Shane Grady is one of two Branson businessmen who refused to file income tax returns.
Branson businessmen get caught in a nationwide scheme; now, they're telling their story in a unique deal with the IRS
By Matt Wagner
Springfield Business Journal Staff
11/26/2007
Branson-area businessmen Martin Dingman and Shane Grady once thought of themselves as righteous patriots partaking in a modern-day Boston Tea Party.
They now see their brazen tax protest of the late 1990s as a foolish mistake that provoked the Internal Revenue Service and cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars in attorneys’ fees.
In July, both men pleaded guilty to willfully refusing to file federal income tax returns from 1996 to 2001 while part owners and employees of American Strap Inc., a leather products manufacturer based in northern Arkansas. Dingman later bought out Grady and changed the company’s name to Martin Dingman Leathergoods.
With a Jan. 22 sentencing looming, Dingman and Grady recently accepted a unique offer from the IRS to share their stories with local media outlets. The week of Nov. 12, the duo appeared on radio shows in Branson and Springfield and agreed to be interviewed by Springfield Business Journal.
“Our No. 1 objective is to educate the public that the scams and con individuals are out there preying on individuals because of their trusting nature and Christian values,” said Special Agent Bonnie MacLeod, an IRS spokeswoman.
Both men said they hope to steer people away from the nationwide network of anti-tax advocates who convinced them to join a “grassroots movement” challenging the federal government’s authority to tax personal income.
They also hope that publicly accepting responsibility for their crimes will be met with mercy in court, where they face up to two years in prison without parole and a maximum $50,000 fine.
Federal prosecutors have formally asked the judge for a “downward departure” from federal sentencing guidelines in the case.
“The tax code is very complex. I still don’t fully understand it, but here’s something I do understand: The court upholds it,” Dingman said of his lesson learned. “… So I recommend – that if people have heard of these scams – that they avoid them at all costs.”
Taking the bait
Dingman and Grady first learned about the anti-tax movement through two deacons at Dingman’s church in Branson.
Both men decided to attend a seminar led by Lindsey Springer, a “charismatic” Tulsa, Okla., man who had filed a class-action lawsuit against the IRS alleging that federal income tax is unconstitutional. Springer is the founder of Bondage Breakers Ministries.
“He did a great job informing you how you were not legally required to file a personal tax return,” Dingman said. “He played on the two things that were probably the dearest to many of us: faith … and also on your love of America, your patriotism.”
