payments to Snipes' grandmother, his former wife, his then-fiancee, his personal lawyer, a tax defier organization, and M&S Finance, the Swiss alter-ego to which he fraudulently conveyed his business holdings in 1999,” and that the amount of unreported gross income for the three-year period was “$13 million.”
Snipes exhibited a “history of contempt over a period of time” for U.S. tax laws, the judge said.
You can bet Judge Hodges knew full well that lots of people who maintain similar beliefs to Snipes and his co-defendants were watching the case and would be encouraged not to file and not to pay if Snipes hadn’t been given the max.
----------------------------------------------------------
James Hirsen is a media analyst, Trinity Law School professor, and teacher of mass media law at Biola University.
Keeping what was HIS, by virtue of having EARNED it, is NOT A CRIME. What FedGov is doing is the crime. Do you WORK for FedGov (not that I would call what a bureaucrap does “work”)? That would seem to be the only explanation for your miserable attitude and snide comments.
You asked a question about Prohibition I a bit earlier... then answered the question about taxes with it. The reason Prohibition I is no longer with us is because the law was so widely ignored and flouted by We, the People, that it became UNENFORCEABLE. FedGov had no choice but to repeal it. Pray God that the income tax meets the same fate. That enough people IGNORE AND FLOUT that vile steaming pile of crap that it becomes totally unenforceable. Snipes IS, in fact, a patiot, witting or otherwise, and does NOT deserve to be penalized one bit for doing whatever he could to KEEP WHAT WAS HIS BY RIGHT, the right of having EARNED it.
Only a government slug would feel otherwise. Or a toady!
Does being a “Conservative” mean obeying the law blindly?
You did not answer the question- would you obey an unjust law- would you drag 1942 Japanese-Americans into camps knowing what you know today? Would you obey the 1854 Supreme Court’s decision on Slavery.
From a theoretical stand point we should obey the law no matter what it is. But the most of the Founding Fathers do not side with your view. That is why we have the Bill of Rights, as they understood the corruptive aspects of Governments. Jefferson believe we should have a new Revolution every so often.
In addition the 16th Amendment has much doubt surrounding it.
The Founders were against the Income Tax.
I dont think you understand. I am tired of paying taxes to put other peoples kids in school etc. etc. I already lost my say in anything the moment I was born. Now I see only two choices continue to pay taxes, Or fight against the system. Voting does nothing. Our government simply needs to be shut down it is corrupt and not worth supporting. The globalist/socialists that are running it, are running it into the ground. And you, your children and their grandchildren will sink further into slavery. That is the future.
I think its time for radical steps to be taken before the jack booted thugs of the new world order beat down our doors to take our guns and our lives. Keep in mind that founders were breaking the law to resist the Britsh Empire they were criminals but they risked everything for freedom.
You on the otherhand are so afraid of losing your 2.1 kids your house and car with the fake wood on the side that you would sell your own childrens future under pretty words like "we must obey the law" we must comply. The founders would not know you. They were rebels that dragged loyalists out to be hung on a tree outside of their homes. Or tarred and feathered. Your just another loyalist.
The best word I have to describe what I feel about people who think like you is "contempt".
I have absolutely no proof whatsoever that Wesley Snipes is a liberal. My retarded post was based on nothing but circumstantial evidence.
He’s an actor. He lives in Hollywood....therefor he must be a liberal. That’s good enough for most juries in America.
What the Hell do I know, I’m just a jackass with a modem.
I’ve never met or talked to Wesley Snipes.
lol
Relax! I did see that Snipes’ name was listed as a “supporter” of some off-year Democrat function somewhere (although I doubt he knew his name was used). He is an eccentric individual, that’s for sure, but I really enjoy his movies.
Starve the beast!
Only because you decided you had better things to do than be in jail.
I wish that even 1% of my fellow citizens would refuse to pay it.
There aren't enough revenuers, prosecutors or jails to take care of that.
We're actually there again----only this time without benefit of a Constitutional Amendment like the first time.
