I’ve been refusing to pay federal taxes for many years now, and this year I got to experience one of those rare and beautiful triumphs we tax resisters sometimes have: One of the tax debts the IRS has been pursuing me for fell off of the ten-year statute of limitations.
In I filed my federal tax return, showing that I owed $3,695 in self-employment tax. I didn’t enclose a check. The IRS came after me with its usual series of exasperated demand letters, eventually adding about $2,800 in interest & penalties to the original total. They even successfully seized $469 from a bank account once.
But then they seemingly lost interest in the chase. At any time they could have seized money from my IRA or tapped the client who sends me most of my self-employment revenue. But they just plain dropped the ball.
I had allowed myself to hope that this would happen, but I didn’t really expect it. I got away with it. I didn’t pay my taxes, weathered the IRS threats, called their bluff, and walked away without having to pay. That’s pretty fantastic.
Here’s how I’m celebrating:
Enclosed, please find a check for $3,226 made out to the Prisoners Literature Project. As a former volunteer with PLP I know how well this money will be spent.
Several years ago, I became unwilling to continue to offer financial support to the U.S. government by voluntarily paying taxes to it. In , for example, I filed a tax return showing that I owed $3,695, but I refused to write the check. The IRS has periodically sent me threatening notices about this, has added significant penalties and interest to the total, and has even managed on one occasion to seize $469 from my bank account. But , the ten year statute of limitations on that tax debt expired without the IRS managing to collect the remaining $3,226.
That is to say: I totally got away with it.
I’m grateful for the opportunity to share my good fortune with the Prisoners Literature Project and with those the Project serves.
Sincerely,
David M. GrossP.S. My check comes to you via the People’s Life Fund, which operates as a way for conscientious tax resisters like myself to coordinate in order to redirect their taxes from harmful government spending to beneficial causes.
