by Runaway Slave | Feb 22, 2007 | Essays & Articles, Fraud, Freedom, Government, I.R.S., Income Tax, Jury, Libertarian Curmudgeon, Taxes
The story of a Mr. Ed Brown and his wife Elaine in New Hampshire (the “Live Free or Die” state) brings to mind once again the tortuous web of the Internal Revenue Code. Mr. Brown declined to attend the last day of his tax evasion trial, choosing instead to go home and...
by Runaway Slave | Apr 11, 2006 | Essays & Articles, Fraud, Income Tax, Law, Libertarian Curmudgeon, Taxes
It’s probably because I’m living in a foreign land, but I’ve noticed fewer scary stories than usual this year about the dangers surrounding income taxes. The Service is still plenty scary. It still issues lots of carefully worded, thinly veiled threats. And there’s...
by Runaway Slave | Apr 5, 2006 | Costa Rica, Education, Essays & Articles, Libertarian Curmudgeon, Politics, Socialism, Taxes
There are two distinct classes of men…those who pay taxes and those who receive and live upon taxes. — Thomas Paine Living in a shamelessly socialist country I am occasionally surprised by the candor of members of the local tax consuming class even if they do fall far...
by Runaway Slave | Mar 22, 2006 | Costa Rica, Essays & Articles, Income Tax, Libertarian Curmudgeon, Taxes
One copy of Costa Rica's new tax law. As a newcomer I’m having some trouble distinguishing between the political parties here in Costa Rica. Although there are many more of them than there are in the States, there are just two that matter. Just like in the States...
by Runaway Slave | Jan 18, 2006 | I.R.S., Libertarian Curmudgeon, Taxes
Oh, what a tangled web we weave, When first we practise to deceive! — Sir Walter Scott No one would claim that the language of the law is simple. Never the less, the language of most tax laws is pretty clear about what is being taxed and who pays. Nobody goes to jail...
by Runaway Slave | Aug 19, 2005 | Essays & Articles, I.R.S., Income Tax, Libertarian Curmudgeon, Liberty, Politics, Taxes
The venue for the jury trial was auspicious, right in the heart of downtown Philly, the City of Brotherly Love, the Cradle of Liberty. You couldn’t toss an empty out of your pickup without hitting something that celebrated our Constitutional freedoms. If the courtroom...
by Runaway Slave | Jul 19, 2005 | Essays & Articles, I.R.S., Income Tax, Libertarian Curmudgeon, Politics, Taxes
It’s been a hard year for jackbooted thugs. In the last six months the IRS has lost a string of, what are for them, high profile cases. The losses have generally been jury trials. Jury decisions do not set precedent for other cases. But if you lose enough of them...
by Runaway Slave | Jul 13, 2005 | Essays & Articles, Law, Libertarian Curmudgeon, Politics, Rights, Taxes
Liberals demanding Constitutional shelter from big government, like thieves demanding justice, are always good for an ironic chuckle. Except for the sacred right to kvetch in print, I no more expect to hear the left hollering about Constitutional rights than I expect...
