February 1, 2008

Wesley Snipes Acquited of Most Tax Charges




Always bet on Black!

Snipes Is Acquitted of Tax Felonies

NYT

The actor Wesley Snipes was acquitted of the most serious charges against him on Friday.. Mr. Snipes was found not guilty on two felony charges of fraud and conspiracy...

He was also acquitted on three misdemeanor charges of failing to file tax returns or to pay taxes, but was convicted on three others. He faces up to three years in prison.

Mr. Snipes had become an unlikely public face for the tax-denier movement, whose members maintain that Americans are not obligated to pay income taxes and that the government extracts taxes from its citizens illegally.

Two co-defendants — Eddie Ray Kahn, a promoter of tax denial, and Douglas Rosile, a disbarred accountant — were convicted on separate felony counts.

“The verdict shows that promoters face serious jail time” but clients who follow their advice will face a lesser but still-serious risk, said JJ MacNab, a Maryland insurance analyst who attended the trial and is writing a book about tax deniers.

Even as Congress has reduced income tax rates, the tax denier movement has spread, fueled by high payroll taxes, political attacks on the Internal Revenue Service and anger among people who have not benefited from decades of strong overall economic growth.

Instead of prosecuting all offenders, the Justice Department brings cases against well-known individuals, hoping that widespread news coverage will encourage compliance, a policy known as general deterrence.

Tax deniers assert variously that the tax laws are valid but do not apply to them, that no law makes anyone liable for taxes and that the government tricks people into paying. Promoters of tax denial claim that people can legally stop paying income taxes by executing certain documents, or by not signing others, such as tax returns. Courts have rejected all of these arguments.

Mr. Snipes, 45, was indicted in October 2006 on two felony charges: fraud for filing a false claim for a $7 million refund (of taxes paid in 1997, before he stoped paying taxes), and conspiracy with his two co-defendants to defraud the government.

Mr. Snipes was also charged with six misdemeanor counts of failing to file tax returns or to pay taxes on at least $58 million he and his film company earned from 1999 to 2004.

Since 1986, Mr. Snipes had appeared in more than 50 films, earning at least $103 million, court papers showed...

Posted by jsmooth995 at February 1, 2008 5:43 PM
Comments

wesley is scum he is no better than the rest of us americans who have to pay taxes he is low life

Posted by: mary moore at February 1, 2008 9:03 PM

wesley is scum he is no better than the rest of us americans who have to pay taxes he is low life

Posted by: mary moore at February 1, 2008 9:04 PM

There IS NO LAW that obligates the vast majority of Americans to pay a Federal Income Tax. The Federal Income tax is the fraud, and it was NEVER MADE LAW. This is so blatantly obvious, its disgusting. This is public information.
People run into trouble by refusing to pay the proper, legal taxes, like Medicare/FICA or various other taxes for which they are held legally accountable. Let me repeat: there is NO LAW and NO PROCESS that requires the common working class American to pay the ILLEGAL FEDERAL INCOME TAX.

Posted by: Max at February 1, 2008 10:00 PM

THANK GOD WESLEY WAS ACQUITTED. I LET OUT A WHOOP WHEN I HEARD THE NEWS!!!! WHEN WILL THESE OVERREACHING PROSECUTORS STOP PERSECUTING LAW-ABIDING CITIZENS?????? WHEN YOU MAKE EVERYTHING INTO A CRIME, YOU MAKE EVERYONE INTO CRIMINALS. STOP IT! LEAVE US ALONE! GO GET A REAL JOB, LIKE MAYBE PROSECUTING REAL CRIMINALS, INSTEAD OF PEOPLE LIKE WESLEY SNIPES WHO ARE JUST TRYING TO KEEP THE MONEY THEY RIGHTFULLY EARNED FROM A GRASPING, GRIPPING, OVERBEARING BUREAUCRACY. THESE ARE THE SAME THUGS WHO GREW UP AS HALL MONITORS AND GRADUATED TO METER MAIDS, AND NOW THEY HAVE A LITTLE BAILIWICK OF POWER AND BY GOD THEY ARE GOING TO USE IT. THE PROBLEM IS, PROSECUTORS CAN BRING ALL THESE FRIVOLOUS CHARGES WHICH COST THE DEFENDANT/VICTIM MILLIONS OF DOLLARS TO DEFEND AGAINST, AND YET WHEN THESE RIDICULOUS CHARGES ARE DISMISSED BY TWELVE MEN TRIED AND TRUE, THE PROSECUTORS GO ON THEIR MERRY WAY WITH ABSOLUTELY NO CONSEQUENCES. I LAUGHED WHEN THE DUKE PROSECUTOR LOST HIS STATE BAR LICENSE (THE MORON), BUT HIS CASE WAS ONE IN A MILLION--PROSECUTORS, ESPECIALLY U.S. ATTORNEYS, ARE THE MOST HYPOCRITICAL, SLIMY, UNETHICAL, AND CORRUPT HUMAN BEINGS ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH. THEY HAVE NO PROBLEM RUINING THE LIVES OF OTHERWISE LAW-ABIDING CITIZENS, AND THEN EATING A NICE BIG LUNCH AND MOVING ON TO THE NEXT VICTIM. BURP! WAY TO GO, WESLEY--NOW SUE THE DAMN U.S. ATTORNEY TO GET YOUR DEFENSE MONEY BACK.

Posted by: PAUL MASON at February 2, 2008 2:11 AM

First I want to say - In this country you have the right to say and for most part do what you want - We look to our government to keep those rights available to us.

Wesley has the right to his opinion and beliefs – but his should not count for more than any other everyday citizen

I liked most of the movies that Wesley has done, but he is just that an actor. I know that we have many actors playing real government roles, and most of us know they are simply puppets for those who really are in control (people we wouldn’t vote for if they put a gun to our heads) but I’m really getting tired of actors using their influences from made up roles which really don’t resemble them to shape public opinion. So you played a character who was a superher, or a cop, or you had some supernatural powers, or better yet you show yourself as some loner living in a poor neighborhood pulling yourself up from your bootstraps – give me a break – None of these guys even remember what the real world, and everyday life of a normal working taxpaying citizens is like. We make much less than what our work is worth. We don’t live like royalty demanding bottled water for our baths, or whole McDonald locations purchased for our groupies when on a movie shoot. We live mostly month to month, and are one or two pay checks away from losing everything. That’s the life of a real average citizen.

Fighting to keep all of your money and not giving any of it away – WOW – Such a heroic battle.
Let me see you really helping the unfortunates of our society. Let me see you give your money to help children who go without food, clothing, even good clean drinking water that doesn’t cause cancer right here in America. Let me hear you say that you are going to give a large portion of your next movie proceeds to help fight illiteracy, or aids, or anything that would let us see that hero that you portray.

Not paying taxes – that’s the big cause that Wesley decides to be his mantle. The one place where there is some financial support for social programs – to help pay light bills and other utilities for the poor, provide food, clothing and lodging programs in poor neighborhoods. Until you can come up with a better plan to keep this country going – don’t knock or stop the one that is working now.

A Fan but Conscious Citizen

Posted by: Cheaquettaj at February 24, 2008 12:44 PM

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