http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/…

Paul Hogan is best known as Crocodile Dundee, but he is now getting publicity for his fight against the tax-hungry Australian Tax Office. The Australian reports on the case, and quotes Hogan’s justified complaints about the government’s rigged rules. Hopefully Hogan will prevail, much as he did the last time he was subject to a shakedown attempt:

A defiant Paul Hogan had a typically plain-spoken and blunt message for the Australian Taxation Office yesterday: “Come and get me, you miserable bastards.” As the ATO enlisted the help of the Internal Revenue Service in the US to pursue the actor for allegedly undisclosed tax liabilities, a bemused Hogan insisted he had paid more than enough tax - a figure he estimated to be in excess of $100million - in Australia. …”I’d like to make a deal with the tax office that I’ll give them every cent I made, both me and (partner John “Strop”) Cornell, if they give me every cent they made out of my movies. As a guy who brought millions into
Australia, they should build a statue at the tax office to me and send me a Christmas card. I lived in America and still paid tax in Australia for 4 1/2 years when I could have paid tax in America, and it would have been cheaper, because I thought we needed the money back home more than they needed it here.” …Hogan railed against Operation Wickenby, a taskforce headed by the Australian Taxation Office, working in conjunction with other agencies such as the Australian Crime Commission. “If you become a victim or a target for the ACC, the crime commission, you’re not allowed to say you are, you’re not allowed to say anything they said to you or that you’ve even been questioned, or you can go to jail,” Hogan said. “If the ACC interrogated me, then I couldn’t tell you what they asked me or I can’t even admit they did because I could go to jail, but the ACC has some dickhead who can leak information to the press and anyone else who’s interested.” Hogan said he was being targeted only because he was “high-profile and because I’ve got money”.

Awesome. If only Wesley Snipes had reacted like this.

I’m sure Hogan is going to screwed but at least he’s talking a good game and raising awareness.

http://www.wesh.com/…

Wesley Snipes was sentenced to 36 months in prison Thursday, the maximum sentence allowed.

Snipes was convicted of three misdemeanor charges for not filing his taxes.

During the sentencing, Snipes did apologize.

“I asked this court to show me mercy and the opportunity to set things right,” Snipes said. “This will never happen again. I am very sorry for my mistakes or my errors.”

He added, “being in the spotlight attracts loving fans, and jackals.”

However, the judge indicated that deterrent was an important factor in tax cases.

“There’s nothing unusual about prosecuting a celebrity,” Judge William Hodges said. “[Snipes] never mentioned the words tax or taxes in his apology.”

Prosecutors, too, sought the maximum sentence to deter others from attempting to avoid tax payments.

“We think it sends a real message,” U.S. Attorney Robert O’Neill said. “Again you have to pay your taxes. If you dispute the taxes you owe, contact the IRS and go through the formal process. To continually just say, ‘I don’t owe taxes, you must show me why I owe taxes,’ it seemed his position was ludicrous.”

Snipes was not forced to surrender immediately. Instead the judge said he can surrender at a later date, somewhere nearer to his New Jersey home.

Snipes’ defense team spent the morning arguing that he should not have to go to prison.

Snipes had appeared confident when he arrived at the federal courthouse Thursday morning.

In the pre-sentencing report, the probation department said that Snipes’ conduct could be construed as trying to obstruct the investigation. The report said that could be grounds to increase Snipes’ jail time.

Snipes had many character witness letters written by friends, including Woody Harrelson and Denzel Washington.

From the beginning I wished he would have argued his case on the basis that taxation is theft and an illegitimate action. His defense was instead that he had come to understand that he wasn’t required to pay. The whole 16th Amendment wasn’t ratified, only corporations and resident aliens are required to pay type arguments are pointless. Time and time again the government court system has ruled those as frivolous. They have the guns so what they judge is what it is… not what the words on paper happen to be. I’m disappointed in his apology. These thugs don’t care that you’ve not harmed anyone… that no real crime has occurred. You aren’t the aggressor, they are. They are in the wrong. God forbid a man should desire to keep the fruits of his labor. That a man wish not to be a slave to the state which by demanding a portion of our income at the threat of violence makes us little more then property of the almighty government. That if they can take 1% they can take 100%… they own it all and let you keep some of it. They claim to own your property, your labor, your life. All this done instituted through violence in order to protect you from violence.

I don’t know what options he has available to him in the legal realm but I think I’d consider taking off to some foreign country which doesn’t have extradition treaties with the USA. That is if he has any money left that he can access. I would have bought a lot of precious metal and stored it overseas before any of this shit occurred.