Comments on: The Browns Have Been Apprehended http://www.taxgirl.com/the-browns-have-been-apprehended/ Paying taxes is painful... but reading about them shouldn't be. Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:42:26 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: Sean Kelly http://www.taxgirl.com/the-browns-have-been-apprehended/comment-page-1/#comment-3400 Sean Kelly Sat, 06 Oct 2007 19:40:24 +0000 http://www.taxgirl.com/the-browns-have-been-apprehended/#comment-3400 <i>...to have some supporters bring them supplies, welcome followers and even host a picnic –this proved to be their undoing...</i> Do they have to declare the supplies they received as taxable income...? …to have some supporters bring them supplies, welcome followers and even host a picnic –this proved to be their undoing…
Do they have to declare the supplies they received as taxable income…?

]]> By: Scott Allen http://www.taxgirl.com/the-browns-have-been-apprehended/comment-page-1/#comment-3401 Scott Allen Fri, 05 Oct 2007 16:13:33 +0000 http://www.taxgirl.com/the-browns-have-been-apprehended/#comment-3401 What I really hate about this is that these guys give tax evaders a bad name -- like people who think the personal income tax is unjust and unconstitutional are the lunatic fringe. When Thoreau refused to pay his taxes and spent time in jail for it, it was called "civil disobedience", and it became a piece of great American literature that many schoolchildren read. Why is it a foregone conclusion that we have to have a Federal personal income tax? Plenty of states operate just fine without one. And there are many other ways the government could be funded far more efficiently (and constitutionally). Anyway, I'm glad the incident ended peacefully, but I'm sad that it gives the government more fuel to marginalize what should be a serious public dialog about the topic. What I really hate about this is that these guys give tax evaders a bad name — like people who think the personal income tax is unjust and unconstitutional are the lunatic fringe.

When Thoreau refused to pay his taxes and spent time in jail for it, it was called “civil disobedience”, and it became a piece of great American literature that many schoolchildren read.

Why is it a foregone conclusion that we have to have a Federal personal income tax? Plenty of states operate just fine without one. And there are many other ways the government could be funded far more efficiently (and constitutionally).

Anyway, I’m glad the incident ended peacefully, but I’m sad that it gives the government more fuel to marginalize what should be a serious public dialog about the topic.

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