Only someone as reckless and treasonous as Secessionist Sarah could somehow claim that paying taxes is NOT patriotic. All these wing nuts do is go on and on about freedom this and freedom that. Well it costs money to defend freedom and federal taxes are used to finance the defense of this country.
Does this mean that Secessionist Sarah hates America and thinks its actually patriotic to use avoidance schemes to blow off the IRS and not pay federal taxes. Apparently she does, since she grossly underpaid her income taxes by failing to report $17,000 in per diem expenses that she pocketed from the Alaska government for sleeping in her own home.
For those who believe that not paying federal taxes is still patriotic, I give you exhibit A: Edward and Elaine Brown of New Hampshire.
The Browns alleged that they were not United States citizens, that they were non-residents of the United States for tax purposes, that the New Hampshire business tax laws were incorrect, null and void, and that labor could not be taxed. According to a New Hampshire newspaper, the Browns had not paid some state taxes, and "face a state tax lien for business profit taxes" of $343,000. The paper reported that with penalties and accumulated interest, the combined Federal and state tax amount owed by Edward and Elaine Brown was over three million dollars.
Here is what "patriot" Edward Brown said about the IRS and federal taxes:
This is the beginning of one very huge movement. I'm not quite sure you understand the ramifications of what's going on right now. This is massive. This is international. We are fed up with the Zionist Illuminati. That's what this is all about. Loud and clear. Zionist Illuminati. Lawyers, whatever they are, okay, it's going to stop. And if the judge is a member of that, I know that McAuliffe [the Federal judge in Brown's tax case] is, I know that U.S. Attorney Colantuono is, they'd better stop. This is a warning. You can do whatever you want to me. My job is to get the message out, and I'm getting the message out, and I'm warning you guys - not you guys [referring to the radio show hosts], them - to cease and desist their unlawful activity in this country and every other country because once this thing starts, we're going to seek them out and hunt them down. And we're going to bring them to justice. So anybody wishes to join them, you go right ahead and join them. But I promise you, long after I'm gone, they're going to seek out every one of you and your bloodline.
Brown's views are not that different from those of the secessionist Alaska Independence Party that Todd Palin was a member of and that Sarah Palin both attended a convention and addressed the group as governor.
Taxes are like broccoli, a necessary evil. I know no one who actually likes to pay taxes, but if you like luxuries like police, fire, snow removal, you pay local taxes. Moreover, if you want your interstate highways to not resemble the craters of the moon, you pay excise tax that helps maintain the federal highway system, which was established by President Eisenhower as part of our national defense!
Yet a fringe of wing nuts even outside what we at DK consider part of the average views of the citizens of wingnuttia believe the federal income tax is illegal and therefore unconstitutional. This is Palinesque logic. It is true that a federal income tax WAS once ruled unconstitutional. This was remedied when the 16th Amendment was ratified in 1913.
The ratification of the 16th Amendment should have ended the controversy over taxation. Regardless of whether or not the amendment itself is fair is moot since it passed constitutional muster and is now the law of the land. The ironic thing about these tax protesters is that they try to link up their unpatriotic activity with America's colonial past and claim that the income tax is a form of taxation without representation.
If this is how they feel, fine. They should work to repeal the 16th Amendment then and do away with a federal income tax. The problem is that these wing nuts are the dangerous variety and would try to kill federal agents attempting to do their job.
This is what US Marshalls uncovered when they arrested the Browns on Oct. 4, of last year:
After the arrests, law enforcement personnel began searching the home and found weapons, ammunition, explosive devices and booby traps. Law enforcement officials found twenty "suspected pipe bombs," nine "destructive devices," bags of high explosives hanging in the trees, smoke grenades, materials for partially constructed nail bombs, two .50-caliber rifles, 18 other guns, and over 60,000 rounds of ammunition.
Unfortunately, middle class white racist terrorists get treated with kid gloves by the Bush Administration which seems to be obsessed with padding terrorism arrests by snagging idiot wannabe terrorists who happen to be Muslim rather than focusing on the real threats to America, including members of the AIP and Secessionist Sarah and the First Dude.