* * Support the FairTax movement - protest the IRS legally
Posted on 06/07/2007 10:54:44 AM PDT by t_skoz
Police assemble by Browns' home
By PAT GROSSMITH AND KRISTEN SENZ
Plainfield – Dozens of heavily armed state police and federal agents have assembled near the rural Grafton County home of tax protesters Ed and Elaine Brown.
About 50 state troopers, some armed with high-powered rifles, along with a vehicle from the explosives unit gathered this morning in Plainfield, a small town where Edward and Elaine Brown have holed up in their home since being convicted of tax evasion and sentenced to lengthy federal prison terms.
The Browns have been aware of increased police activity all morning. In an audio file posted on a blog this morning, he said a silent aircraft at about 5,000 feet in the air flew over his home overnight.
And, he said, at about 7:45 a.m. this morning a fvisiting riend took his dog out for a walk but never returned. The dog, he said, came running up the driveway about an hour later.
He also said a neighbor called at 8:45 a.m. to let him know about 2 1/2 dozen state troopers were "coming down (Route) 12A heading in this direction."
The Browns were convicted in January in U.S. District Court in Concord for not paying more than $500,000 in taxes.
A UnionLeader.com correspondent was kept away from the Browns' compound by state police, who would not say why.
Susan Williams, who lives a mile or so away from the Browns on Center of Town Road, said she saw police officers, SWAT team members, a fire truck, ambulance, helicopter and at least one armored vehicle assembled in a field across from her driveway.
At the Browns' home, the Browns answered a telephone call from The Associated Press by saying: "This is the Lord's House. This is Sister Elaine and Brother Edward."
They said nothing was out of the ordinary at the house.
"It's very quiet. I have no idea. I don't see anything going on," said Brown, before hanging up.
The Browns insist federal income tax laws are invalid and have holed up in their hilltop home on 110 acres in Plainfield, which has a watchtower, concrete walls and the ability to run on wind and solar power. Brown said he has stockpiled food and supplies.
They were convicted in January of scheming to hide $1.9 million of income between 1996 and 2003. They also were convicted of using $215,890 in postal money orders to pay for their residence and for Elaine Brown's dental office. The money orders were broken into increments just below the tax-reporting threshold.
U.S. District Judge Steven McAuliffe sentenced them each to 5 1/4 years in prison. They skipped the April sentencing hearings, and Ed Brown has said he and his wife will refuse to surrender to authorities.
The couple has described the court as a "fiction" unworthy of their attention and returned government mail unopened. The federal judge who sentenced them in absentia has sent along their notice of appeal to an appellate court in Boston.
I'm not a "Brown Supporter" nor a "tax protester". I'm just a guy who lives in NH and didn't see any info on Free Republic about what could turn into Waco II here in New Hampshire. The Browns have vowed they will not be taken alive. They have supporters up there at their 110 acre property. After months of low-key discussions, the Feds have surrounded their house with a heavily armed presence and are evacuating neighboring homes. I'm just reporting the info for interested parties here. Thanks in advance for not flaming me, I don't really have a dog in this fight.
More info here:
Officials: No Raid Planned On Tax Evaders, Supporter Detained
Elaine Brown: "Freedom or body bags"
June 7th 2007, 9:00 AM interview with Ed Brown in MP3 format
If it was silent and dark, how did he know this?
The guy is a nut and a deadbeat.
This has disaster written all over it.
OK I see that they have stockpiled food and water in their “compound” but how long have they been holed up? Couldn’t the feds have arrested them when they came to town or something?
They have stayed in the house the entire time.
This is illegal? I understand the part about being smaller denominations then required for tax reporting, but the way it is written it sounds like using postal money orders was the illegal part.
Waco II? Or Ruby Ridge III?
Sorry, they have stayed in the LORD’S house the whole time
* * Support the FairTax movement - protest the IRS legally
They did it to hide the use of their income. If you have no income, how did you pay $215k for a house.
he said a silent aircraft at about 5,000 feet in the air flew over his home overnight
If it was silent and dark, how did he know this?
The guy is a nut and a deadbeat.
