Jury finds Utah man failed to pay taxes, conspired with Lehigh County doctor - Philadelphia Business Journal

A 75-year-old Utah man was convicted Wednesday on federal charges he conspired with a Lehigh Valley doctor in a scheme to defraud the Department of Health and Human Service and the Internal Revenue Service of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Robert G. Wray of Torrey, Utah, was found guilty of one count of conspiracy, 30 counts of wire fraud, one count of bankruptcy fraud, and one count of failure to appear.

As part of his defense, Wray argued he was not properly identified in legal documents, however, he used many different names for himself in an attempt to evade federal and other laws, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Wray also claimed to be a “sovereign” citizen, who is not subject to federal laws, including those regarding personal income taxation.

The Utah man conspired with Dr. Dennis Erik Fluck Von Kiel, of Macungie, Pa, to help the doctor evade a six-figure debt he owed to HHS for unpaid medical school loans and avoid paying personal income taxes to the IRS, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Jury finds Utah man failed to pay taxes, conspired with Lehigh County doctor - Philadelphia Business Journal

Law Lets I.R.S. Seize Accounts on Suspicion, No Crime Required - NYTimes.com

“I don’t think they’re really interested in anything,” Mr. Potashnik said of the prosecutors. “They just want the money.”

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In some of the cases I have read, I believe the above statement to be very true,,,

For almost 40 years, Carole Hinders has dished out Mexican specialties at her modest cash-only restaurant. For just as long, she deposited the earnings at a small bank branch a block away — until last year, when two tax agents knocked on her door and informed her that they had seized her checking account, almost $33,000.

The Internal Revenue Service agents did not accuse Ms. Hinders of money laundering or cheating on her taxes — in fact, she has not been charged with any crime. Instead, the money was seized solely because she had deposited less than $10,000 at a time, which they viewed as an attempt to avoid triggering a required government report.

“How can this happen?” Ms. Hinders said in a recent interview. “Who takes your money before they prove that you’ve done anything wrong with it?”

The federal government does.

Using a law designed to catch drug traffickers, racketeers and terrorists by tracking their cash, the government has gone after run-of-the-mill business owners and wage earners without so much as an allegation that they have committed serious crimes. The government can take the money without ever filing a criminal complaint, and the owners are left to prove they are innocent. Many give up.

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Richard Weber, the chief of Criminal Investigation at the I.R.S., said in a written statement, “This policy update will ensure that C.I. continues to focus our limited investigative resources on identifying and investigating violations within our jurisdiction that closely align with C.I.'s mission and key priorities.” He added that making deposits under $10,000 to evade reporting requirements, called structuring, is still a crime whether the money is from legal or illegal sources. The new policy will not apply to past seizures.

The I.R.S. is one of several federal agencies that pursue such cases and then refer them to the Justice Department. The Justice Department does not track the total number of cases pursued, the amount of money seized or how many of the cases were related to other crimes, said Peter Carr, a spokesman.

Law Lets I.R.S. Seize Accounts on Suspicion, No Crime Required - NYTimes.com

Seventh Circuit Will Not Let Tax Protester Blame His Lawyer For Conviction

Besides my interest in the case (tax protestation), there are some very good "resources" mentioned (cf Russell Haynes, IRS digest of common tax protestor arguments with citation to court cases striking them down, Daniel Evans catalog refuting many tax protester theories and Here is the Law That Makes the Average American Liable for the Income Tax).

James Stuart thought that Peter Hendrickson had “cracked the code” – the Internal Revenue Code, that is. Joe Kristan would characterize it as finding the tax fariy – that magical sprite who make your taxes go away painlessly while your sucker friends send checks to the tax man. Hendrickson’s book is available on Amazon if you would like to check it out for yourself. You’ll be out twenty bucks even for a used copy, so you might want to check out some of the one star reviews. There is a free copy pdf copy available online. There are also quite a few videos in which Hendrickson explains his theories. Before you get too caught up in the concepts, I should caution you that like Peter Hendrickson, himself, Mr. Stuart has done (is still doing) federal time for tax crimes.

The Trial According to the Bureau of Prisons Inmate Locator, Mr. Stuart is at a reentry facility in Chicago and is due to be released in mid-January. The Seventh Circuit just refused to overturn a District Court decision denying him a new trial. He was arguing ineffective assistance of counsel. Here are some of the high points.

