Hard core tax evaders
This footage is from 2007. Some people really hate paying tax.
According to wikipedia Edward Brown is imprisoned at the United States Penitentiary at Marion, Illinois. Elaine Brown is imprisoned at the Federal Correctional Institution at Danbury, Connecticut.
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He might seem like a bit of nut packing guns and threatening an all out war if federal agents cross onto his property, but at least it shows the nature of the beast.
This reminds me of Hank Rearden from Atlas Shrugged. Its the best way to highlight that taxation by government is not peaceful, and that it always relies on the threat of violence.
Hank wouldn’t agree to sell his metal to the government, he told them they had better return with guns and rob him in broad daylight. He wouldn’t try to lend them the image of consent or voluntary engagement.
What Australia needs is more people like Peter Cline! He was a lawyer, yes, but a good one! He helped people pay minimum taxes, and wrote a few books on the subject. I wonder if America has anyone like him?
It is one thing to say taxation is immoral, improper and contrary to good government. It is another to say it is theft, meaning seizure contrary to law.
One is Brown’s claims is that something can be ‘legal’ but not ‘lawful’, by which he means constitutional. The reasons he regards taxes as unlawful are not given. I doubt if he has anything more than a moral argument on his side. Taxes have always been quite constitutional.
During the Vietnam war a number of Australians said they were going to withhold a proportion of their taxes, equivalent to the percentage used by the government to fund our war involvement. They argued the taxes were being used for an immoral purpose, but did not argue they were being levied illegally (and were therefore theft).
Now that I think of it, they were all lefties so I guess they would never have used that argument.
“The reasons he regards taxes as unlawful are not given.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_protester_constitutional_arguments#Sixteenth_Amendment_ratification_arguments
snippit from Zeitgeist, the movie. toward the middle-end, is covers that the bill for tax to become law was not passed
If the Constitution is held to be valid except for the 16th Amendment, the Supreme Court musts be accepted as having valid authority to decide whether an Act is constitutional.
As the Court appears to have rejected the argument that taxation is unconstitutional, I’d say the anti-tax case is stuffed. You can’t pick and choose the bits of the constitution you like.
I admire the zeal of the taxation is theft mob, but their tactics appear pointless.
I admire the zeal of the taxation is theft mob, but their tactics appear pointless.
I agree with you, they get some publicity but in the eyes of the media they are fools, and the population tends to go along with them.
I really admire Kerry Packer who told the Senate inquiry into the media, only a fool pays more tax than he had to and he didn’t think politicians were spending his money so well that he wanted to contribute more.
Surely minimising your tax will make you better off and happier than staying in prison.
That’s beside the point. The Government should flatten, lower and rationalise taxes. They should make sure all of the spending is justified.
DavidLeyonhjelm, where on earth did you get the idea that “theft” is only defined by law? Even a child understands the concept, quite without reference to legislation.
DavidLeyonhjelm, where on earth did you get the idea that “theft” is only defined by law? Even a child understands the concept, quite without reference to legislation.
Guess that means I’m not a child and you are.
Children might understand they are not entitled to take what is not theirs, but the law still defines theft. Try looking up the meaning of theft in the dictionary if you don’t get it.
<the act of stealing; specifically : the felonious taking and removing of personal property with intent to deprive the rightful owner of it b: an unlawful taking (as by embezzlement or burglary) of property
Do the words felonious, rightful, unlawful, embezzlement and burglary have anything in common, do you think?
David, I was wrong. I thought you would cop a lot more flack for criticizing the sacred cow of ‘taxation is theft’.
Taxation is theft is a great slogan for us to yell to each other, unfortunately in the eyes of the public at large, who are inured to tax as an inevitable part of life, it makes little impact other than to make us look eccentric.
We have to concentrate our efforts on highlighting the injustices of the system, the wasteful ways the proceeds are used in and the need to allow people to retain more of their rewards for their labour. This they will understand.
Saying “taxation is theft” is a sometimes useful provocation designed to make people think. It is like remarking that “the death penalty is murder”. Both statements are technically flawed but still useful at times.
p.s. This seems somehow similar to the confusion between “Thou shalt not murder” and “Thou shalt not kill” for the purposes of a pacifist agenda.
Surely, if the US government was committed to non-violence and non-antagonism then the best thing to do would be to just go away. If you have no reason to believe he is going to hurt anyone then invalidate his social security card and leave him alone.
Of course, that would be setting too dangerous a precedent, wouldn’t it?
(….and god, New Hampshire is a lovely place!)
Speaking of tax evasion, Dick Smith vows to minimize his tax.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23897384-421,00.html
Actually Terje, both statements can be correct with a “morally equivalent” qualifier if either the criminal justice system or Government spending are reckless.
I suggest non violent protest. Minimise your taxes. Starve the beast. Buy yourself some new ski gear or pay off your credit card.
The Browns acted as a huge rallying call for the Free State Project and general libertarianism as well. They were a big reason the NH activists got together and attracted many more libertarians to take part in the Free State Project. I have been following their case prior to the trial which Ed did not show up to. Free Talk Live interviewed them multiple times.
The government actively going after them just threw a ton of fuel on the fire.