Excerpt: "The federal government has filed a lawsuit to force anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan to provide her financial records to the Internal Revenue Service."
Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan in front of the White House. (photo: OutofCentralAsiaNow/WordPress.com)
Feds Sue Activist Cindy Sheehan Over Back Taxes
22 February 12
he federal government has filed a lawsuit to force anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan to provide her financial records to the Internal Revenue Service.
An IRS revenue officer said Sheehan refused to answer any questions about her finances after receiving a summons at her Vacaville home.
The U.S. Attorney's office on Tuesday filed a petition to enforce the IRS summons.
The summons ordered Sheehan to produce bank account statements for the period from August through early November 2011.
According to IRS revenue officer Jose Arteaga, the financial information may be relevant to the collection of Sheehan's federal income tax liabilities for tax years 2005 and 2006.
Arteaga said Sheehan first met with him on Nov. 22 and sought an extension to Jan. 17. It was during the January meeting that she refused to answer any questions or produce the requested documents.
Sheehan said she's always been up front with the IRS and has no intention of paying her taxes. She says the government has already taken enough from her.
"If they (federal government), can give me my son back, I'll pay my taxes, but that's not going to happen," Sheehan said.
Sheehan became an anti-war activist after her son, U.S. Army Specialist Casey Sheehan, was killed in Iraq in 2004. She attracted national attention by setting up a camp in 2005 near President George W. Bush's ranch in Texas.
More recently, Sheehan has been involved in the Occupy movement and was arrested during an October demonstration in Sacramento.
The IRS lists Sheehan as self-employed.
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Comments
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Government is force, it is not reason it is not eloquence. Like Fire it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.
GW
And the Liberals who won't pay? Does Michael Moore, Nancy Pelosi, John Kerry, Harry Reid, Chuck Schummer, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Jimmy Carter ... Do they live at the poverty line and send back all the rest of their money to the government? yea ...suuuure.
It amazes me how easily duped smug liberals are getting scammed by political hucksters they refuse to see in plain sight before them but in every back woods place where must be republicans lurking there traveling preacher's in their revival tents robbing the poor masses.
Government is force, it is not reason it is not eloquence. Like Fire it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.
Fire is dangerous only when used unwisely. Just like money.
Quidk reminder for you right-wingers: Government that's only "force" isn't government, it's tyranny, and it's doomed to fail.
Certainly the framers of our Constitution meant to establish a government. It's only recent GOP occupants of the White House and Congress who've meant to turn it into a tyranny.
it's also democrats who have turned it into tyraany. For starters, Obama signed an excutive order giving Himself the right to assassinate Americans without reason, right to due process, etc.
Then Carl Levin - a D and John McCain - an R (as in bipartisan) wrote the NDAA which Obama was more than happy to sign into law on Dec. 31, 2011 AFTER nearly ALL Democrats voted in favor of it.
Wake up! You have tunnel vision.
Duh, quick reminder for MartinTFre: The supreme court has ruled that money is speech. withholding taxes is protected by the first amendment.
I would love to see that case.
Government, sometimes even big government, is necessary, but it is always dangerous. Power DOES tend to corrupt. That doesn't mean we do away with government, but that people need to be informed, aware of the dangers, and vigilant, and insist on participatory democracy with enough power directly in the hands of the people to hold the government in check, and to know what the government is actually doing instead of operating secretly.
A car is dangerous, even while useful, and the trick os for the driver to be in control of it. What we have now is government which is out of control, and the people, the 'drivers', have to wrest control back from the rich and those who lust for power.
So the fact that government is force, the fact that the government took her son and he died in an undeclared war apparently has offended a bunch of people.
So you nay sayers:: are you happy that that same government does not think Cindy has paid a high enough price already?
Do you think that same government should force jail upon her for not supporting their unconstitutiona l actions?
Those who did not speak out and object to BUSH'immoral instrusion on Iraq'soil would be enabled to salve their conscienes, if they have any, by endorsing any proposed legislation which would absolve surviving mothers of killed uniformed military personnel of federal tax obligations.
You go girl!!
The Mafia has a code of honor.
btw, Timothy Geithner didn't pay his taxes either, did he? And some others in Obama's cabinet. Did he get harassed by the IRS?
