Proposed increase in criminal penalty for failure to file

[Famspear]

Demian Brady, Senior Policy Analyst at the National Taxpayers Union, reports that the President's proposed budget includes a proposal for increased criminal penalties for certain repeated willful failures to file tax returns:

Raising the Penalty for Tax Protesters/Deniers

Under current law, the willful failure to pay taxes is a misdemeanor. You could go to jail for up to a year and pay a maximum fine of $25K (for individuals, $100K for corporations) for each year you fail to file a return. There is a proposal in the new budget to increase the penalty for repeated failure to file a tax return:

--------------Any person who willfully fails to file tax returns in any three years within any five consecutive year period, if the aggregated tax liability for such period is at least $50,000, would be subject to a new aggravated failure to file criminal penalty. The proposal would classify such failure as a felony and, upon conviction, impose a fine of not more than $250,000 ($500,000 in the case of a corporation) or imprisonment for not more than five years, or both.

http://blog.ntu.org/main/post.php?post_id=5057

[Pottapaug1938]

This feeds into the concept of deterrence, which I think is overblown. The only people who might be deterred by increased penalties such as these are people who know right from wrong and are capable of seeing that their actions may have consequences that are, at best, unpleasant. Your average TP/TD wacko is so single-mindedly convinced of the Righteousness of their (ahahaha) beliefs that they will persist in "fighting for what is right, etc. etc. etc." even if the penalty became something like public execution byu firing squad, or something similar.

[Omne]

Sometimes they get it. I remember one back in the mid 90s who made an interesting statement. Right after his house was seized and sold ( by the State and the IRS sequentially, he was really annoying and not too bright) he said " I may be right but it's not doing me a damn bit of good."

[Farmer Giles]

This feeds into the concept of deterrence, which I think is overblown. The only people who might be deterred by increased penalties such as these are people who know right from wrong and are capable of seeing that their actions may have consequences that are, at best, unpleasant. Your average TP/TD wacko is so single-mindedly convinced of the Righteousness of their (ahahaha) beliefs that they will persist in "fighting for what is right, etc. etc. etc." even if the penalty became something like public execution byu firing squad, or something similar.

what is so all-fired important about filling out forms that would even suggest such extremes? why is it my job to know anything or have any answers? the IRS can do all the tax collecting it likes, and it doesnt depend on me. it looks more like "failure to do your homework", and all this is just a conditioning from the school mentality. weve got hall monitors on the highways and teachers scolding late filers.

the whole tax system is just another Inquisition, persecuting heretics.

[Nikki]

He's on serious medication and it's having a major impact on his reasoning and communication abilities.

[Judge Roy Bean]

what is so all-fired important about filling out forms that would even suggest such extremes?

Because the laws as they are presently constituted require you to.

...why is it my job to know anything or have any answers?

Ignorance is no excuse.

...the IRS can do all the tax collecting it likes, and it doesnt depend on me.

Then let them take more than you're obligated to pay, genius.

... it looks more like "failure to do your homework", and all this is just a conditioning from the school mentality. weve got hall monitors on the highways and teachers scolding late filers.

Sure. Just slash your legs in a few places and jump into the bay where the sharks feed. Let us know how that works out.

...
the whole tax system is just another Inquisition, persecuting heretics.

So your point is?

[Farmer Giles]

I didnt ask if the laws required filing, I asked why is it so important that anyone would even suggest a firing-squad in relation to this very intangible subject. it shows a lot of strange angers and resentment. why so nervous? ever get outside? watch the sunset? try breathing deeply some clean fresh air.

There is no place for an Inquisition under anglo-american law traditions. And the Inquisition only has jurisdicton over members of the Church. Which is probably a good point to make now, that all this nonsense about "benefits", "income", "wages", al these irrelevant and distracting terms are from the Middle Ages of feudalism. Obviously if I'm collecting on a grant from the King there will be a tax due.

since this doesnt really happen anymore you have to invent some kind of hypnosis from technical gobbledygook-speak.

[The Operative]

I didnt ask if the laws required filing, I asked why is it so important that anyone would even suggest a firing-squad in relation to this very intangible subject.

If you had the reading comprehension skills of a ten-year old, you would understand that Pottapaug did not suggest a firing squad.

it shows a lot of strange angers and resentment. why so nervous? ever get outside? watch the sunset? try breathing deeply some clean fresh air.

No, it does not show strange anger and resentment because you didn't understand the meaning of the original sentence.

There is no place for an Inquisition under anglo-american law traditions. And the Inquisition only has jurisdicton over members of the Church. Which is probably a good point to make now, that all this nonsense about "benefits", "income", "wages", al these irrelevant and distracting terms are from the Middle Ages of feudalism. Obviously if I'm collecting on a grant from the King there will be a tax due.

since this doesnt really happen anymore you have to invent some kind of hypnosis from technical gobbledygook-speak.

Nonsense.

[Judge Roy Bean]

I didnt ask if the laws required filing, I asked why is it so important that anyone would even suggest a firing-squad in relation to this very intangible subject. it shows a lot of strange angers and resentment. why so nervous? ever get outside? watch the sunset? try breathing deeply some clean fresh air.

There is no place for an Inquisition under anglo-american law traditions. And the Inquisition only has jurisdicton over members of the Church. Which is probably a good point to make now, that all this nonsense about "benefits", "income", "wages", al these irrelevant and distracting terms are from the Middle Ages of feudalism. Obviously if I'm collecting on a grant from the King there will be a tax due.

since this doesnt really happen anymore you have to invent some kind of hypnosis from technical gobbledygook-speak.

I can only assume you take logic, reasoning and writing lessons from Van Pelt.