Author Is Convicted in Tax Scheme

I remember reading about this last year when Irwin Schiffs book was banned, and haven't heard a lot since. I came across this today, and have always been quite interested in this.

What are your thoughts on the Income Tax deal.
Have any Americans tries the methods described, or found a law that says you must pay Income Tax.
I'd be very interested in hearing.

An author of books on how to avoid paying income taxes and four associates were convicted by a federal jury Monday of conspiring to obstruct the Internal Revenue Service through the promotion and sale of bogus trusts that prosecutors said netted the defendants more than $8.5 million.

Lynne Meredith, 54, who ran an organization called We the People, and her chief assistant, Gayle Bybee, 56, both of Sunset Beach, were taken away in handcuffs after the verdict was returned. Prosecutors contended they were serious flight risks.

Meredith, a flamboyant figure who owns a 1972 Corvette convertible bearing the license plate TAX REBL, launched We the People in 1991 after becoming convinced, she said, that Congress did not have the power to levy taxes on private citizens.

Also convicted of felony charges but allowed to remain free pending sentencing were Gregory Karl, 54, of Solana Beach and Willie Watts, 45, of Murrieta, both of whom are former certified public accountants; and Teresa Manharth Giordano, 39, also of Murrieta, operator of a paralegal service.

U.S. District Judge Dean Pregerson set a June 3 hearing to consider defense motions to throw out the convictions on various procedural and constitutional grounds. Sentencing is scheduled July 23.
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In March, a federal grand jury in Las Vegas indicted Irwin Schiff, the country's most widely known tax rebel, and two of his associates. Schiff, author of "The Federal Mafia: How it Illegally Imposes and Unlawfully Collects Income Taxes," was charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States by helping others file false income tax returns. Last year, however, federal prosecutors were handed a defeat in their war on tax protesters when a jury in Memphis acquitted Vernice Kuglin, a commercial pilot and tax protester charged with tax evasion and willful failure to file tax returns. Kuglin testified that she had written numerous letters to the IRS asking the agency to specify the law requiring her to pay income taxes.

She never received a reply, a crucial fact that jurors cited in explaining their acquittal verdict.

MORE HERE

Schiff told the judge in the case that he would plead guilty if the government could prove that there is a law requiring citizens to pay income taxes; indeed, he claims the law says this must be voluntary, with the only requirement being an obligation to file. The judge didn't accept the prosecution's effort to obtain a guilty plea

more here

Some additonal links:

Schiff is Wrong

Schiffs Site

I read somewhere(cant remember where though) that DC is not actually a part of the United states of America and that law cannot be given by an outside province such as DC. and that their laws such as tax laws(federally) actually shouldnt apply. Also read that if you file any type of federal document and note your state in the abbreviated form that you volunteerly accept their terms. Long ago they didnt use abbreviations but the full text instead. Im a little sketchy on this as I havent researched it in a whils so dont "" me on it.

However, I do indeed find it disturbing that they will allow forieners tax exemptions when becoming a U.S. citizen but the heck with the born U.S. citizens that have been working hard everyday to make ends meet and still cant get ahead of the game.

I've heard similar things, Dip. I've got some links somewhere, I'll have to go through them and re-read, but I'm sure I've read that before, as well as some other interesting things on the topic.

Its really sad that the government is so concerned with citizens paying their taxes that they will throw you in jail. What they should focus on are the large corporations who hire tax experts to hide billions in offshore tax shelters. Many multi-billion dollar coporations end up with the government paying them money because of their tax "evading".

MORE

hrrrm, my other post got eaten.

Would it be surprising if government officials were involved in those businesses which hold massive offshares holdings? I don't think so, and I'm not saying it's true, but it wouldn't be surprising.

It would be interesting, but it doesn't matter. The government has always shown favor to large businesses rather than its citizens. I guess thats what Capitalism is: freedom for businesses to rule over the people.