During opening statements Stuart’s trial counsel asserted the theory of Stuart’s defense: Stuart believed that he owed no taxes. He explained that Stuart thought that the money he earned from his family business, New Age Chemical, was not income and that the United States had no authority to tax income. Stuart had adopted these views after reading a book called “Cracking the Code,” which urges people to resist paying income taxes, but his counsel told the jury that Stuart learned his ideas from his fellow church patrons. Counsel described Stuart as a curious, determined, and “kooky, not criminal” person. Only after he received no response to his inquiries from the IRS, the Secretary of the Treasury, or his accountants about his tax ideas, counsel mused, did Stuart begin to refrain from paying income tax.

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It might have worked, but of course it didn’t. And that is why Mr. Stuart was arguing ineffective assistance of counsel. The District court did not buy it and the Seventh Circuit is not having any of it either.

And in this case trial counsel’s decision not to call Stuart to testify was reasonable. Stuart’s far-fetched, tax-protesting ideas were already presented to the jury through his letters to the IRS, and his emails and conversations with the accountants. They were also reinforced during opening statements and closing arguments. Calling Stuart to testify would not have added to this information but might have further alienated the jury.

Seventh Circuit Will Not Let Tax Protester Blame His Lawyer For Conviction

Pulpit Freedom Sunday Action Alert - Freedom From Religion Foundation

This Sunday, Oct. 5, is the annual so-called "Pulpit Freedom Sunday." This event, organized and promoted by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian Right legal group based in Arizona, encourages pastors to abuse their tax-exempt status and openly endorse or oppose candidates for office from the pulpit.

FFRF wants to take the opportunity to remind the public about the IRS regulations with respect to political activities by 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organizations and encourage its members to report any illegal activity.

As you may know, FFRF sued the Internal Revenue Service in late 2012 to compel it to enforce its own regulations barring tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofits from engaging in partisan political activity. Earlier this year, this case was resolved because the IRS agreed to resume doing its job by investigating tax-exempt churches that engage in illegal electioneering.

So long as Pulpit Freedom Sunday, and any other electioneering by churches during this election season occurs, FFRF remains committed to seeking IRS investigations into this illegal activity. Members who become aware of this activity should send FFRF a violation report with information, including the church's name, the pastor's name and any other information that documents illegal campaign activity. This would include transcripts of sermons, pictures of political signs on church property and copies of church publications announcing endorsements of particular candidates for public office.

IRS regulations specify that 501(c)(3) organizations, which include churches and other religious organizations, are prohibited from "[participating in or intervening in] . . . any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office." Revenue Rul. 2007-41, 2007-25 I.R.B. (June 28, 2007). While leaders of churches or religious organizations may express their opinions on political matters as individuals, they are precluded from making "partisan comments in official organization publications or at official functions of the organization."

Pulpit Freedom Sunday Action Alert - Freedom From Religion Foundation

Brunswick man charged with conspiring to defraud IRS calls federal court ‘fictional,’ says he won’t go — Midcoast — Bangor Daily News — BDN Maine

One of two Brunswick men indicted by the federal grand jury last week for allegedly conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service of hundreds of thousands of dollars claimed Wednesday that the charges are invalid because the IRS is unconstitutional.

David E. Robinson, 75, said Wednesday that he will not appear in court Friday morning to face charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States by impeding and impairing the IRS.

F. William Messier, 70, who is charged with the same crime, as well as with failing to file federal tax returns and failing to pay federal income tax on nearly $400,000 from rental space on communication towers he owns in Brunswick, also will not appear, according to Robinson.

Messier could not be reached for comment on Wednesday, but Robinson provided a copy of a letter the two men sent to U.S. District Court Clerk Christa Berry in response to a criminal summons compelling them to appear on Friday.

In the letter, Robinson argues that the federal grand jury process that led to his and Messier’s indictment was unconstitutional and improperly targeted.

Brunswick man charged with conspiring to defraud IRS calls federal court ‘fictional,’ says he won’t go — Midcoast — Bangor Daily News — BDN Maine

Freedom from Religion group, IRS settle lawsuit - SFGate

The Internal Revenue Service has instituted a protocol for investigating tax-exempt churches and religious organizations involved in political activity, according to a Wisconsin-based group representing atheists and agnostics that filed a federal lawsuit over the issue.

