My article on tax protesters generated some hostile emails including one fellow who wants to duke it out with me. There is a paucity of argument though.
Many writers seem to confuse tax protesting and civil disobedience. They are mutually exclusive unless I’m missing something.
They seem to suggest, after the fact, that tax protesters who went go to jail were really engaging in civil disobedience. What moral principle did they vindicate, their right to make unsuccessful legal arguments?
I think civil disobedience works best when the moral rightness of a cause is clear and clearly stated, and when a large segment of the population supports the cause. I don’t think a majority of the population wants to eliminate the federal income tax. If I’m wrong, then it should be easy for a third party candidate to get elected on that platform in 2008.
The tax protesters need to understand that I had two main reasons for writing that article. I believe that tax protesting is not an efficient means for accomplishing its goals. It wastes time, money, energy and good will. Second, I believe many tax protesters get into unnecessary and unproductive legal problems by applying tax protester doctrines.
One more thing, can any tax protester cite a single current federal court opinion (not jury verdict) that upholds any tax protester argument?
11:01 am on January 2, 2007
