Why I Went To Prison

in #anarchy7 years ago

I get the impression that, of the people who know my name—from my books, articles, talks and/or videos—the majority still aren’t aware that I spent a year in federal prison. And of those who are aware of that, most have only a vague general idea of how that came about. “You didn’t pay taxes, so they prosecuted you, right?” Maybe one out of thirty people who know my name actually remembers something about the actual issue. “Something about section 816 of the tax code… or maybe it was 861… or something like that, right?” But I am regularly reminded that the people who actually know what happened, with any degree of accuracy or in any detail, are probably less than one percent of the people who know my name.

Mind you, that’s not a complaint. Most people have no reason to know, because I hardly ever talk about it these days. As a result, what most people know about it (if they know anything), they got mainly from second- or third-hand rumors, from other people who don’t actually know what happened (often from my critics, who love to gleefully gloat about my imprisonment). “You got caught not paying taxes and they prosecuted you!” Nope, not that. “You were protesting the income tax, so they threw you in prison!” Nope, wrong again. “You were arguing that the income tax is unconstitutional, right?” Once again, dead wrong. “They got you for tax evasion, right?” No, they didn’t. “The feds proved you wrong, which is why you don’t talk about it anymore.” Not even close. “You thought you found some loophole in the tax code and…” Nope. Or the popular favorite among some state-worshipers: “You were running a fraudulent tax scam and got busted!” No, no and no.

The story of what actually happened is so involved that I don’t really expect most people to care enough to find out about it. But for those who do, I’ve decided to start giving away for free the e-book of “Kicking the Dragon (Confessions of a Tax Heretic),” the true story of my “adventures” with the federal extortion racket and court system. So many ridiculous, outrageous, and/or downright evil things happened over the course of about eight years that I can’t even remember them all myself, unless I look at the book to remind myself. So I obviously wouldn’t expect anyone else to remember it all. But it still causes a twinge of annoyance every time I see or hear someone—friend or foe—mischaracterizing what I went through, and what happened to me.

Be warned, the book is not a light read. A lot of people have said that somehow I did manage to make much of it amusing, which took some effort, since I wrote the thing in prison. Mostly by hand. In printed form, with appendices, it’s almost 500 pages long. Hand-written it was well over a thousand. And that was me being as brief as I could, without leaving out anything important. (I did omit quite a few less important facts and events, so people would still be able to lift the damn book.)

Let me be blunt here. I want people to care what happened. But I don’t expect them to, and I don’t blame them if they don’t care. And no, it’s not because I need them to care about me; it’s because the story involves an incomprehensibly huge fraud, which not only is unknown by the general public, but is unknown or misunderstood by the vast majority—almost 100%, in fact—of “tax protestors” and people who complain about the IRS. And most people don’t want to expend the time or mental energy to find out the full truth of the matter. And again, I can’t really blame them for that. If something sounds really unlikely, and it takes many hours of concentration just to figure out if it’s actually true, almost no one will bother—or should bother.

But, in case you’re one of those weird people who might have the time and the inclination to delve into a mostly infuriating story, here are a few little tidbits that might get your attention: I didn’t get “caught” doing anything. I ran full-page ads in newspapers asking the United States “government” to prosecute me. I was also telling everyone else to not do what I was doing, but to watch, because whatever happened to me, I was going to make the federal extortionists show themselves for what they are. And they did. I wanted to be their first target over the issue I was raising, because as far as I knew (and I still think this), no one was in a better position to defend themselves in such a case.

In the end, they prosecuted me for several counts of one misdemeanor: “willful failure to file.” But that was not why they actually went after me, as the IRS and the court made abundantly clear. But since “saying what you think” and “talking about the law” aren’t crimes in this country (not yet, anyway), they pretended it was about me not sending pieces of paper to the IRS. Meanwhile, I had numerous lawyers and CPAs agreeing with me, including former federal attorneys and IRS agents. And I was being very loud about what I had found, and had concluded. (Again, the book gives the details.) The IRS tried to silence me, and failed. Then they did an armed invasion of my home in 2003, and it took a year and a half to “unseal” their bogus, fascist search warrant (details in the book).

