IRS Prosecuting Tax Protestors

It's a good sign to finally hear that IRS is at last cracking down on some of those who flagrantly violate the tax laws and brag publicly about it, such as employers who refuse to withhold taxes from their workers' paychecks. However, IRS is still not nearly as aggressive as they need to be to stop the spread of this bogus information.

While I don't intend to pick on the feeble minded, this is just too good to avoid. For example, there is one person in Atlanta, Doug Kenline, who has set up his own blog to describe his resistance to the entire income tax system and refusal to file income tax returns. I admit that I have been following his adventures after he called me some nasty names a few months ago for not endorsing his idiotic tax protestor schemes. He has described himself as pea-brained; and I have to agree with that assessment. He has actually posted copies of IRS letters that show all of his identifying information, including his Social Security number. I guess he hasn't heard of identity theft.

As it is with most criminals, I always wonder why they spend so much time, money & energy pursuing illegal goals, when they could probably do just as well if they were to channel that into legal activities. Doug has actually done a nice job laying out his blog, with links to several others in the tax protestor movement. They now refer to themselves as the Tax Honesty movement because of the negative connotations of Tax Protestor. It's like the casino industry adopting the term Gaming instead of the more accurate Gambling to describe themselves.

My gripe has long been with the IRS reaction to these tax protestor idiots. By ignoring them and allowing them to publish their bogus information unchallenged, it gives the public the impression that they are right. Most people interpret silence to equal agreement. I am as big a supporter of freedom of speech as you will find. However, that freedom doesn't include an unfettered right to tell lies and encourage the willful violation of laws. I have passed these sentiments on to the IRS on several occasions and they haven't been interested in pursing the matter. As everyone should know, I am not a friend of the IRS. However, they have a duty to defend the tax law from people who are recruiting others to violate it.

KMK
- posted by Kerry M. Kerstetter, MBA~CPA~ATP~ATA @ 9/05/2002 11:26:00 PM Send this post: