The New York Times has this story about actor Wesley Snipes who’s become the most prominent member of a movement of tax deniers I wrote about last week.
The story says Snipes was found not guilty on two charges of fraud and conspiracy, but was convicted on three misdemeanor charges and could spend up to three years in prison.
Here’s a nice snippet from the story:
In closing arguments on Tuesday, lawyers for Mr. Snipes sought to portray him as a well-intended victim of bad advice by his co-defendants. They called his tax theories “kooky,” “crazy” and “dead wrong,” but said acting on these views did not make him a criminal because he disclosed his actions. The defense also objected to his being tried by an all-white jury of seven women and five men.
The Supreme Court has ruled that tax deniers can demonstrate the absence of criminal intent by asserting that they “sincerely believe” that they are not required to pay taxes, although they cannot escape the levies.
That last point is something I covered in my story last week, about a San Diego couple that ended up in similar trouble to Mr. Snipes after buying into similar theories on not paying income taxes.