The man didn't off himself over a measly $40,000. He offed himself after battling a system that is designed to be unnavigable by average citizens. He was fed up with a system that requires huge amounts of money and time just to avoid punishment by the gov't that is supposed to be serving us.
He continually chose the battle for 25 years! He even moved States to try and find a loophole in the tax code. He was aware of the tax laws back in the 80's but, no, he was insistent on trying to twist and manipulate. He wrote, "I saw it written once that the definition of insanity is repeating the same process over and over and expecting the outcome to suddenly be different. I am finally ready to stop this insanity." He finally knew he was insane.
He wrote, "During 1987, I spent close to $5000 of my ‘pocket change’, and at least 1000 hours of my time writing, printing and mailing to any senator, congressman, governor..."
The guy never learned. He also wrote, "But here I am with a new marriage and a boatload of undocumented income..."
Then there's the omitted $12,000.00 his "wife had no clue would ever matter to anyone."
Are these crooks for real? The guy should have practiced his engineering and left financial swindling to someone else. He was a wanna-be Madoff who never made it.
The man didn't off himself over a measly $40,000. He offed himself after battling a system that is designed to be unnavigable by average citizens. He was fed up with a system that requires huge amounts of money and time just to avoid punishment by the gov't that is supposed to be serving us.
If you read his manifesto it seems he was involved in some sort of tax evasion or avoidance scheme. Part of his complaint was that this scheme was used by the wealthy and that he should be able to do the same. To me it sounds like the bitching of a little child who got caught doing something wrong and turns himself into a victim because his brother did the same thing but was not caught.
He then filed a return failing to disclose his wife's income. He blames that on the accountant, of course.
All we have is his side of the story and he has done little but make himself look like a whiny little bitch with a crucifixion complex.
He worked for his money and didn't want to lose a third of it to the gov't. That is a crook? The IRS is the crooked organization.
This common view that trying to keep more of the money that you earned is greedy and bad is pure nonsense.
Our tax code is currently over 56,000 pages long. Even the IRS cannot agree on proper interpretations.
I am sure everyone has heard of Tax Freedom Day? Its the day of the year at which the average american's would finish paying his tax burden.
In 1900 that day was January 22nd. In 1950 it was Feb. 12th. In 1950 it was March 31st. And in 2000 it was May 3rd. Last year it was April 13th. (showing some improvement).
The fact that we work for 2.5 months of the year just to pay our taxes is nuts.
How much you wanna bet this guy was sympathetic with the Tea Party.
Part of the people involved with the Tea Party are very much involved with tax reform. So this guy would have been supportive of that part.
But I fail to see any reason to bring up that connection except as an attempt to continue the "He was a liberal! No he was a conservative" trash talking.
ITs sad how many Americans dont want to live up to personal responsability and pay there fair share.
They drive on roads, call the police, send kids to public schools, and support sending troops to Iraq... Then WHINE when they have to pay taxes.
Part of the people involved with the Tea Party are very much involved with tax reform. So this guy would have been supportive of that part.
But I fail to see any reason to bring up that connection except as an attempt to continue the "He was a liberal! No he was a conservative" trash talking.
About 5 years ago I hired a CPA to manage my taxes for a small business with 5 employees. I paid this guy about $4000/ year. When I dumped that business I dumped him as well. A year later I got a letter from the IRS notifying me of a $2000 fine, and the rest of the letter was unintelligible. So I called them up, and after being on hold for a while and tossed around to several departments I got a young woman on the phone, and I asked her what the fine was for. It turned out the CPA had used the wrong form when sending them money. I asked her if I had sent the correct amount and she said yes, but I had used the wrong form. I told her that they had obviously cashed the check and she told me that I had used the wrong form. I told her that I had hired a CPA to make sure that I was abiding by the law and she told me that I was the president of the company and that I had used the wrong form. So I asked her what recourse I had and she gave me the number of a form to file.
I called one of those attorneys that advertises on he radio about IRS problems and he told me that the fine wasn't big enough for him to bother with. I called my Congressman and that office told me that since the matter had gone beyond a certain point they couldn't intervene. So I filed the form and then got a second notice of the same fine and that my bank account would be seized yada yada. Then a couple weeks later a notice from my bank that the money had been confiscated. Then a second notice that another $2000 had been seized as well. I assume that second shot was because I sent in the wrong form to appeal the fine.
To add insult upon insult to injury the IRS then sent six of my biggest clients a notice that they had seized $4000 out of my bank account.
All I can say is that this guy should have targeted more carefully to have taken down some top policy makers that put him in the predicament that he was in. Maybe he could have put a nice little army together, as I'm sure there are many more of us out there who have been screwed by this agency. He could have been a patriot instead of just a martyr.
He should have joined a militia, offing yourself and taking all of one person with you and leaving a nearly unreadable manifesto doesn't do anything to solve the issue. Of course his weird socialism may have barred him from that one, maybe he should have started his own.The man didn't off himself over a measly $40,000. He offed himself after battling a system that is designed to be unnavigable by average citizens. He was fed up with a system that requires huge amounts of money and time just to avoid punishment by the gov't that is supposed to be serving us.
We spend $500 BILLION a year on tax compliance. That is more than we spend on education (K thru 12) in the entire nation. And that $500 billion is not what we PAY in taxes. It is what we pay to make sure we only pay what we owe and to figure out what the tax code says.
The system is broken and no real efforts have been made to fix it. It is an atrocity and a crime against the american people.
What this lunatic did was wrong. But what drove him to it (even if its only in his own mind) is equally wrong.
He worked for his money and didn't want to lose a third of it to the gov't. That is a crook? The IRS is the crooked organization.
How much you wanna bet this guy was sympathetic with the Tea Party.