Before all this happened, Tessa and I owned our house outright and had zero debts. After my conviction, in a ridiculous mock trial in their kangaroo court (read the book for details), the court made it clear that I had to pay the IRS over $50,000 in back taxes (which I never owed) or I would be caged for five years instead of one. And the court fined me $10,000. And all the other legal expenses and fines, for my case and Tessa’s, made us have to mortgage the house, which we eventually lost. (I was also unable to earn any money for a year, while in prison, which didn’t help.) We’ve been pretty dang poor ever since. Yes, it’s difficult to not be bitter, at myself as much as at anyone else, for having lost all that.

And now I’ve decided to give away the whole story for free. Here is the link to download the e-book:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/cpanvpyzl60ciah/KickingTheDragon.epub?dl=0

I hope a few people have the time and interest to actually learn the whole story. Even if you think you already basically know what happened, I guarantee you will learn things you didn’t know before. This wasn’t just someone hearing some weird claim on the internet and deciding not to file, and then getting flung in prison. This was an eight-year-long ordeal, with more weird developments and twists than you can imagine. And if, after learning the whole outrageous story, you want to donate something—whether out of pity or because you found the book informative and/or entertaining—feel free.

PayPal: [email protected]
Bitcoin: 14NKv83krKgXafX7Wi2ZrnthEbxkq7uarD

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If your writing is half as good as your talks this should be an interesting read. Thanks for taking the time to open peoples eyes. You surely helped me on my own journey.

I started reading the book and I admit it is not for everyone, but @larkenrose has a very authentic way of writing (and it is amusing / entertaining for me) that keeps me interested. Unfortunately it is not a short read so I can't say too much until I get through it all.

Anarchist philosophy never got anyone anywhere but prison

  1. Utterly false. 2) My case had nothing to do with anarchism or philosophy.

Hey man, you're multi posting this!

Surprised there are no flags on this.

"Flag on the play!" I'm fine with someone from Steemit yanking the duplicates, since apparently I can't do it myself.

If it happens again, just hit refresh and the check your post, comment or whatever. I found that it will post but act like it didn't. Then just delete the duplicate.

I've seen it by others too maybe it's a fault of the system look here https://steemit.com/@iamit.
I can't imagine someone doing that on purpose let alone two people doing that on purpose.
Just saying ;)

It's been happening to me, sort of. I click on the 'post' button to publish the post, and some error message pops up, saying something about the server timing out (can't recall exact message). But in actuality, it is publishing, and the error message is itself in error. But if you don't know that you'll keep clicking the post button, which is what I did initially till I figured it out.

Aha just like I thought. Thanks for the reply, it may save many people flags and rep scores etc.

Crap, that was by accident! And now I can't make the repeats disappear. Oops.

Are you still married?

I did wonder what your wife's view is for the actions that you took. Will need to read the book and find out!.

Just curious after that ordeal. . Cool post Bro.

You are a courageous man to take on a case like that. May you get back all that you have lost and then some. Very well written post. 🐓🐓

OOPS!!!! This posted a bunch of times, because each time I tried, it gave me a "network error" and acted as if it didn't go through! Hmmm, is it even possible to delete the repeats? I guess I'll go find out. Or if Steemit people see this, feel free to delete the copies! (I haven't figured out how yet.)

Thanks for the free book, its honestly on a topic that interests me quite a bit.

I've been posting and getting that same "Network Error" message, but apparently, the message is in error, because the article does post. Post it once, ignore the error message, then refresh... your article will be there.

The devotion to your cause, and the tough hard road you chose to travel, speaks volumes not only of your determination, but of your integrity and character. Society needs more people like you. Hats off to you!

This makes for an even more interesting story than The Shawshank Redemption, and I hope it continues on further with Steemit and how you don't have to even depend on the government in the future!

I don't depend on "government" now, and never have. For years now I probably would have qualified for various "programs," but I don't accept stolen loot.

Well, you are already way ahead of me then! I will have to read your book and come back to you with some questions :)

Mate, I follow and appreciate your work.

Are your aware there is a discrepancy between the BTC alpha-numeric identifier, 14NKv..., and the QR Code: 1QJKFx24XBJ5vJuhaQ9LYmgTABh7dP3ahr? This unadvised discrepancy could cause some potential supporters to hesitate sending appreciation your way.

All the best...

Hmmm, Coinbase gave me both of them. I'm not sure why they are for different addresses, but they both should work.