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FUTUREMAN PLEADS GUILTY TO TAX EVASION

May 04, 2005

Roy Wooten, master percussionist for the Flecktones, has pleaded guilty to one count of income tax evasion. (UPDATE 8-16-05: Futureman Sentenced)

The online version of the Nashville Tennessean reports:

Authorities say Wooten falsely filed forms saying he was exempt from income tax. The grand jury indictment says that he conducted his affairs in cash to avoid detection and concealed a taxable income over the four years of about $379,000, on which he owed more than $100,000 in taxes.

TAX PROTESTER ARGUMENTS: FOOLISH OR CRAZY?

Mr. Wooten, who performs as Futureman, has been in tax trouble for some time. About a year ago the Sixth Circuit ruled Mr. Wooten was incompetent to assist in his own defence on the tax charges. The court said then of Mr. Wooten:

   He subsequently appeared
   before the district court when ordered to do
   so, but his participation in the district court
   proceedings was defined by his insistence
   on responding to virtually every question
   with arcane, pseudo-legal jargon commonly
   associated with tax protestor literature. He
   also repeatedly proclaimed his beliefs that
   the federal government is bankrupt, the
   Department of the Navy runs the country
   under Admiralty Law and the Uniform
   Commercial Code, the Internal Revenue
   Service is really a foreign debt collector
   based in Puerto Rico and that Wooten, who
   lives in Nashville, is not actually a resident
   of the United States. Wooten also filed
   volumes of pleadings, many signed only
   with his thumb print, that the district court
   found virtually indecipherable. Faced with
   these abnormalities, the district court, 
   fearing that Wooten might not be competent
   to assist in his own defense, ordered a
   competency evaluation. 

It's likely that Mr. Wooten will go behind bars. The maximum sentence for tax evasion is five years; presumably he has negotiated a plea deal, but he is unlikely to avoid jail time altogether. Sentencing is set for August 8.

We're not sure it's clinically insane to use tax protestor arguments, but it certainly is nuts. It's a tragedy anytime somebody has to pay such a stiff price for swallowing the tax protester Kool-aid. Now his band will have to make other plans for awhile, and Mr. Wooten will have to squander part of his career in prison.

Mr. Wooten is one of the most talented musicians it's been my pleasure to see. Here is a review of a 2002 perfomance which I attended. After the performance he stayed around and chatted with fans, including my (then) 11 year-old son. He seems like a nice man; here's hoping he can get this mess behind him quickly.

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