The Freedom from Religion Foundation and the IRS submitted a motion in federal court on Thursday asking the judge to dismiss the case filed in 2012. The FFRF announced the settlement on Friday.

"This is a victory, and we're pleased with this development in which the IRS has proved to our satisfaction that it now has in place a protocol to enforce its own anti-electioneering provisions," said the group's co-president Annie Laurie Gaylor.

An IRS spokesman for Wisconsin said he was not familiar with the case and had no immediate comment.

Although Annie Laurie sounds optimistic, I have a feeling this will not be the last we hear of this issue and as Hemant Mehta points out:

"It couldn’t have come at a better time. The Christian Right group Liberty Counsel announced this week that it would be distributing 150,000 DVDs to pastors across the country encouraging them to “address biblical and moral issues” from the pulpit — which is evangelical code for “tell your congregations which way to vote” since the only thing pastors ever do is address biblical and moral issues from the pulpit.

"(Liberty Counsel’s Mat Staver added that if they didn’t send the DVDs, then Hitler would win: “We saw how the spiral of silence had devastating results in Nazi Germany. We need to stop the spiral of silence in America.”)

“Pastors and churches must be empowered to confront the assaults on our culture, our faith, and our freedom,” says Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel. “German Political Scientist Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann coined the expression ‘spiral of silence.’ Noelle-Neumann began her career working for a newspaper during Hitler’s years, where she found that people conceal their views when they think they are in the minority or may face reprisal for their beliefs. We saw how the spiral of silence had devastating results in Nazi Germany. We need to stop the spiral of silence in America,” Staver said.

 Freedom from Religion group, IRS settle lawsuit - SFGate

There's A Crisis At The IRS And It's Not What You Think

The IRS is, however, an insular, often tone deaf and sometimes bumbling bureaucracy which is being starved of the resources it needs to do its job.  Since 2010, its Congressional appropriations have fallen 7% —-and that’s in nominal dollars, before any adjustment for inflation. During the same period, its appropriations funded workforce has shrunk by 10%, with enforcement staff down 15%, according to numbers Congress’ Government Accountability Office released last week. Meanwhile, the tax agency’s workload has increased with the explosion of identity theft tax refund fraud; a 4% growth in returns filed; and new laws to administer, including the Affordable Care Act  (a.k.a. Obamacare).

 “The IRS is in crisis and it’s not the crisis that everybody thinks it is,’’ IRS Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson said in an interview. “It’s  a crisis of insufficient funding and too much work and  now, insufficient skills in our employees who are not being trained,’’ she added. Faced with both a budget crunch and embarrassing revelations  about silly spending on conferences, including the production of Star Trek and employee line dancing videos, the IRS slashed training spending in 2013 to 83% below its 2010 level.

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House Republicans have, of course, blocked any funding for the IRS to process or police the new health insurance subsidies (technically, refundable tax credits) that are at the heart of Obamacare.  The new credits are sure to create confusion during the next filing season and the IRS projects that without more funding just 53% of callers will be able to get through to a human being in 2015.  Beyond clogged phones,  “the affordable care act is so controversial that it’s going to wash over the agency just like the 501(c)(4)  stuff did,’’ further eroding the IRS’ popular support, Everson predicted.  He worries that declining support for the IRS, combined with falling enforcement, could create a “bad cocktail” that makes younger generations less likely to comply with the tax law.

There's A Crisis At The IRS And It's Not What You Think

Sovereign citizens claim IRS can’t tax them as residents of ‘Kingdom of Heaven’

She also cited their supposed citizenship of the “Kingdom of Heaven” in an attempt to claim hundreds of thousands of dollars in income tax refunds, authorities said.

Their claims match arguments cited by members of the Embassy of Heaven sovereign citizens group, which issues passports, driver’s licenses, and license plates by claiming to be a religious organization that cannot be regulated.

The group is led by Craig Douglas Fleshman, a former Oregon state computer systems analyst who goes by the name “Pastor Paul Revere,” and claims that its followers are not subject to government jurisdiction because their allegiance rests with Jesus Christ.