John Kerry tried to get away with not paying taxes on his new yacht about one or two years ago. He docked it in Rhode Island. Nice try, ya crook.
But the MA Dept. of Revenue went after him, so he had to pay up.
Yes. Thank you for writing that. Cindy needs our support. For that, we need to know some facts. Did her son voluntarily join the armed forces? Can we know that/
Ref your question;
Did her son voluntarily join the armed forces? Can we know that ?
As far as I'm aware, he did join voluntarily.
In fact way back when he first became a causalty, I emailed Cindy myself, in those days many of her writtings were SUPPORTIVE of the U.S. foreign policy and the military. I found many of her utterances naive and ill informed.
However, in fairness, these changed dramaticaly over time, when she finaly realised everything she ever believed was a lie.
Even if he volunteered it doesn't mean he should have been sent into a dangerous, unnecessary war for corporatists profits which continue to this day.
Cindy's son was no more than fodder for the Military Industrial Complex machine.
I marvel (and bow some) at Cindy, she never will forgive or forget and I think in turn she represents all the mothers and fathers and loved ones everywhere who lost someone, as the hero of the people. Con's think she is now all happy that there is no Bush to bash, but she is no sycophant of one party or another.
If she doesn't want to give the IRS any money then she should donate whatever it takes to the myriad of tax deductible organizations that help out vets & their families. Or any other type of organizations she may choose. Thumbing her nose at the IRS in protest of war is akin to not paying your electric bill because you don't like how your water company does business.
We need SELECTIVE tax or a say in where our taxes go and should work for that through Occupy -and there are other tax rebellion movements out there.
If you think that current "Fragmented States" is a representative democracy, suggest you begin y'r re-education with Greg Palast's "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy".
It has been a proto-Fascist plutocracy since the appalling Dulles brothers gave free passage to many Nazi Scientists and Doctors who should have been in the dock at Nuremberg with Gøering and Co. but who had a founding hand in the current bloated MIC and it's long series of blowbacks which in a large part account for the current state of the middle east, Indonesia and formerly the domination of S. & C. Americas (thankfully no longer).
This is going to test her fortitude as it does all those that the true face of Bigger-and-Bigger-Brother will when they gang up on on small individual who is just trying to live and do something positive for the rest of the oppressed in her bereavement. -And she won't be the last.
We need to get behind her en masse!
Occupy the IRS!
Most of us Catholics who actually love our Faith do not necessarily love Religion so if you have an argument on Faith go to another referendum. This is about Loss, woman who is doing her thing.
Put Cindy in jail and that will embolden the Occupy movement even further
Two if self employed, she may not have worked those years. If she owes a couple hundred, they will spend Your money to take her on at cost of thousands to Prove a Point?
Now look at your statements, figure what is wrong with this picture.
First, I do not have facts.
Second, she does not owe us the facts.
Third government probably lying again
Fourth I hope she stands her ground as it will cost them more
Fifth I do hope the properties are not in her name, if anything is in her name than she is dumb to take a stance until such time as it was turned over as most Republicans do.
Remember you are paying for any action that happens, Not her. Her intelligence and her lawyers should have been to put her owe into escrow, then this is different playing field. They might have.You do not know.
You are looking at writers that are writing stories for tabloids, they sensationalize not necessarily tell all the facts. Paper depends on them to do so. Take what writers write very lightly, question authority, then get involved by writing, calling, Get your Local Media involved.
If she needs funding there are Good sites on Web that raise money.But set it up legally with her lawyers knowing or You will be serving time as well.
Get the Facts, she is playin them! Unfortunately at our Expense.
Writer, write me a story on how many Politicians owe Taxes and College Loans for a good story
and doing it to people making more then $100,000 is different because ... ?
A few people with money to go to court, have challenged the IRS apparently by asking to be shown the law. They can't. And when pressed, say that it is a voluntary contribution.
See his documentary: America: From Freedom to Fascism.
Some say he died from cancer. Others say the gov't offed him b/c he wouldn't shut up. Speaking of gov't offing people here's a very relevant movie for the times were are in and headed toward:
V for Vendetta
Movie about war lies: Lambs to Lions (or Lions to Lambs - a journalist, a senator and a political science prof.
And one about fed gov't coverup and what was done to whistleblowers: Edge of Darkness.
