VaB
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Fedex pilot star? Not hiring related-sorry
What gives? Maybe it's time I give myself a $20,000 a year raise and let everyone else pay for everything?
http://www.gomemphis.com/mca/local_news/article/0,1426,MCA_437_2244310,00.html
Taxing Issue
Acquitted pilot a star for beating the IRS - so far
By Shirley Downing
[email protected]
September 9, 2003
News of FedEx pilot Vernice Kuglin's acquittal on criminal charges of evading federal income taxes soared across the country last month faster than the DC10 she normally captains.
She was deluged with congratulatory E-mails from fellow tax protesters and requests from reporters for interviews. Her story appeared in The New York Times and she appeared on national television.
"I knew this to be an important case," said Kuglin, who stopped paying federal income taxes in 1996. "I had no idea the time bomb it would set off."
Her victory celebration may be short-lived.
There's still the civil matter of an estimated $250,000 in federal income taxes owed on the $920,000 she's earned in the period covered by the indictment.
"She is not going to be able to quit paying her taxes," said University of Memphis law professor Bill Kratzke, of the court verdict.
"All it means is she doesn't go to prison."
Based on her research, Kuglin believes the federal income tax law does not apply to her, and the federal tax code allows for "voluntary compliance." The IRS has often heard such arguments and considers them without merit.
"Anyone who is considering using these frivolous tax arguments to avoid payment of federal taxes should not take comfort in this verdict,'' said Jennifer Pollard, spokesman for the IRS criminal investigation division in Nashville.
After she became involved in the Libertarian Party about 11 years ago, Kuglin began to study the U.S. Constitution and federal tax code.
This year, a few days before the April 15 filing deadline, a federal grand jury indicted her on six counts of tax evasion and with filing false W4 forms between 1996 and 2001. Conviction could have meant up to 30 years in prison and $1.5 million in fines.
In the mid-1990s, Kuglin wrote the IRS asking why she had to pay income taxes, but her letters were ignored, she testified during the five-day trial last month in the Clifford Davis Federal Building in downtown Memphis.
Several jurors said federal prosecutors had not proven their case.
U.S. Atty. Terrell Harris called the court loss disappointing but said his office will continue to pursue such cases aggressively.
"Tax violators should realize that the vast majority of criminal tax indictments in the Western District of Tennessee result in conviction," Harris said though a spokesman.
And the IRS reported a 92 percent conviction rate in such criminal cases last year.
IRS spokesman Pollard said she could not discuss specific cases. But she said after such a verdict, the IRS generally would refer the case to its civil division, which would determine the amount of taxes and penalties due, and notify the individual.
"If they don't pay, the IRS will take action to collect those taxes, and that involves liens, levies, garnishments, seizure of assets to settle the tax liability, and civil lawsuits,'' she said.
And further criminal action is possible for Kuglin, though not for the same years for which she was acquitted. "That would be double jeopardy, obviously," Pollard said.
Kuglin's attorney, Lowell 'Larry' Becraft of Huntsville, Ala., is known for defending tax protesters.
"These people that study tax laws seize upon them and say, 'A-ha, there is something wrong with the income tax system, and the ranks of these people are growing," he said.
After Kuglin's acquittal, Becraft referred to the 6-inch thick federal tax code as a confusing conglomeration that "at best is a walking due process violation."
Becraft also represented 17 Mid-Southerners acquitted in Memphis in 1991 on federal tax evasion charges. One defendant was Franklin Sanders, a gold and silver dealer who refused to pay sales tax on business transactions.
Sanders - who now lives in Middle Tennessee in a place he calls "Dogwood Mudhole" - said the IRS is relentless in the pursuit of unpaid taxes.
"These people follow Sherman's scorched earth, or total war theory,'' he said, adding that the IRS cost him "15 years of my life."
Even after the acquittal in Memphis, Sanders said he was jailed at various times on tax charges, and could barely make a living.
Sanders said a few of the 17 defendants started paying income tax, but "some are still not filing and they are protesting because they know they don't owe the tax."
In Memphis, Kuglin estimated the case has already meant up to $200,000 in lost wages and legal costs.
She had to surrender her passport after the indictment, and went on temporary leave from her job.
FedEx spokesman Ed Coleman said the company complies with all federal regulations on tax matters, and Kuglin's case "is a matter between this individual and the IRS and it is not necessarily a FedEx issue."
Here is the $920,000 question: Will she pay income taxes now?
"They can pursue me civilly and we will continue to ask the same question (about whether the income tax law applies to her)," Kuglin said.
