IRS vs. KUGLIN

The Sierra Times ^ | Carl F. Worden

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IRS vs. KUGLIN

By Carl F. Worden

Forget the war in Iraq, Afghanistan and our excellent adventure in Liberia. Forget about Kobe, Arnold, Arriana, Scott and Laci. The biggest news of the entire week is that on August 8, 2003, the IRS was unable to convince a jury in Memphis, Tennessee that the Federal Tax Code requires the citizens to pay individual income taxes. I kid you not.

I watched as many Sunday news programs as I could possibly stand, and I didn't hear a single mention of the IRS' debacle in Memphis. If you ever had doubts about the mainstream media being controlled by the federal government, doubt no more.

For those not already aware, FedEx Pilot Vernice Kuglin began studying the IRS Code some years ago, and was simply unable to find anywhere in the code that she was required to pay federal income taxes.

And here's the most remarkable part: Back in 1995, Kuglin wrote letters in good faith to the IRS, asking them to show her where the Tax Code requires individual citizens to pay federal income taxes. Incredibly, the IRS never answered a single one of her letters!

As she studied the facts, laws and related documents more, Kuglin became convinced that, regardless of the IRS' failure to respond one way or the other, she was exempt from paying federal income taxes. So, Kuglin filled out W-4 forms showing 99 exemptions, and turned them in to her employer. Doing that meant Kuglin got to take home almost all of her paycheck each payday, instead of what was left after the feds ravaged it.

The IRS went after Kuglin for six counts of tax evasion on $920,000.00 income, and for filing "false" W-4 forms, charges that could have put the 58 year-old Kuglin in federal prison for up to 30 years and cost her 1.5 million in fines.

Apparently, things didn't go quite the slam-dunk way federal prosecutor Joe Murphy thought they would. My money says the IRS wishes they had never gone after Kuglin at all. In fact, after the jury returned not guilty verdicts on all counts, Murphy is reported to have demanded that the judge order Kuglin to file her forms, pay her taxes and "obey the law". The judge reportedly replied, "Sir, I don't work for the IRS."

Now pinch yourself and review this astonishing turn of events: A highly trained and educated federal prosecutor in Memphis was unable to convince 12 American citizens that Vernice Kuglin was required to pay federal income taxes.

He was clearly unable to produce a single section of the Tax Code to that end, and the jury was unanimous in clearing Kuglin of all charges against her. If the foregoing was not so, Kuglin would have been convicted.

Jurors tend not to be very sympathetic with tax scofflaws, since each one of them is also a taxpayer and they understandably feel resentment towards anyone not paying "their fair share". So in order for this federal jury to completely vindicate Kuglin, the government's failure to prove their case against her had to have been clear and unequivocal!

I haven't read the trial transcript yet, but I must assume the federal prosecutor at least tried to twist some vague and ambiguous section of the Tax Code to make it look like it applied to Kuglin. I don't know that, but I'll bet he tried.

What else could he use to prosecute her with "Thanks to the IRS" arrogance and stupidity, and Kuglin's refusal to plead to lesser charges, Kuglin accomplished what Bob Schultz and the other "tax protesters" had been denied all along: To force the IRS into a public debate and to answer the question of whether or not the Tax Code requires an individual to pay personal income taxes. Kuglin and her two attorneys, Larry Becraft and Robert Bernhoft, have unequivocally forced the IRS to show its hand, and 12 judges hearing that debate ruled the answer to be "NO".

I think it's time for everyone reading this to send a very polite letter to the IRS, telling them they read about the case in Memphis, and is it true that there is no section in the U.S. Tax Code that requires an individual citizen to pay federal income taxes?

Don't be threatening in any way, or announce that you plan to stop paying federal income taxes. This request is for your personal edification, and you just simply want to know the truth.

Like Kuglin, you probably won't get an answer back, but just to prove you sent the letter and that they received it, be certain to send the letter via certified U.S. Mail, with a return receipt requested. When you get that receipt back, staple it to a copy of the letter you sent the IRS, and put it somewhere real secure, like a personal safe or bank deposit box.

I don't have to explain why, now do I?

Carl F. Worden
The Sierra Times

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Copyright 2003 The Sierra Times
SierraTimes.com™
A Subsidiary of J.J. Johnson Enterprises, Inc.
The Sierra Times

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If this turns out to be another one of those "Gotcha" Fairy Tales, please don't let me know. I want to believe that this news is true. PLEASE?

[Judith Anne]

I saw this story on Fox News. The pilot worked for FedEx. She was a pleasant looking woman who smiled a whole lot and let her attorney do most of the talking. He was smiling a lot, too.

