Skeptic Magazine

Source: Skeptic

If you want to know why people believe tax evasion conspiracy theories, according to which everything is a conspiracy by THEM (TM), you could do no better than reading Skeptic magazine. The latest issue, for example, deals with flat-earthers -- which are surprisingly similar to tax deniers in their way of thinking. They also have, among other things, a very useful document about conspiracy theories and who believes them.

Real Tax Protestors... and Chess

You might know, from my other blog, that I am interested in chess. Well, just for the heck of it, I searched on the Internet for "tax protester AND chess" (yes, yes, I know the "AND" operation here is unnecessary) -- and, quite surprisingly, found something quite enlightening.

I was referred to the Wikipedia page about Ralph Ginzburg. Turns out he conducted a famous 1962 interview with Robert "Bobby" Fischer, who later won the world chess championship, ending Russian domination of the field since the Russian emigre Alexander Alekhine won the title in 1927, or, less dramatically, since the Soviet master Mikhail Botvinnik won the world championship in 1948.

The late Ginzburg, most famous for publishing Eros magazine (link NSFW as it contain some nudity, but is not a porn site), was also a tax protester. Surprising, you say? Well, he was a real tax protester. He protested the war in the Writers and Editors War Tax Protest (scroll down for details, but the web site is well worth reading).

Some major differences between the two groups -- the real tax protesters and the fake ones, the tax deniers who call themselves "protesters":

1). The real protesters didn't deny they have a legal obligation to pay income tax. They knew they were breaking the law and expected to be punished for it. Unlike the tax deniers, who think they aren't legally bound to pay taxes.

2). The real protesters didn't think they shouldn't pay any tax. They specifically limited their protest to refuse the particular share of their taxes that went directly to a purpose -- the Vietnam war -- they thought they cannot morally support. This unlike the tax deniers, who don't actually "protest" anything the government does with the taxes, but simply the fact that they pay tax at all.

3). The real tax protesters didn't think people should get some sort of special veto power and only pay taxes for purposes they like. The correct way to deal with a tax that goes towards a purpose you think is wrong is, they would surely agree, almost always to elect as legislator someone who would repeal that tax. It is only in what they consider a very extreme case (in their view) that the duty to pay taxes is overruled. This as opposed to tax deniers who latch to any annoying or stupid government use of tax money as "proof" one should not pay taxes.

One need not agree with their anti-Vietnam war views to agree that their "yes, we need to pay taxes, but in this particular case we won't and break the law since it's morally important" is quite different than the "don't wanna, don't hafta, not gonna" attitude of the tax deniers.

Tax Protestor Daniel Benham Convicted

Tax protestor and promoter Daniel Benham of Twin Lakes, Michigan, was convicted of tax evasion for failing to file tax returns from 2000 to 2003. Benham gave seminars on how to use bankruptcy and various legal entities to avoid paying taxes. Now he can give seminars on how to survive federal prison camp.

Source: Click Here

UBS Depositors Looking To Bank For Protection

Clients of Swiss banking giant UBS are trying to get the bank to continue to hide their names from disclosure to tax authorities in the United States.

UBS has been using the names of a few hundred UBS depositors (read: tax evaders) as a bargaining chip to avoid the bank's indictment in the U.S. for assisting with tax evasion. UBS claims, apparently with a straight face, that these depositors mislead the bank about whether they were correctly reporting their U.S. taxes. The depositors are claiming, apparently also with a straight face, that UBS mislead them into believing that UBS would report their taxes for them.

In fact, both UBS and these depositors knew what was going on: The depositors were using UBS to commit tax evasion, and UBS was actively assisting them with it by setting up bogus corporations so that the accounts could be held in corporate, not individual, name.

The IRS has estimated that UBS has assisted 17,000+ U.S. citizens to evade taxes. UBS has offered to turn over a few hundred names. But it is unlikely that the IRS will stop there, especially with an incoming Obama Administration that promises to be tough on offshore tax evasion.

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