Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: bj229r on February 01, 2008, 09:36:20 PM
-
Must admit, I was kinda rooting for him after I found out a little more...thought he was just another coked out Hollywood puke who spent all his money before he paid the taxes. He obviously could have afforded to pay them, he just hates the IRS, and ya can't go wrong with those sentiments:aok (Bet he voted for Ron Paul too:D )
link (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/01/business/01cnd-tax.html?em&ex=1202014800&en=39dcea60d1f77598&ei=5087%0A) OCALA, Fla. — The actor Wesley Snipes was acquitted of the most serious charges against him on Friday in the most prominent tax prosecution since Leona Helmsley, the billionaire hotelier, was convicted of tax fraud in 1989.
Mr. Snipes was found not guilty on two felony charges of fraud and conspiracy. He was also acquitted on three misdemeanor charges of failing to file tax returns or to pay taxes, but was convicted on three others. He faces up to three years in prison.
Mr. Snipes had become an unlikely public face for the tax-denier movement, whose members maintain that Americans are not obligated to pay income taxes and that the government extracts taxes from its citizens illegally.
The Supreme Court has ruled that tax deniers can demonstrate the absence of criminal intent by asserting that they “sincerely believe” that they are not required to pay taxes, although they cannot escape the levies.
Prosecutors argued that Mr. Snipes showed criminal intent when he sent the government three bogus checks to pay $14 million in taxes and an amended tax return that was subtly altered with software to state that he filed under “no” penalty of perjury.
Defense lawyers said Mr. Snipes did not file tax returns after his indictment because the I.R.S., by making him the target of a criminal investigation, “forced” him to exercise his right to remain silent.
After his indictment, however, Mr. Snipes sent the government a series of rambling letters describing his tax theories and warning that “pursuit of such a high-profile target will open the door to your increased collateral risk.”
Robert E. O’Neill, the United States attorney prosecuting the case, called the filings “gibberish” whose sole purpose was to thwart law enforcement.
In one 600-page document, Mr. Snipes said he was legally a “nontaxpayer” and the tax laws did not apply to him because he was not a resident of the District of Columbia, was not a federal official and was not engaged in any trade or business, all common tax denier arguments.
Mr. Snipes also complained that the I.R.S. violated his 14th Amendment rights to equal protection because it would not help him establish what he said was his rightful status as a legal nontaxpayer.
Guy certainly has cajones
-
Always bet on black! :aok
-
Originally posted by bj229r
Guy certainly has cajones
...or an empty void between his ears.
-
Originally posted by Sandman
...or an empty void between his ears.
Is that a double negative or a double positive?
-
I never liked him before, but now I'm willing to watch his movies.
-
Originally posted by AKIron
Is that a double negative or a double positive?
It's redundant. ;)
-
What do you want to bet that if he didnt used to be a hollywood goofball, he would of been sent up the river without a paddle
-
Sounds like he used a libertarian argument and won. Challenging the existance of the tax code. Dang, I should try that :)
-
Originally posted by LePaul
Sounds like he used a libertarian argument and won. Challenging the existance of the tax code. Dang, I should try that :)
Won?
I'm thinking they're spinning it... if he won why is he facing three years in prison?
-
Well his sentence is substancially lower
-
That's assuming the sentences would run consecutively rather than concurrently. There is no guarantee he would have served more time. He could avoid paying US taxes. All he has to do is renounce his citizenship move to another country and never work in the US again. If he wants the benefits of being in this country he certainly can pay for it.
-
But he won't have to pay the 11 million in taxes. The IRS will have to file a lawsuit to get it and they'll have to win.
So in reality, Snipes won because he didn't have to pay the taxes.
-
The IRS certainly made clear what they thought of the situation.
They said something alone the lines of, "You Dare not go against the IRS these days."
Very similar to, "You dare not go against the Gestapo these days."
-
If he weren't famous but just as rich, they'd do a 3am no-knock and kill him if he resisted.
-
Sounds like he's willing to be the Rosa Parks of the Tax-Denier movement.
-
I figured that this would come up.
From what i've been reading, there's a tax "code", and within this code are many laws. There have been alot of cases where people thought they didn't have to pay, and others just plain refused, but they were all told by the courts that they were wrong. I'm pretty sure all these cases get put into the code as precidents*, i think thats the word.
It's pretty popular with the conspiracy theory people. i watched a few of these videos while i was hung over on new years day, and kinda believed some of the lies. Over the last month though, i've researched on my own and found out how f.o.s. they really are.
I'm pretty sure ron paul pays his taxes, and so far every video i've seen of him, he's never said for people to not pay taxes.
I wonder sometimes if one of the reasons he ran as a republican is to dis-associate himself from the people that call themselves libertarians.
-
Originally posted by Speed55
I figured that this would come up.
From what i've been reading, there's a tax "code", and within this code are many laws. There have been alot of cases where people thought they didn't have to pay, and others just plain refused, but they were all told by the courts that they were wrong. I'm pretty sure all these cases get put into the code as precidents*, i think thats the word.
It's pretty popular with the conspiracy theory people. i watched a few of these videos while i was hung over on new years day, and kinda believed some of the lies. Over the last month though, i've researched on my own and found out how f.o.s. they really are.
I'm pretty sure ron paul pays his taxes, and so far every video i've seen of him, he's never said for people to not pay taxes.
I wonder sometimes if one of the reasons he ran as a republican is to dis-associate himself from the people that call themselves libertarians.
Oh, OK. They are full of ****. Because you say so. As long as you are saying it, don't bother providing evidence or anything. You've said they are full of ****, therefor they must be.
-
Speed,
Yeah, how dare you post in that manner. That's lasersailor's and shrimps job! :mad:
-
I hate the IRS and the way they do things. Everyone needs to pay taxes though. We’d be in the Stone Age or some state of extreme chaos without government; or, more likely slaves of another country that overran us. People who think that we’d all be better off if no one had to pay any taxes are naïve about what their country, state, county and city does for them and all of us.
-
Originally posted by lasersailor184
Oh, OK. They are full of ****. Because you say so. As long as you are saying it, don't bother providing evidence or anything. You've said they are full of ****, therefor they must be.
Just to make myself clear, i'm talking about the conspiracy theory people.
http://www.irs.gov/taxpros/article/0,,id=159853,00.html
http://www.debunk911myths.org/category/alex-jones/
http://911research.wtc7.net/wtc/evidence/moltensteel.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/31/movies/31russ.html?_r=3&pagewanted=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
http://www.taxanalysts.com/www/features.nsf/Articles/8427CB4FB27B2931852571CB005C6904?OpenDocument
http://evans-legal.com/dan/tpfaq.html#purpose
http://www.brendan-nyhan.com/blog/2006/07/nyt_debunks_ame.html
http://www.debunking911.com/
http://www.politicalhobbyist.com/debunked/
This actually does scare me a bit.
http://www.unrealid.com/