NonTaxPayer.org | Whenever the government brings a tax related charge against a person who believes himself to be a nontaxpayer, the first step (that is almost never taken by attorneys) is to challenge the jurisdiction of the court based on the government’s presumption that the accused is a taxpayer.
Congress has given the Department of Justice the authority to bring tax related civil and criminal actions against “taxpayers”. However, Congress has not given DOJ the authority to bring any tax related action against a “nontaxpayer”. Most everyone has heard the old adage, “The burden of proof is upon the taxpayer”. That statement is generally true, but the burden to prove a person is a taxpayer sits squarely upon the government.
Of course, to be fair to the lawyers – why bring a “question of law” before the court if the defendant, by his actions, has repeatedly declared himself to be a taxpayer. There’s little sense in bringing an argument before the court that your client has already destroyed.
Prior to the Pensyl case going to trial, I had an opportunity to look over a 13-inch high stack of government evidence (documents) against Mr. Pensyl. As far as his chances of prevailing in a “question of law” concerning his status as a “taxpayer” or “nontaxpayer”, the evidence reads like a death sentence.
Mr. Pensyl created a Pure Trust under the common law right to contract – but then he went out and got it a federal tax “identifying number” [see 26 CFR 301.6109-1 et seq]. Of course, keeping in line with Patriot insanity, he was the trustee of the trust that was supposed to shield him from the IRS.
When conducting the sale of real property, he filled out federal tax forms and placed his SSN on the forms – and signed them under penalty of perjury. It should be noted that he was using the SSN that he had allegedly rescinded a few years prior to using it on federal tax forms.
Two years after “rescinding” his SSN, he applied for SSN retirement benefits. More signatures under penalty of perjury.
Mr. Pensyl bought real estate in the name of a trust using that trust’s handy-dandy federal “identifying number”. Mr. Pensyl also involved one of his trusts (for which he sat as trustee) in government regulated investment opportunities – also with the help of that trust’s handy-dandy federal “identifying number”.
Ever year we see folks like Mr. Pensyl go to jail. Each time the Patriot internet drums beat out the message, “Another fellow warrior has fallen in battle against the evil government. Let us mourn this loss and redouble our efforts against the Great Satan (IRS)”. Oh puhleeeez.
Frankly, I’m tired of this crap. Yes, the government is filled with a bunch of power hungry bastards who don’t give a fig about liberty. The worst of them can certainly be found in the tax arena. We’re in agreement on that. Nevertheless, Mr. Pensyl is going to jail not because of the evil government, but because he OBTAINED and USED government TAX NUMBERS to conduct lots of different business transactions and repeatedly SIGNED federal TAX FORMS and requested FEDERAL BENEFITS.
Here’s a news flash: Nontaxpayers don’t use federal tax “identifying numbers”!
Here’s another one: Nontaxpayers don’t sign tax forms!
There seems to be a self-imposed black-out within the Tax Honesty Movement on talking about the screw ups people commit that end up sending them to jail. It is as if once someone has been convicted of a federal tax crime they automatically become an icon of the Movement and nothing “critical” may be said about their actions. Sorry, I can’t operate by rules that will result in more people needlessly going to jail. It’s time (actually its long overdue) to start evaluating these cases objectively AND PUBLICLY on their legal merits so that everyone can recognize the landmines and steer clear of them.
Many people in the Patriot Movement would claim that Mr. Pensyl went to court due to the corruption of the federal courts. I’ve already read an email which stated that the conviction was a “directed verdict”. What does this prove about the court? Nothing. It only proves the guy who wrote the email doesn’t have a clue what a directed verdict is.
Many people claim the federal courts are corrupt. I’ll go so far as to say that I believe many federal judges practice “outcome based law” and often times ignore the law in order to preserve the status quo and please their superiors. But in the Pensyl case, the court didn’t need to do anything shady or illicit because Mr. Pensyl had long ago cooked his own goose.
If you want to take a little vacation on Uncle Sam, spout off about the evil corrupt government while doing all sorts of foolish stuff to legally bury yourself. If you’d like to continue breathing free air, leave the rhetoric at the door and stop declaring yourself to be a taxpayer by your actions.