What gives? Maybe it's time I give myself a $20,000 a year raise and let everyone else pay for everything?
http://www.gomemphis.com/mca/local_news/article/0,1426,MCA_437_2244310,00.html
Taxing Issue
Acquitted pilot a star for beating the IRS - so far
By Shirley Downing
[email protected]
September 9, 2003
News of FedEx pilot Vernice Kuglin's acquittal on criminal charges of evading federal income taxes soared across the country last month faster than the DC10 she normally captains.
She was deluged with congratulatory E-mails from fellow tax protesters and requests from reporters for interviews. Her story appeared in The New York Times and she appeared on national television.
"I knew this to be an important case," said Kuglin, who stopped paying federal income taxes in 1996. "I had no idea the time bomb it would set off."
Her victory celebration may be short-lived.
There's still the civil matter of an estimated $250,000 in federal income taxes owed on the $920,000 she's earned in the period covered by the indictment.
"She is not going to be able to quit paying her taxes," said University of Memphis law professor Bill Kratzke, of the court verdict.
"All it means is she doesn't go to prison."
Based on her research, Kuglin believes the federal income tax law does not apply to her, and the federal tax code allows for "voluntary compliance." The IRS has often heard such arguments and considers them without merit.
"Anyone who is considering using these frivolous tax arguments to avoid payment of federal taxes should not take comfort in this verdict,'' said Jennifer Pollard, spokesman for the IRS criminal investigation division in Nashville.
After she became involved in the Libertarian Party about 11 years ago, Kuglin began to study the U.S. Constitution and federal tax code.
This year, a few days before the April 15 filing deadline, a federal grand jury indicted her on six counts of tax evasion and with filing false W4 forms between 1996 and 2001. Conviction could have meant up to 30 years in prison and $1.5 million in fines.
In the mid-1990s, Kuglin wrote the IRS asking why she had to pay income taxes, but her letters were ignored, she testified during the five-day trial last month in the Clifford Davis Federal Building in downtown Memphis.
Several jurors said federal prosecutors had not proven their case.
U.S. Atty. Terrell Harris called the court loss disappointing but said his office will continue to pursue such cases aggressively.
"Tax violators should realize that the vast majority of criminal tax indictments in the Western District of Tennessee result in conviction," Harris said though a spokesman.
And the IRS reported a 92 percent conviction rate in such criminal cases last year.
IRS spokesman Pollard said she could not discuss specific cases. But she said after such a verdict, the IRS generally would refer the case to its civil division, which would determine the amount of taxes and penalties due, and notify the individual.
"If they don't pay, the IRS will take action to collect those taxes, and that involves liens, levies, garnishments, seizure of assets to settle the tax liability, and civil lawsuits,'' she said.
And further criminal action is possible for Kuglin, though not for the same years for which she was acquitted. "That would be double jeopardy, obviously," Pollard said.
Kuglin's attorney, Lowell 'Larry' Becraft of Huntsville, Ala., is known for defending tax protesters.
"These people that study tax laws seize upon them and say, 'A-ha, there is something wrong with the income tax system, and the ranks of these people are growing," he said.
After Kuglin's acquittal, Becraft referred to the 6-inch thick federal tax code as a confusing conglomeration that "at best is a walking due process violation."
Becraft also represented 17 Mid-Southerners acquitted in Memphis in 1991 on federal tax evasion charges. One defendant was Franklin Sanders, a gold and silver dealer who refused to pay sales tax on business transactions.
Sanders - who now lives in Middle Tennessee in a place he calls "Dogwood Mudhole" - said the IRS is relentless in the pursuit of unpaid taxes.
"These people follow Sherman's scorched earth, or total war theory,'' he said, adding that the IRS cost him "15 years of my life."
Even after the acquittal in Memphis, Sanders said he was jailed at various times on tax charges, and could barely make a living.
Sanders said a few of the 17 defendants started paying income tax, but "some are still not filing and they are protesting because they know they don't owe the tax."
In Memphis, Kuglin estimated the case has already meant up to $200,000 in lost wages and legal costs.
She had to surrender her passport after the indictment, and went on temporary leave from her job.
FedEx spokesman Ed Coleman said the company complies with all federal regulations on tax matters, and Kuglin's case "is a matter between this individual and the IRS and it is not necessarily a FedEx issue."
Here is the $920,000 question: Will she pay income taxes now?
"They can pursue me civilly and we will continue to ask the same question (about whether the income tax law applies to her)," Kuglin said.
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