DOJ Tax Defier Initiative has a "National Director"

[jcolvin2]

http://judiciary.house.gov/hearings/Hea ... 312012.pdf

Excerpt from AAG Keneally's written statement:

National Tax Defier Initiative

Tax defiers, also known as illegal tax protesters, have long been a focus of the Tax Division’s investigative and prosecution efforts. For decades, tax defiers have advanced frivolous arguments and developed numerous schemes to evade their income taxes, assist others in evading their taxes, and frustrate the IRS, under the guise of constitutional and other meritless objections to the tax laws. Frivolous arguments used by tax defiers include, for example, spurious claims that an individual is a “sovereign citizen” not subject to the laws of the United States, that the federal income tax is unconstitutional, and that wages are not income. Schemes utilized include the use of fictitious financial instruments in purported payment of tax bills and other debts, as well as the filing of false liens and IRS reporting forms, such as Forms 1099, designed to harass and retaliate against government employees and judges. In the most extreme circumstances tax defiers have resorted to threats and violence to advance their anti-government agenda.

Tax defiers are identified by the schemes in which they participate and the tactics they utilize. It is important to note that those who merely express dissatisfaction with the tax laws should not be, and are not, prosecuted. The right to free speech, however, does not extend to acts that violate or incite the imminent and likely violation of the tax laws.

Because a segment of the tax defier community will to resort to violence to advance their cause, it is essential that local law enforcement be prepared to respond rapidly to threats against agents, prosecutors, and judges. The Tax Division has implemented a comprehensive strategy using both civil and criminal enforcement tools to address the serious and corrosive effect of tax defier and Sovereign Citizen activity. Led by a National Director, the Tax Division’s Tax Defier Initiative facilitates coordination among nationwide law enforcement efforts. Increased coordination allows new and recycled tax defier and related schemes and arguments to be identified quickly, and a coordinated strategy to be developed.

For example, Sovereign Citizen ideology overlaps with and is often indistinguishable from tax defier rhetoric and tactics. Through the Tax Defier Initiative, the Division has leveraged our expertise to develop a government-wide approach to monitoring and combating these crimes. As a result, our National Director for the Tax Defier Initiative, working with representatives of IRS Criminal Investigations, Treasury Inspector General For Tax Administration, the FBI Domestic Terrorism Operations Unit, and the Department’s National Security Division, developed and implemented a national training program for prosecutors and investigators. The close working relationships fostered by our Initiative have enabled us to identify and respond more quickly and efficiently to trends in the tax defier community.

Several recent cases demonstrate the scope and seriousness of tax defier misconduct.

 In May 2012, Karl Herrington was sentenced to 8 years and 1 month in prison for corruptly endeavoring to obstruct the administration of the internal revenue laws, filing false tax forms, and being a felon in possession of 6 different firearms. Herrington filed Forms 1099-OID, falsely reporting that he had paid a form of interest income to law enforcement personnel and judges involved in a criminal case against him in Jackson County, Michigan.

 In April 2012, Kevin P. Mahoney of Attleboro, Massachusetts, was sentenced to 5 years in prison for corruptly endeavoring to obstruct the tax laws, filing false tax returns, and violating a permanent injunction to cease preparing and submitting false forms with the IRS. Mahoney, a financial advisor, attempted to pay tax-related debts by submitting to the IRS more than $2.2 million in fictitious financial instruments called Bills of Exchange. Mahoney obtained the fake Bills of Exchange from American Rights Litigators, a defunct Florida-based organization that was permanently enjoined from promoting and selling a variety of fraudulent tax schemes.

 In February 2012, Andrew Issac Chance of Clinton, Maryland, was sentenced to 5 years and 5 months in prison for filing false claims for refund and for filing a false retaliatory lien against a federal prosecutor. At the time Chance filed the false retaliatory lien and the false claims for refund, he was on federal supervised release after a 2007 conviction for filing a false refund claim.

Every prosecution and conviction sends a strong message that any attempt to promote or participate in a fraudulent tax scheme will not be tolerated. Those who engage in tax defier activity risk criminal prosecution resulting in conviction, substantial penalties and time in prison, as well as the collection of taxes, interest and penalties. Prosecution of tax defiers also reassures the vast majority of taxpayers that their voluntary compliance with the tax laws is justified and that everyone will be held accountable under the law

[Number Six]

"Director" and not "Czar"?

If they hired a half dozen sharp experts from this site they could get this problem nailed in a couple of weeks; with today's computers and software options, and with all the other powers of government, this should be a really easy nut to crack. But they would call be a "brownshirt" for saying this...

I would mete out equal justice to the libertarian, conservative, anarcho-capitalist people as well as the liberal, green, war protestor communities; tax compliance is a universal, and relatively easy to nail people on if the investigator is sharp enough.

[Demosthenes]

That happened four years ago. Her name is Jen Ihlo.

[Famspear]

......Her name is Jen Ihlo.

Ah, that name rings a bell. From Wikipedia:

An illegal tax-protest scheme has been defined as "any scheme, without basis in law or fact, designed to express dissatisfaction with the tax laws by interfering with their administration or attempting to illegally avoid or reduce tax liabilities."

---Jennifer E. Ihlo, Senior Trial Attorney, Special Counsel for Tax Protest Matters (Criminal), Tax Division, United States Department of Justice, "The Gold Fringed Flag: Prosecution of the Illegal Tax Protester," United States Attorneys' Bulletin, Vol. 46, No. 3, p. 15 (U.S. Dep't of Justice, April 1998).

--from the Wikipedia article "Tax protester (United States)"