Taxable Talk

Irwin Schiff won’t be muttering “There is no income tax” to his gullible victims clients anymore. The 78-year old Schiff was sentenced yesterday to 13 years in prison. He must also make restitution of $4.2 million. Schiff, during his sentencing, still claimed that there is no income tax.

He’ll have the rest of his life to think that one over.

Yesterday, we blogged about Irwin Schiff, who is going to be spending the rest of his life in an institution because he was convicted of defrauding the IRS by telling and selling clients various methods so they didn’t have to pay the IRS. Here is a link to the Tax Protestor FAQ, which debunks just about every tax protestor argument. Judges especially dislike tax protestor arguments.

In any case, today’s Tacoma News-Tribune has a story about a man who has been accused of tax fraud. Allegedly, he has sold over 400 sham trust packages, costing the IRS over $7 million in uncollected taxes. David Carroll Stephenson believe he’s done nothing wrong. Indeed, he argues that the court has no authority (I’m sure the judge will like that argument), the government has no authority (to collect income tax), and the IRS was never authorized. As an aside, all of these arguments are debunked in the Tax Protestor FAQ.

I’ll be shocked if Mr. Stephenson isn’t found guilty.

ABC News is reporting that Irwin Schiff, convicted of numerous charges in Las Vegas and facing 43 years in prison and fines of over $3 million for telling clients that there is no such thing as an income tax, is mentally ill. That’s according to court documents. Psychiatrists apparently believe that mental illness—suicidal depression, bipolar mental disorder, paranoia and delusions—made him tell people that you didn’t have to pay income tax. Schiff is currently 77 years of age.

Of course, if the Court or the prosecution (the United States) looks at his website, they may get other ideas. For someone convicted to continue to say

“Since the income tax was repealed in 1954 when Congress adopted the 1954 Code, it is clear that for 50 years federal judges in conspiracy with U. S. Department of Injustice prosecutors have been illegally and criminally prosecuting people for crimes that do not exist in connection with a tax that nobody owes.”

And you can see what his website says about himself here.

Mentally ill or not, it’s likely we’ve heard the last from Mr. Schiff. He’s likely to spend the rest of his days in either a psychiatric hospital or the geriatric wing of a federal institution.

Coverage When Schiff Was Convicted: Here (Roth Tax Updates)