Posted on 04/14/2007 8:26:12 AM PDT by buccaneer81
Nonfilers cite war to justify defiance Those who don't pay taxes risk financial ruin, IRS official says Saturday, April 14, 2007 3:43 AM By Jim Phillips FOR THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH With Tax Tuesday close at hand, Rod Nippert still hasn't filled out his 2006 return. He's not scrambling to get it done, either.
This year, the 57-year-old Athens County resident is sending the IRS the same amount he's paid every year since 1973: zero.
But Nippert, who refuses to pay federal income taxes to protest U.S. wars, says his accounting method is not for everyone.
"Most people who want to do this aren't willing to go to the lengths required to keep the government from getting their money," he said.
Nippert, who first quit paying income tax during the Vietnam War, relies on a number of tactics. Among them: "not having stuff in your name, not having a bank account and being self-employed."
The National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee, based in Brooklyn, N.Y., hopes more Americans will use the tax system to show opposition to the war in Iraq. The group is helping coordinate demonstrations Tuesday across the country, including one in Athens County.
"From what we can tell, it is picking up steam," said committee member Ed Hedemann, who also refuses to pay income tax. He estimated there are now 5,000 to 10,000 Americans refusing some or all of their federal taxes as a protest to the war.
Nippert, who makes stained-glass windows, and his wife, who works for a local school district, make about $25,000 a year. The couple lives on 5 acres on a communal farm in Ames. The land is in their son's name. Linda Nippert used to be a tax resister, too, but now has taxes withheld from her paycheck.
The IRS has continually tried to collect from Nippert and so far has failed.
"They would do all of these liens and notices, but they could never find anywhere to get any money," he said, laughing.
Nippert said he typically owes between $500 and $1,000 a year.
"I always do sit down and fill out a tax form to see what I would owe," he said. "I'm always sure to donate at least that much to organizations that are doing good works for humanity."
Nippert said he doesn't oppose everything the federal government does. He just can't get around the war issue.
"I can't fight in a war, and I can't pay for anybody else to fight in a war. And anything I give (the IRS), they'll take a percentage of it to use for war."
Hedemann concedes that the anti-war tax resistance movement won't ever make a dent in the government's pocketbook. But, he said, it can have a big symbolic impact.
"(IRS officials) are less concerned about the money that is not collected than they are about the fact that people are resisting," he said. "That in itself seems to be troubling to the government."
An IRS spokesman called tax resistance "a dangerous game."
"Many times, the government will not catch up with you for years, and when they do, you run the risk of being in financial ruin," said Chris Kerns of the agency's Cincinnati office.
In addition to back taxes, interest and penalties, nonfilers also face fines and possibly prison time, especially if they encourage others to withhold their tax money, Kerns said.
Kerns acknowledges that the agency weighs how much someone owes against how much it would cost to collect. He didn't have an estimate of how much is being withheld, but said the IRS generally has a tax "gap" of about 14 percent between what is due and what is lost to fraud, error and failure to file.
Kerns also warned that the government is cracking down. "People who in past years may have been under the radar of the IRS are now going to be on our radar."
Another tax resister who doesn't mind being on the radar is Athens physician Marjorie Nelson.
Nelson is a Quaker who stopped paying part of her federal income tax in 1966, around the time she visited Vietnam with the American Friends Service Committee.
Every year, she carefully calculates how much of her tax bill will go to fund current wars (she doesn't mind paying for veterans' benefits) and deducts it from her tax check. She includes a letter to the IRS explaining her reasoning.
And every year, the IRS collects the money anyway, by attaching a bank account or garnisheeing her wages. She doesn't fight it.
"This is a testimony, this is a witness," Nelson said. "I'm conscientiously opposed to war, but I have never tried to do anything underhanded or sneaky to keep them from collecting it if they have to do that."
jamesbphillips@hotmail.com
And, it appears, not a single day in jail.
No wonder illegals aren't afraid of our "laws."
Parasites.
I just wrote a big honkin’ check on top of what they already whisked out of the paycheck.
For the first time in my life, I’m rooting for the IRS.
I will pay no taxes till this injustice is corrected.
Think it will fly?
The best way to do this is just keep your income below about $30,000. Then you don’t owe any taxes. Or even better, sit on your butt and earn $20,000. Then they will actually pay you.
They burned down the Branch Davidians’ home, killing over 80 people including 22 children, for $200 of unpaid taxes on some rifles. The anniversary of that uninvestigated massacre by Clinton/Reno is April 19.
I’m sure we will see the Feds exhibit the same kind of zeal in enforcing federal tax laws against the anti-war activists.
Translated, it means he's been a bum for 34 years, sponging off everyone else (probably living with his parents his entire life)
"Self employed" translated means not only does he not have a job, he doesn't have any particular job skills either.
No doubt he's spent his entire life, since he was 12 years old and discovered marijuana, smoking and growing pot, dealing a little on the side for spending money and to buy his mother a cheap mother's day card in return for her cooking and cleaning up after him, washing his clothes and changing his diaper.
Moonbat leftists are so predictable.
The thing is, these are the people that are sure to vote in pro tax liberals.
Parasites is the words. They vote in big taxes, and expect others to pay them. I bet this guy never turned down an entitlement in his life. If he’s so darned principled, I expect him to stop using libraries, driving on highways, etc.
I did the same. I like to think that every dime of my taxes is going to our military and someone else is paying for all of the Robert Byrd memorial pork projects in West Virginia.
It is not illegal not to pay, provided you file a correct and complete return, and sign it.
You know - I am as anti-tax as the next guy. But why is it that honest people who make a small mistake or misunderstand the tax code get audited every year and wind up paying large penalties, while this idiot hasn’t paid a dime in over 30 years? Is he an undocumented worker from Mexico?
Your excuse is much better than the idiot the article is about.
Nope. Why don't you try and zero your taxes the legal way, through investments, business ventures, capital expenditures. Where there's a will, there's a way. The next best thing to paying zero taxes is to pay as little as possible. You can also direct money to charities that you feel have a good cause rather than give it to the government.
Otherwize, simply witholding your taxes can lead to bigger headaches, and lawyer fee's. If there's one thing worse than paying taxes, it's paying lawyers.
I resent that. That's a mighty wide brush you're painting with there, Nathan. I'm self-employed and just wrote them a big check.
This should tie up the IRS for a while...there’s always a silver lining ;-)
Red-on-red works for me ;^)
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Athens County Ohio: a dismal collection of hippies on and off the Ohio University campus.
The IRS catches up with these types. Sooner or later it comes around.
Why should Americans die and pay taxes to defend these bums? Kick them the Hell out of the country! Or throw them in prison, one or the other.
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