What is a Tax Protester?

On: August 9, 2019

A tax protester is someone who refuses to pay a tax claiming that the tax laws are unconstitutional or otherwise invalid. Tax protesters are different from tax resisters, who refuse to pay taxes as a protest against the government or its policies, not out of a belief that the tax law itself is invalid. Tax protesters raise a number of different kinds of arguments. In the United States, these typically include constitutional arguments, such as claims that the Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution was not properly ratified or that it is unconstitutional generally, or that being forced to file an income tax return violates the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. Others are statutory arguments suggesting that the income tax is constitutional but the statutes enacting the income tax are ineffective, or that Federal Reserve Notes or other relevant currencies do not constitute cash or income. Yet another collection of arguments centers on general conspiracies involving numerous government agencies. The US Supreme Court has ruled on these issues and it has been determined that Federal taxes are legal and the IRS is the valid agency to be collecting these taxes and enforcing the law in these instances. The IRS considers promoters of tax protests to be fraudulent tax scam artists and have subjected them to prosecution. Attorneys representing tax protesters have been known to be banned from practicing before the IRS and, in some cases, banned altogether from the practice of law. Certain attorneys have been known to specialize in challenging Federal income tax until such time as their license to practice law has been revoked. Some have been known to continue practicing law without a license and they usually end up in jail. Most tax attorneys, CPAs, enrolled agents and tax resolution firms will avoid representing tax protesters.