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Time to get a new code-cracker

November 02, 2009

The author of "Cracking the Code: The Fascinating Truth About Taxation In America," is finding out there's more to the tax law than he imagined:

Peter Hendrickson, 54, of Commerce Township was found guilty today of making false statements to the IRS by a federal jury in Detroit, United States Attorney Terrence Berg announced today.

The jury deliberated for about four hours before returning the verdict, concluding a five-day trial before Chief United States District Judge Gerald Rosen .

The 10-count indictment charged that for the calendar years 2000, 2002,2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 Hendrickson filed IRS Form 1040 (income tax returns) and/or IRS Form 4852 (Substitute for Form W-2) stating under penalties of perjury that he had received no wages in those years. The indictment indicated that he had in fact received wages in those years in varying amounts. The evidence produced at trial established that Hendrickson had in fact received taxable wages and that his claims to the contrary were knowingly false. In reaching the verdicts, the jury rejected Hendrickson's defense that he had a good faith belief that his statements regarding his lack of wages were true.

Flickr image by House of Sims through Creative Commons license

The tax code is an awful mess, and Congress never passes up a chance to make it worse. That doesn't mean there is a secret formula from the Illuminati that you can invoke to make it part for you like the Red Sea did for Moses. Just ask the man who wrote the book.