Michael Bowman, a 53-year-old self-employed computer software developer from Columbia City, Oregon, hasn’t paid his federal income taxes since 1999.
He says it’s because his Christian ideals don’t allow him to pay into a system that funds abortions. In a YouTube video explainer of his defense, he likened paying taxes that then go toward funding abortions to German citizens under Nazi rule who outed Jewish citizens, sending them to their deaths.
And according to The Associated Press, he beat the feds in court this week.
To be clear, Bowman won the battle, not the war he’s fighting with the IRS and the Oregon U.S. District Court, when federal Judge Michael W. Mosman dismissed a felony tax evasion charge against Bowman.
Mosman ruled that the government’s indictment failed to provide any evidence that Bowman tried to conceal money from or misled the IRS by cashing his paychecks instead of depositing them and keeping a low bank balance so tax collectors couldn’t garnish wages from it to pay what it says are back taxes owed.
“Not everything that makes collection efforts more difficult qualifies as evasion,” Mosman said Wednesday, according to the Oregonian.
According to Bowman’s federal indictment, the self-employed computer software developer owes back taxes on at least $800,000 of income and falsely claimed he was owed several refunds. The feds claim he started using the religious argument for not paying his taxes only after his “’Claim of Right’ tax avoidance scheme failed.”
The taxes and penalties due associated with that income is $356,857.
That indictment came down in February 2017, and Mosman dismissed it without prejudice Wednesday, which means the prosecutors could seek a new indictment to replace it. Bowman still faces four misdemeanor counts of willful failure to file tax returns.
I’m surprised we haven’t seen more of this, IRS has been operating illegally since 1862, from the inception.
I’m NOT surprised it was an Oregonian. 🙂
Yeah, he beat the Criminal charge which is good, a positive … but stand-by for the Administrative and/or Civil charges !!!
We stand on the law, not our convictions as they can vary among us. Can we not have great conviction about our laws? Yes, we can, and we must demand the servants are accountable to these laws.
This man as well as every other man that does NOT receive a federal benefit does not owe “income” taxes, period. This is the law and 10’s of thousands of American Nationals know the law and exercise the knowledge and get back in full from fed & state govts ALL that is being withheld.
http://losthorizons.com/