[A.A. Cunningham]

Kuglin

[Pikachu_Dad]

Since when does the IRS try its cases in regular courts? I thought they had a special IRS tax court that they heard these things in.

[lvmyfrdm]

It was on Hannity and Colmes about 3 evenings ago. Greta is suppose to interview the lawyer but the date isn't set yet.
Poor judge admitted that he didn't know what an excise tax is.
IRS couldn't provide a law that required her to file.
OH MY

[thoughtomator]

I'd be smiling a lot too if I just won that case!

[lainie]

They charged her with a "crime" but couldn't/didn't produce an actual broken law. She said show me where I'm liable for this code and they said pay or go to jail.

And all Hannity could say was "you're not paying your fair share." As many freepers say, every time a thread like this pops up.

[lvmyfrdm]

Since when does the IRS try its cases in regular courts? I thought they had a special IRS tax court that they heard these things in.

Tax court is an arm of the IRS, why would you cry wolf to the wolf? If you look up the tax court cases they are always settled in the favor of government. I have not found one that found the government in error. People are beginning to understand they have better results with a district court.

[Clinging Bitterly]

I think the "IRS Reform" legislation passed a very few years ago chaged some of that. One of the changes was, in effect, if the IRS claims you owe money, they have to prove it. What a concept.

Well this thread is about to get locked or pulled - as was pointed out above, there are two or three other threads with this same story.

Dave in Eugene

[Beck_isright]

"Since when does the IRS try its cases in regular courts? I thought they had a special IRS tax court that they heard these things in."

This was a criminal trial. IRS court is civil.

[lvmyfrdm]

"you're not paying your fair share."

If I could have climbed into the TV, Colmes would have had to pull me off of Sean. I could not believe it, he sounded like a socialist to the core. He totally missed the fact that the government could not "Show here the law
that made her liable" and ignored her questions since 1995.

Really changed my opinion of Sean. He evidently believes that any act of terrorism carried out by the IRS is fine to pay for the roads, even if the IRS operates outside the law. Wonder if he would care how the roads where being paid for if he was sure he didn't owe a debt and the debt collector came for him.

[Normal4me]

Log for the fire

[sinkspur]

Kuglin doesn't go to jail, but, according the court, she still owes the taxes, plus penalties.

She won her freedom. What else, exactly, did she win? She's likely to go bankrupt paying these taxes.

[lvmyfrdm]

They didn't prove that she was liable, how could she still own a tax. That would be an amazing feat. They may try to collect a tax, the IRS has no shame in what they will do to collect revenue.

[Normal4me]

"Murphy is reported to have demanded that the judge order Kuglin to file her forms, pay her taxes and "obey the law".

This wasn't a court order.

[sinkspur]

They didn't prove that she was liable, how could she still own a tax.

She still owes the taxes. She has no criminal liability for refusing to pay taxes, but she still owes the taxes (and, likely) the penalties as well.

[zchip]

Good point sinkspur. Few others have made it. Kuglin was found not guilty of income tax evasion. The truth is out there that the IRS cannot come up with a justification because there simply is none.

The IRS (US Government) will destroy her financially if she does not remit all past taxes and penalties. Because they can. They will. And there isn't a court in the world that can stop them.

[lainie]

Amen to that. My opinion of Sean is completely changed now. I can suddenly see him differently, as if a spotlight is shining on him.

Not only did he miss that fact as you said, but imo it is HE who is not "paying his fair share" in holding the government to its obligations under the law in answering any and all questions of We The People. He *is* a professional "mainstream" journalist, last time I checked.

p.s. Just to have one more thing to be ticked off at him about -- fuel taxes pay for road upkeep, not federal income taxes.

[lvmyfrdm]

Here is your 16th Amendment Income tax.
Read it and weep.. Volunteers.


U.S. Constitution: Sixteenth Amendment
Sixteenth Amendment - Income Tax


Amendment Text | Annotations
The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.

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Annotations

Income Tax
History and Purpose of the Amendment
Income Subject to Taxation
Corporate Dividends: When Taxable
Corporate Earnings: When Taxable
Gains: When Taxable
Income from Illicit Transactions
Deductions and Exemptions
Diminution of Loss

We are so smart we are stupid.

http://supreme.lp.findlaw.com/constitution/amendment16/

[lainie]

She doesn't "owe the taxes;" it is undetermined. The criminal liability is gone for those tax years and it now all becomes administrative. I suppose in theory they could take her to court every year for the rest of her life for 'willful failure to file' but they don't typically do that.