Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Tax Dumb People

_DSF0234拷貝.jpgImage by leeisaku via Flickr

"The last of three men convicted for a tax evasion scheme offered in 43 states has been sentenced to federal prison.
. . .
"The main tax scheme involved in the conspiracy, the Claim of Right Freedom Program, claimed personal income was not taxable."
You can claim anything you like, but the idea that the law won't be enforced against you because of this personal claim is pretty strange.
"Bendshadler marketed and hosted seminars in Oregon detailing the tax schemes and promoted them on his weekly radio show."
 Radio...  Figures.
I find a common thread among dumb people, which is to say most people, that "rightness"  or "wrongness" has anything what so ever to do with law enforcement.  Justice and the justice system is about the enforcement of the law through a rigorous and well defined, repeating procedure.  It is not the place of those involved in law enforcement to interpret whether or not a law is just in any sort of absolute way.  Even judges can not do this, they can only make decisions in a context of existing law and precedence - not on any idea of rightness or wrongness.
In the U.S. Final judgement that a law is invalid due to being inconsistent with fundamental rights is a power given only the US Supreme Court.
A person may be able to defend themselves in the legal system on the grounds that a law is unjust, but it's a hard path to take, especially since it would generally involve admitting to committing the principle acts involved.
The bottom line is simple.  If a person violates the law, then they open themselves up to prosecution.  Their believe, the belief of a police officer, nor anyone else, that the law is unjust is just plain irrelevant.
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