“They are subjects of Christ, not any worldly government,” explained Carl Watner in a 1994 post on the Voluntaryist website. “The church’s position is that you are the final authority on where you reside and where you put your allegiance. No state can decide this for you, unless you let them.”

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Glen Stoll, a self-described attorney associated with the Embassy of Heaven, represented “Dr. Dino” Kent Hovind in the creationist theme park owner’s tax evasion scheme.

The U.S. Justice Department later sued Stoll and another Embassy of Heaven member, Michael Stevens, to stop them from teaching paid customers how to evade taxes.

Sovereign citizens claim IRS can’t tax them as residents of ‘Kingdom of Heaven’

Several GOP Senate Candidates Propose Eliminating Income Taxes - NationalJournal.com

It can be hard to stand out in crowded primaries. But two Republican Senate candidates have determined that repealing a century-old Constitutional amendment is a good way to get noticed.

Radio host Sam Clovis in Iowa and former Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel are both proposing a repeal of the 16th Amendment—the one that has given the government the authority to levy income tax since 1913.

"I think the 16th Amendment ought to be repealed," Clovis said in a Des Moines debate last week. "If we repeal the 16th Amendment we get rid of the IRS."

Speaking at a Republican women's meeting earlier this month, Handel said the move would make the tax system fairer and save Americans money.

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Nixing the Internal Revenue Service is potentially an issue with legs for a GOP base that's still fuming over the agency's targeting of conservative groups last year. Retiring Sen. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, whose seat Handel is vying for, sponsored the Senate's Fair Tax Act of 2013. In November, Republican Rep. Jim Bridenstine of Oklahoma filed a bill to repeal the 16th Amendment, scrapping the federal tax code and abolishing the IRS.

Several GOP Senate Candidates Propose Eliminating Income Taxes - NationalJournal.com

House Republican Bill Requires That the IRS Investigate Sexual Assault Survivors

This little tidbit came across my feed initially as a signature request on a petition. Not being familiar with it I decided to do a bit of digging. From my understanding it has been floating around since approximately 2011. It gets so far in the legislative process and then stalls. It was presented again in May of 2013 where it has again sat, current status: "Referred to the Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice." Accordingly this bill is on the House agenda for this session, so it bares watching,,,

Smith’s bill punishes every healthcare policy holder in America by disallowing a tax deduction on income tax returns for any medical insurance if the policy includes coverage for family planning that nearly all healthcare plans provide. It even punishes women who pay for an abortion with cash because it disallows a medical deduction on Schedule A of individual income tax returns whether it was included in a healthcare insurance plan or not. The bill does allow a sexual assault victim to take the medical deduction for abortion care in a case of rape, but only after an IRS auditor verifies the victim was really sexually assaulted and conceived her attacker’s progeny.

Smith’s bill violates Republicans’ abhorrence of raising taxes, particularly on millions of small businesses because H.R. 7 raises their taxes if their employer-provided health insurance plan includes abortion coverage. The great majority of private and employer-provided plans do include abortion coverage as a legitimate medical procedure and expense, but theocrats in the House want to regulate the health insurance industry to inflict physical, psychological, and economic harm on women. Tax experts have already weighed in and the consensus is that if businesses are forced by federal regulations to choose between an increased tax liability and providing a healthcare plan that includes abortion coverage, most small businesses will switch to a Christian-approved plan under duress from theocrats masquerading as the federal government. The legislation also disallows all businesses from deducting, as a legitimate expense of doing business, their contribution to an employee’s healthcare insurance package or claim employer tax credits if the policy includes family planning coverage.

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Americans should be asking fundamentalist Smith exactly who the first piece of Republican legislation in 2014 benefits other than the personhood movement, Family Research Council, American Family Association, and misogynist Christians across America. The legislation certainly does not benefit every business in America offering healthcare insurance as an employee benefit, and definitely not every taxpayer who is fortunate enough to afford healthcare insurance. It certainly offers no help to the underfunded and understaffed Internal Revenue Service tasked with interrogating rape victims to verify they were indeed raped, or businesses mandated to file annual IRS reports verifying that their healthcare plans do not violate the Christian tax-code.



House Republican Bill Requires That the IRS Investigate Sexual Assault Survivors