Senior US District Court Judge Lloyd George has decided that enough is enough. George issued a permanent injunction which prevents convicted tax evader Irwin Schiff from marketing products, including books, that improperly advise Americans that they are not required to file or pay federal income taxes. Schiff is currently serving what amounts to a life sentence for convictions on conspiracy, tax evasion and tax fraud; while the original sentence was just over 12 years, it is highly unlikely that the 80 year old Schiff will spend much time out of jail in his lifetime. Recent additions to Schiff’s sentence for contempt citations make it extremely unlikely that Schiff will be released.
Schiff and his former business partner, Cynthia Neun, who is also serving time in federal prison, were slapped with the ban so that they “cannot promote tax fraud schemes from within prison or when they are released.” Neun is slated to be released in 2010.
Schiff is the author of several books, including The Federal Mafia: How the Government Illegally Imposes and Unlawfully Collects Income Taxes, which has been banned from circulation as fraudulent commercial speech. The scheme made Schiff a wealthy man, causing the judge to remark:
Of all those who participated in this scheme, only Schiff made money. And in all other things in his life prior to this scheme, he was a failure in his life.
Schiff has also been ordered to pay more than $4.2 million in restitution for the charges. He allegedly made millions of dollars by scamming taxpayers into buying “how to” books and subscriptions in order to evade federal taxes. The arguments that he advanced have been repeatedly found by the federal government to be without merit.
Schiff still promotes his ideas from his web site at http://paynoincometax.com/ – interestingly, despite the ban, Schiff still shills his books. His banned book once sold for an amazing $42 (!) a pop is now available for free. That’s one free offer worth passing up.
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
I can’t imagine how otherwise educated and respectable people can fall for something so patently stupid. These arguments have been so thoroughly defeated and yet they never seem to go away.
Oh Charles, you must be new to the blog. Just wait. My moderated comments runneth over.
Schiff and his ilk never give up! Of course, his business supports my business just like the IRS sends me business. Ahhhh, America.
Bill Lowrance
Lowrance Law LLC
I’ve heard people talking about how there’s no real legal basis for income tax since no law actually says you need to pay income tax. That just didn’t make sense to me. Even if that was the case at some point, I don’t believe that they wouldn’t fix it right away.
I think you meant UNlikely that he will be released? :
Recent additions to Schiff’s sentence for contempt citations make it extremely likely that Schiff will be released.
Bill – ha! Thanks. I read it a million times and kept seeing “unlikely” in the middle paragraph but not “likely” at the end – fixing it now. Thanks for the correction.
I’ve figured out how not to pay tax legally! The problem is one can only make $414 in self employment.
Schiff is correct about one thing; the government are just like a bunch of mafia thugs. They take our money by force of threat, but we, like our founding fathers, do not have representation in the govenment.
The minute a republican or democrat gets elected, they only represent the interests of their parties national committees and the national committees only represent their wealthy, elite contributors. The elected representative either walks the party line (regardless of his/her constituent’s wishes) or they get thown under the bus. Don’t believe me? Just look at what happened to Joe Lieberman. The republicans and the democrats get re-elected because the control the electoral process.
So it is taxation without representation. On top of this is the outrage that is the inheritance tax. You work hard and invest, and save and build a nest egg. You pay tax on every cent you put in that nest egg, whether from wages or investments. Then when you die, the government thus feel that they, not your decendents, are entitled to a piece of your nest egg. The democrats want to increase that take to 45%. It is theft pure and simple.
So they take and steal and then completely waste half of what they steal from you, so they want more and more.
They are criminals.
I agree that there is a significant amount of waste – but I hardly agree that there is not representation. If you vote, you have a voice. I have been astonished at how many folks complain about everything in government but don’t even take a few moments to go vote.
And re the estate tax, to clarify, the top rate is 45% (for those with taxable estates of more than $10 million) and has decreased in each of the last ten years. The Democrats do not have a pending proposal to increase the rate of taxation (nor does the GOP to reduce it) unless you’re counting the “sunset provision” which will occur in 2011 – that was pushed through by the GOP.
And also to be clear, you don’t pay tax on every cent in your nest egg. If there were no estate tax under the current system, appreciated assets would not be taxed on the estate or income tax level. So, wealth could theoretically pass down from generation to generation without ever being taxed.
I’m not arguing the merits of an estate tax – but it is important to look at it in context.