wholey shit, libertarians will be rejoicing

Local attorney acquitted on federal income tax charges
Cryer stopped filing income taxes more than 10 years ago
July 13, 2007
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By Loresha Wilson
ljwilson@gannett.com

A Shreveport attorney who has challenged the government for years on the legality of filing federal income taxes has been acquitted on charges he failed to file returns.

A federal jury unanimously found Tommy Cryer not guilty this week on two misdemeanor counts of failure to file.


And according to Cryer, the prosecution dismissed two felony charges of tax evasion prior to trial.

Attempts by The Times on Thursday to reach U.S. Attorney Donald Washington or Bill Flanagan, first assistant U.S. attorney, were not successful. Calls made to the two were not immediately returned.

"The court could not find a law that makes me liable or makes my revenues taxable," Cryer said. "The Supreme Court has ruled that the government cannot impose an income tax on anything but the profits and gains. When you work for someone you give your service and labor in exchange for money, so everything you make is not profit or gain. You put something into it."

Cryer was indicted last year on two counts of tax evasion. The indictment alleged he evaded payment of $73,000 in income tax to the Internal Revenue Service during 2000 and 2001.

Cryer created a trust listing himself as the trustee, and received payments of dividends, interest and stock income to that trust, according to the indictment. He also was accused of concealing his receipt of the sources of income from the IRS by failing to file a tax return on behalf of that trust.

"I determined that my personal earnings were not 100 percent profits, some were income," Cryer said. "I refuse to file, I refuse to pay unless they can show me I have a lawful reason to pay."

"What I earned was my own personal labor. I am giving something in exchange. I'm giving my property and I don't belong to anyone else."

Cryer says he stopped filing returns more than 10 years ago after he investigated claims that income tax was a sham. He contends the law doesn't actually tax personal earning.
 
Yeah, he was on the radio out here. His argument was unique as it used the SCOTUS decisions on definitions of "income" and "taxable" against the government.
 
Oh so I can deduct an auto to drive to work and gas burned for that ? If I drove to work that is :)
this might be good for bringing personal exemptions inline with corporate deductions.

It appears that profit is profit.
 
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uscitizen said:
Umm it has to do with profits and if I work a job my related expenses deduct from the profit.
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You are not getting profit (the definition of income by the SCOTUS) unless you are selling something. The guy was making it clear that he did not file at all because his earnings were not derived from profit they were earnings which has a different legal definition.

In this context you would not pay taxes at all, except on your land sale.

If you were actually making profit, you would figure profit after the cost before you would file the taxes. Deductions are made pre-filing and not in the filing.
 
Desh said:
If it doesnt the entire country is going to change big time.
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It can't, he was acquitted. It would be Double Jeopardy. Just like OJ can't be tried again for the murders, this guy cannot be tried again on these charges.
 
This will never have an impact. If the guy's right and there is no legal standing for the government to collect income taxes, then it still doesn't mean they're going to stop trying to collect them.
 
Damocles said:
It can't, he was acquitted. It would be Double Jeopardy. Just like OJ can't be tried again for the murders, this guy cannot be tried again on these charges.
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But they can change the charges slightly to get different results.

A person aquitted of murder, can still be charged with manslaughter--depending upon how it is worded.
 
doniston said:
But they can change the charges slightly to get different results.

A person aquitted of murder, can still be charged with manslaughter--depending upon how it is worded.
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They might revive the stronger charges that they dropped, but I doubt it. This guy just gets away with it.
 
It may mean a lot of people are going to stop filing!

Does he have taxes taken out of his wages, or does he take enough exemptions?

This is indeed a real page turner!
 
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