"Another thing that I’m doing is -- my son was killed in 2004, so I’m not paying my taxes for 2004. If I get a letter from the IRS, I’m gonna say, you know what, this war is illegal; this is why this war is illegal. This war is immoral; this is why this war is immoral. You killed my son for this. I don’t owe you anything. And if I live to be a million, I won’t owe you a penny.
"And I want them to come after me, because unlike what you’ve been doing with the war resistance, I want to put this frickin’ war on trial. And I want to say, “You give me my son, and I’ll pay your taxes.”
" . . . . And Henry David Thoreau he went to prison, he refused to pay his poll tax, and Emerson, I call them HT and RW, and RW came to visit HT and said what are you doing here, buddy? And HT said, why aren’t you here? This is the only place for a moral person in an immoral world.
"It’s up to us, the people, to break immoral laws, and resist. As soon as the leaders of a country lie to you, they have no authority over you. These maniacs have no authority over us. And they might be able to put our bodies in prison, but they can’t put our spirits in prison. . . .
* * * * *
"The opposite of good is not evil, it’s apathy."
Really the only control people have over their governments is to cut off the funding, to stop paying taxes. Governments know this and do all they can to intimidate people into paying.
Most of the IRS laws use the phrase "system of voluntary compliance" because when income tax was originally debated in congress it was felt that taxes should be paid voluntarily by a citizenry which wants the services government provides. Very few people now would voluntarily pay. Corporations don't voluntarily pay and they have for the most part opted out of paying taxes. The system is falling apart and will collapse soon. The US regime simply cannot collect enough tax to cover its expenses. It fills the deficit by borrowing, but soon it will not be able to borrow. No one will lend to it. So it prints money. That will fail too. The US regime is terminal. It cannot survive for many more years unless there is radical change.
So, this is ALL about sending a message to those like her who are sincere and determined to make change in our society. This is about taking someone with a high profile and very consciously targeting them in order to intimidate and dissuade others from this sort of protest involving the nonpayment of one's taxes.
Of course, Obama is going to lose votes over this. The administration should have let this one go. People are generally sympathetic to a mother who lost her son because a few corrupt and contemptible men in power chose to send U.S. troops (our fathers, mothers, son, and daughters) into a completely illegal, unjustified, and unnecessary war.
If anyone should be targeted for criminal activity, it should be the likes of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, etc., not Cindy Sheehan.
Maybe 'once upon a time', but not now.
Withholding tax and deficit spending (AKA - DEBT-SLAVERY FOREVER), killed ancient 'tax protests' ... stone dead.
IN ESSENCE: Around 1900 AD unconstitutiona l Federal Income Tax was adopted for federal employees only.
In 1913 Federal (NOT!) Reserve (NONE!) Bank(STERS PONZINOMICS GANG was created from nothing - just like their paper FRNs 'money' - out-of-thin-air.
Then, after engineering W.W.I, the Roaring 20s, The CRASH, The Great Depression' and massive VOLUNTARY income tax 'compliance' during W.W.II - with DONALD DUCK no less.
Then the PRIVATE FED/FRN (FIAT = paper money) gang assumed forced (unratified) 14th Amendment 'equality' applied to ALL employees to pay unconstitutiona l income tax enforced in unconstitutiona l PRIVATE TAX TRIBUNALS - and their 'up to 90% income tax cut' in the fabulous 1950s.
By 1984 income tax failed to 'service (pay the interest on) the U$ DEBT' - thus a tax protest or strike would not change a thing.
HINT #1: The government kept printing DEBT (AKA money) anyway - even though WITHHELD 'income tax' failed and
HINT #2: EMPLOYERS pay income tax on the labor (for using the labor) of the employed 'wage earning' debt slaves.
The only peaceful tool left is THE GENERAL STRIKE.
The Infernal Revenge Service: a rabid private collection crew for the rancid and private Federal (NOT!) Reserve (NONE!) Bank(STERS PONZINOMICS GANG issuing paper FRNs backed by ... paper and un-repayable debt) harassing bereaved moms, veterans and war protesters; using unconstitutiona l tax tribunal 'courts' on behalf of one seriously embarrassed, bankrupt and exposed gubbermint?
Naah. Couldn't happen in 'Murrika, land of the fee and home of the slave - could it?
When GE and other corporations pay taxes then they can go after the average person.
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