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BELIEVING HUSBANDS AND THE DANGERS OF OVERSTUDYING

September 02, 2007

Misdirected effort is a common trait of tax protesters. In case after case, tax protesters tell the judge that hours and hours of study has convinced them that, say, "there is no law" requiring one to pay income tax, or that there is no such thing as a U.S. citizen, or that the gold fringe on the judge's flag means his courtroom is really a boat, or something.

Overzealous studying and misplaced faith in a husband's tax expertise led another taxpayer to tragedy last week when a federal jury in Tampa found dentist Nancy Mondgomery-Ware guilty of two tax evasion counts and three counts of willfull failure to file.

From the Lakeland Florida Ledger:

Montgomery-Ware has acknowledged that in the years 2000 and onward, she earned between $500,000 and $730,000 a year.

However, in her closing arguments Thursday morning, she told the 12 jurors, "The income tax is not an allowable tax under our constitution."

She started researching tax laws, she said, when her husband told her that nobody has to pay income taxes and he had never filed a federal tax return.

"I was like - you're crazy. Everyone has got to pay income taxes," she said.

But, after she started researching the law and the tax codes, she said, "I at times actually became angry in the course of my research."

All that research, and she never came across the Tax Protester FAQ, or our post showing Ed Brown the law that requires the payment of taxes.

Maybe the tax protestors should take a cue from an old friend who took the CPA exam when I did. A "75" was the minimum passing grade on each of the four parts, with "100" the maximum score. My friend scored four 75s, which she considered "perfect" because she got the job done with the minimum effort necessary.

Dr. Montgomery-Ware's initial evaluation of her husband's tax expertise was the correct one, and further "study" proved disastrous. The likely result of her studies is now several years in a federal educational facility.

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