The I.R.S. Is Taking Cindy Sheehan to Court

The IRS is taking war tax resister Cindy Sheehan to federal court on April 19th to ask a judge to compel her to give them financial information that would help them seize money from her for her unpaid taxes.

Sheehan told radio show host Joyce Riley:

I would like this to be a movement. I do know that there’s many, many people who are conscientious tax objectors around the country, but I think we need to make it a movement with more and more people joining us.

There are many ways people can be conscientious tax objectors. You don’t have to do it 100% like I do. You can not pay part of your taxes, you can write letters to the IRS on tax day, you can have protests on tax day.

Many people think that they have too much to lose, to go like I do. I have pared down my life to where… I’m in my bedroom right now, looking at everything I own. So I have really sacrificed a lot of material comforts to do what I do right now: I don’t own a car, I don’t own a home, I don’t own any property. And that’s been pretty much intentional for me.

So I would like April 19th, 2012, when I’m having this court hearing, if there’s anybody in the area, to come and let’s have a rally and let’s Occupy the IRS that day. To show, first of all, support for me, but to show that I’m not the only one that feels this way, that our tax money is used for really nefarious and evil purposes.

Surely you’ve noticed that the IRS has a lot more on its plate than it used to: and that trend will continue as the recent health care industry legislation phases in over the coming years.

And if you’ve been following the news around here, you’ll know that tax fraud is rampant — almost a hula-hoop-like craze in some parts of the country — and that the backlog of tax enforcement cases the IRS has been unable to deal with is growing each year.

So perhaps it will surprise you that the agency trimmed its workforce by 5,000 people over the last year, 3,000 of which came from the tax enforcement division.