Free Republic

Pennsylvania Tax Detractor Convicted for Not Reporting Back Taxes A Philadelphia jury August 12 convicted section 861 proponent Larken Rose for not filing back taxes, bolstering the IRS's efforts to fight ongoing doubts about the validity of the code. Former IRS agent turned anti-tax advocate Joseph R. Banister walked away from a similar tax fraud indictment earlier this summer (for coverage, see Doc 2005-13738 or 2005 TNT 121-1), a legal coup heralded by leaders of the so-called tax honesty movement as confirmation their controversial views are gaining ground. Rose was charged with willfull failure to file after refusing to submit...

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...

Tax protester faces kiddie-porn charges A Montgomery County man who has publicly dared the Internal Revenue Service to arrest him for not paying federal income taxes was charged yesterday in federal court in Philadelphia with possession of child pornography. IRS agents seized 10 computers from the Hollywood home of Larken Rose more than a year ago, but have yet to charge the tax protester with any tax crimes. The child pornography was "inadvertently discovered" by an IRS agent who was examining one of the computer's hard drives, an FBI agent alleged. FBI agent Beatrice A. DeFazio said the computer images...

JOEL BELZ Code of silence Why won't the IRS answer a basic question about tax law? By Joel Belz I STILL HAVE DOUBTS WHETHER THE NAME OF VERNICE B. Kuglin, who lives in Memphis, Tenn., will someday leap off the pages of America's history books along with those of Patrick Henry, Nathan Hale, and Rosa Parks. I do know that Ms. Kuglin must be a woman of some personal courage. Ms. Kuglin, a 58-year-old pilot for FedEx, made news a few days ago when a federal court jury found her not guilty on six charges of tax evasion and willful...