Who are you and why are you posting on “Free” Republic?
I enjoy his movies too.
Major League is one of my favorites of all time.
Watching him drop and do pushups every time he hit a ground ball was classic. Willie Mays Hayes....Hits like Mays, runs like Hayes.
The problem is that some of these liberal Hollywood elites think that since they acted in a movie it makes them experts on foreign policy and healthcare reform.
Sadly, there are enough stupid American people who take them seriously.
I do not belong to one of the “mascot classes.” I work overseas, and the government retroactively ended two safety provisions that kept me from being nicked badly.
First, when you work in a remote location overseas, the company needs to house your somewhere. That cost should be a business expense for the company, but it ought not to be considered taxible income to me. I have a house back home that I have to maintain and pay taxes on. This one I live in in order to be able to work means nothing to me. It isn’t mine, and it isn’t my home, but for the privilege of living in it, I now have to pay tax to uncle sam. That’s a few thousand a year.
Second, to make sure that we aren’t further disadvantaged, there is a “foreign earned income exclusion”. It used to come off the top, but as of last year it started coming off the bottom, making the exclusion almost meaningless.
As a result, I had to use foreign tax credits I had accumulated when I lived in a country with a higher tax rate then the US (accumulated under the OLD rules) and they were sucked up and used in a single year, rather than the expected two years worth of shielding I should have had to equalize things out. That little wrinkle cost me a one-shot $20,000.
But, as I say, I don’t belong to a voting bloc.
To make things worse, other industrialized countries do not tax their citizens on their earnings overseas. That makes Americans like me less competitive. I see the number of new employees coming onto jobs and the ever increasing numbers of Australians, Brits, Kiwis and others, and the reason is very obvious. These guys demand less pay because they aren’t required to share with a rapacious government back home.
I am one of a dying breed.
The law shouldn’t exist to “make examples of” famous people to stir fear into the masses.
“You don’t quite get the point of your own words do you?
“
It amazes me the number of supposedly conservative individuals who agree with the federal tyranny, established during WWII: The VOLUNTARY Individual Income Tax and VOLUNTARY withholding by employers; before the tax is due. All of that to assist the defeat of tyranny in Europe; a relinquishment of a freedom to justify its end ... a semi-nazi “rule”
Now, no one can point to any “law” which makes it MANDATORY that you reveal your private “things” to government, in order to take money from you INVOLUNTARILY!
Show me!?!
There is no such law which ends the Bill of Rights in almost every one of its articles!!!
And, the “conservatives” think to defame and revile in support of “business” out of the barrel of the tyrant’s gun ...!!!!
The “judge” can’t find any such law, but he acts as a stooge to the tyranny, and since his entire life is dedicated to his own self-interest, and not the Constitution and law of our nation. What a pack of vermin, and most of them knowing that this is nothing but socialism at its worst ...
What a rarity to find a mensch who can tell the difference ... good observation, brother.
“The real truth of the matter is, as you and I know, that a financial element in the large financial centers has owned the government of the U.S. since the days of Andrew Jackson.” - Franklin Roosevelt (1882-1945), from a letter to Colonel Edward Mandell House, 1933
Wow! Did you read a logical fallacy handbook for that one?
How many people do you know that have applied? Are they all friends of yours...former military...LEOs...
The Federal Reserve may promote the tax system, and which is conducted using distraint the Founding Fathers *hated* with a passion. Taxation, which the tyrant of government used against individuals using force, was tax slavery. So, it is our elected officials who are corrupted to such a degree that they blind themselves to the dictatorship they foster in allowing such a blatant subversion of the Constitution, and which demanding a Withholding Statement involves as breaking the 5th, among other articles of the Constitution!
Stupid and petty "King Georges", and who should be given a revolution and actively banned from public office by not voting for the creeps. The lying hypocrites swear an oath to defend the Constitution, and then turn around and support its literal destruction! Disgusting examples of socialism's corrupting influence: steal from everybody so they can be reelected ...
Not at all. Read the quote again and think about what the man is saying.
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.