Hey, get it RIGHT!
Thats ‘Brother Nut’....and Brother Deadbeat to you!
There is nothing illegal about using postal money orders; they were convicted of "structuring"-- breaking a large transaction into smaller payments with the intent of hiding it from reporting requirements.
Most don’t know the head of the IRS has a much larger personal security detail than the President. I’ve seen it personally, close up.
Its akin to a third world dictators caravan.
It’s illegal to “structure” a transaction, so as to avoid mandatory reporting laws.
It’s not illegal, in other words, to use a $20,000 money order to pay for something, and it’s not illegal to deposit $40,000 in cash. But, it is illegal to pay for a $20,000 item with two $9500 and one $1000 postal money order for the purpose of avoiding reporting laws.
This does have disaster written all over it.
Is it just me, or does this seem way over the top for “tax protesters”? It seems to me that both sides are nuts, and at the this point, the “Feds” are winning that contest.
Just a couple of poor law abiding citizens being set upon by mean old Feds. /sarcasm
Couple of nut cases hiding behind a false belief and begging for a confrontation. - bingo!
That’s right, but the cash reporting laws weren’t designed to “out” tax-dodgers, but were sold as a way to nail drug dealers, lots of whom have large amounts of cash sitting around.
I don’t like the idea of mandatory reporting. Using cash to pay for something shouldn’t get scrutiny from the Feds.
Can you guys ping your people? This might be of interest to some of them.
Regards from the Free State...
Nice of you to come by the thread. I posted the disclaimer for a reason. Can you go away now? Thanks.
Maybe.
At the same time, you have to admit that tax policy is pretty screwed up. What government services did this guy consume that he didn't pay for? Just who is using whom, here? Everytime something like this happens, I keep thinking that the government simply wants to make the point that they own you whether you use their services or not.
I think I'd feel much better if the government just sent me a bill every year for the services I use. Then I'd know I was at least getting something for my money.
Instead we have a tax on income, as if earning more money by giving the public what it wants somehow puts a bigger burden on government services.
The only thing that might justify a tax on income is a personal protection argument that sees income as a proxy for an individual's value. That's the idea that people earning more are worth more and thus require a greater amount of protection and government protective services. Still, from what I see, those earning the most money simply buy the protection they need from the private sector.
All that said, it's obviously a mistake what this guy has done. I wouldn't call him a deadbeat so much as a fool.
According to the pro-illegal crowd, these state troopers have no authority in enforcing a federal matter.
I don’t see what your disclaimer has to do with anything.
A mistake is when you dial a wrong number. This was no mistake. He knew exactly what he was doing. He did it to skirt the law and now he is dealing with the consequences.
I support the National Sales Tax but I don’t break the law trying to get it passed.
In this day and age, an individual carrying around $10,000 in cash in inheriently suspicious.
In any case, I’m not familar with them ever even looking into someone on the basis of a single or a handful of reports. Most of these people generate reams of paper.
I posted the article FYI, because it’s a news item, not because I care one way or the other. Just keep negative opinions to yourself or post them to someone else. Thanks.
Shades of the “Republic of Texas†fools we had in Texas. I used to go to these meetings in Dallas where these folks would claim the whole IRS is illegal and your a State Citizen vs US 14th amendment citizen blah blah blah. The point is you have to pay taxes and support the government one way or another. These poor blue collar red neck salt of the earth types always fell for all this crap because it all sounds so true. Kind of like the US blew up the trade towers on 9-11 conspiracy folks. It is sad really to see people get all caught up in this stuff and have their lives destroyed. And it is the best reason for a flat tax or a sales tax to replace the current IRS codes.
If you don’t care, why are you criticizing me for replying to your article?
” Just keep negative opinions to yourself “
Oh excuse me. I didn’t realize I was speaking to the authorities.
If it’s a false belief, show me the written law.
All I want to know is if they are going to film the fireworks.
You may be right, but it’s not just “cash.” If you write a check for $10,000, that has to be reported as well. Things that are not atypical transactions have to be reported to the feds.
All in all, the law just strikes me as very oppressive.
