Free Republic

The Justice Department this week moved on several fronts against tax evasion and the promotion of evasion schemes. Such moves had become so rare in recent years that promoters boasted about not paying taxes and won clients with claims that the government's not coming after them proved that taxes are voluntary. The most significant development came in Las Vegas, where an eight-year prison sentence was imposed on Max C. Tanner, 55, a former Internal Revenue Service lawyer who evaded $2 million in taxes on profits from a stock swindle. Mr. Tanner, who was taken directly to prison, was also fined...

Businessman Found Guilty of U.S. Tax Charges By CARLTON STOWERS Published: January 8, 2004 FORT WORTH, Jan. 7 - Jurors found a Texas businessman who has not withheld taxes from his workers' paychecks since 2000 guilty on Wednesday on 29 federal charges. The charges stemmed from the refusal of the defendant, Richard M. Simkanin, to withhold taxes from the paychecks of the 49 employees of his company, Arrow Custom Plastics of Bedford, Tex. He was also charged with filing fraudulent tax refund claims and refusing to file personal returns.

FORT WORTH - Anti-tax protesters from across the country braved a chilly reception inside and outside the federal courthouse Monday when Bedford businessman Richard Simkanin went on trial for the second time on charges of violating U.S. tax laws. U.S. District Judge John McBryde closed the courtroom during jury selection. About 100 of Simkanin's supporters were ordered to leave the fourth floor of the courthouse while they waited for trial testimony to begin. Simkanin, the 59-year-old owner of a small Bedford plastics manufacturing company, is accused of failing to withhold and pay $175,000 in taxes on employee wages and of...

FORT WORTH - After deliberating for more than 13 hours over two days, a federal jury Wednesday convicted Bedford businessman and tax protester Richard Simkanin on 29 counts of violating U.S. income tax laws. The jury of six men and six women delivered its verdict shortly after 8 p.m. They remained deadlocked on two counts within the indictment, leading U.S. District Judge John McBryde to declare a mistrial on those charges. Simkanin stood silently with his hands behind his back, showing no emotion, as a court clerk read the 29 guilty verdicts. Some supporters in the courtroom dabbed their eyes;...

Posted on Fri, Jan. 09, 2004 Bedford anti-tax advocate is movement's new hero Dave Lieber - In My Opinion I spent part of this week in a bizarre world. U.S. District Judge John McBryde, the no-nonsense judge once accused by a fellow federal judge of "bizarre and bullying conduct," locked me along with dozens of other spectators in his courtroom. McBryde really did order his bailiffs to lock the door. And who was I locked in there with? An all-star team of federal income-tax haters, some of whom don't recognize the authority of the United States government, and showed this...

Tax protesters plan to attend Bedford man's retrial By Toni Heinzl Star-Telegram Staff Writer FORT WORTH - For tax protesters across the country, Bedford businessman Richard Simkanin has become a hero and martyr for taking a stance against federal income taxes and rejecting the authority of the federal courts. Simkanin has been jailed since June while awaiting trial on tax charges. He accepted a plea bargain that was later thrown out because of a technical error, saw his first trial end in a mistrial and will face a retrial Monday. The 59-year-old owner of a small plastics-manufacturing company is "an...

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