But see, you’ve got it all wrong. In order to gain sympathy from this government you have to break the law. IMMIGRATION sarcasm.
“I posted the article FYI, because it’s a news item, not because I care one way or the other. Just keep negative opinions to yourself or post them to someone else. Thanks.”
You post an article and don’t want the first reply to be to you?
What a freakin’ idiot.
And it is the best reason for a flat tax or a sales tax to replace the current IRS codes.
That part of your post is correct.
Funny. More generally the same thing happens with radical Islam versus Christianity.
Christians get walked over because they play nice while radical Islam uses violence and fear very effectively.
Flat tax won’t fix it. The government would just consider that a starting point to return to the old system
This presses the point that in this country YOU ARE NOT FREE!
If you don’t pay, they will take your house. If you don’t “give it up”, they’ll take your life.
Now I guess you’re gonna give me the “fair share” argument.
When I’m robbed at the point of weapon, so that these thieving thugs can turn around and give that money away to ILLEGAL aliens, I think its time to hit the “reset” button on the Constitution.
The Second Amendment is the Reset Button to the Constitution.
This guy Brown will lose this fight. But the outcome is going to make people think about that boot heel that they have allowed to rest easy on their necks.
Just because it rests easy now, this story will illustrate how “easy” it is for that boot heel to crush the life out of you.
What in the world happened to the spirit of the people of this country that went to war with the world's only super power some 250 years ago? I know, I know. Sit in your living room and bitch when the "game" is late. Pathetic. /rant>
Bull. People will go right back to watching American Idol if they notice at all.
This guy is a coward. Instead of fighting, he tried to cheat. When he got caught, he hid.
I don’t want replies from one of FR’s resident troublemakers. Take care.
“Just because it rests easy now, this story will illustrate how “easy” it is for that boot heel to crush the life out of you.”
Utter freako BS rant.
“I don’t want replies from one of FR’s resident troublemakers.”
Well start your own site.
Sadly, this is actually the standard procedure for tax protestors, especially those that take their protest view seriously and sincerely.
This couple, or at least the male.... will be dead within 48 hours.
I am guessing the Feds must be there also. Our SP do not work for the IRS.
I predict . . . FIRE!
He knew what he was doing, he KNOWS that his life is forfeit, and he is doing it anyway to make a point.
A point that he is going make with his life.
Declaring that cowardice is nothing short of imbecilic.
But I don’t guess you will recognize that.
Christians get walked over because they play nice while radical Islam uses violence and fear very effectively.
I hear ya. Learned that lesson for myself years ago. It depends on how strongly you feel about your principles. Many will talk a good show on this sight but I doubt if many would give up their videos, m/p 3 players and the like to stand up for principles.
ONLY if the Feds desire to enforce.
I know of an incident where a local bank's normal stock trading volume of 30-33k/day shot to 173k on a Friday after Executives met on the Corporate office's third floor the night before and "considered" a sale to a competitor, which the information was kept quiet, kept from the public until the following Monday. One "honest" soul working there told me he personally witnessed 14 Sr VP's and Corp Exec's (BOD members) buying blocks of stock that Friday in 2500 share lumps to keep the SEC from investigating the "purchases", done with the "bank" lending money to those 14 to make the buys. Their buys would be about $4.3 million with resale value of about $11 million. He told me of how the 14 bragged and laughed openly how they'd "make a killing from using the bank's own money to sell itself out".
Another soon-to-be ex-employee (unemployed because of the sale) would attempt to file a report with the SEC with support of the daily share volume as evidence and that guy as a witness and they wouldn't accept it - NOTHING was ever done. NOTHING.
Coming from you, that’s a compliment.
You must work for the government, because you never met a tax you didn’t like.
I read on one of the local news sites that ATF are there as well as DOJ people. I can only imagine it’s going to get ugly. I read on another forum awhile back that people were up there with their young kids. I really hope the Feds are sure who’s in there before storming the place. Let’s hope that’s what the airplane was for.
in 1971 i bought a new peterbilt for twenty grand cash.i suppose now they put you in jail for that .but i still rember when this was a free country.and i miss it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.