Home > The Federal Mafia - Schiff Criminal Tax Trial Fireworks Continue

The Federal Mafia - Schiff Criminal Tax Trial Fireworks Continue

by Open-Publishing - Wednesday 5 October 2005
10 comments

Justice Prison Books-Literature Governments USA

October 4, 2005

Government’s Case Sputtering

Schiff Facing Jail For Contempt

The criminal tax trial of Irwin Schiff entered its fourth week Monday with a cantankerous Schiff apparently making significant headway in repelling the government’s prosecution witnesses who have testified thus far.

Schiff and his former co-workers, Cindy Neun and Larry Cohen, are defending against a plethora of criminal charges in Las Vegas stemming from consulting activities related to Schiff’s best-selling book, “The Federal Mafia: How the Government Illegally Imposes and Unlawfully Collects Income Taxes".

The book, which contains a detailed analysis of the Internal Revenue Code and relevant Supreme Court decisions, was banned last year by a federal judge.

In the Federal Mafia, Schiff details how anyone can file a legitimate income tax return, claiming their income as “zero” because the Supreme Court has repeatedly, and consistently, defined the legal term “income” as meaning a “corporate profit or gain”.

Schiff, who is arguably the leading expert and most troublesome public opponent of the 54,000 page Internal Revenue Code, has articulated in his speeches, written works and court filings that with regard to income taxes, the IRS has no legal jurisdiction over ordinary Americans and that there is no law actually imposing income taxes upon any individual. During the trial so far, no witness for the government has been able to cite the law actually imposing the liability for the tax.

Over the last three weeks, Schiff, who is defending himself with only court-appointed stand-by counsel, has repeatedly irked the court by his persistence in continuing to discuss specific aspects of US tax law, even though the court has forbidden Schiff to do so, claiming it alone, will instruct the jury as to the law.

Schiff’s rabid questioning of IRS witnesses and the continued objections of both the DOJ and the Court, which seek to suppress any discussion about the law, are apparently being noticed by the jury. At one point during testimony last week, the jury, in a highly unusual act, catching the judge and all the attorneys by surprise, submitted several written questions to the court, one of which the judge refused to read in open proceedings.

As of last Friday, Schiff has now been ordered to serve eight days for contempt of court for discussing the law, which USDC Judge Kent Dawson threatens to double for each infraction Schiff commits.

Despite the substantial handicap of being prohibited from rigorously cross-examining the government’s witnesses about the federal laws he and the co-defendants have been accused of violating, Schiff has repeatedly succeeded in forcing many of the government’s witnesses into admitting important facts and legal issues in favor of the defendants. According to Schiff, the government has yet to produce a single document into evidence establishing that the Defendants’ tax advice was false or fraudulent.

On Monday, Schiff moved to strike the testimony of all government witnesses to date, asserting that the Court was directly violating the Supreme Court ruling in Cheek v. US, 498 U.S. 192 (1991). In Cheek, the Supreme Court specifically held that it was the burden of the government (not the court), to establish the specific laws and legal duties that the Defendants are accused of violating.

Schiff stated for the record that for the jury to hear the law from only the “bench” was to effectively deny Schiff any opportunity to confront or cross-examine his accusers about the content or application of the law. The DOJ attorney openly stated that the government had no intention of providing a witness to testify about the law, and that it was relying on the Court to establish the law for the jury. The Court denied Schiff’s motion.

Also on Monday, the U.S. Attorney requested that the judge issue a special instruction to the jury to clarify potential “confusion” that may have arisen during the testimony of government witnesses regarding the liability statutes that allegedly impose income taxes on wages and salaries. Such instructions are usually given only just before the jury begins its deliberations.

Schiff vehemently objected, noting for the record that the terms “wages” and “salaries” had been specifically deleted from the 1954 tax code, that the proposed instruction was contrary to legislative intent as evidenced by both House and Senate committee reports, and that the proposed instruction was a deliberate misstatement of the text of the current statutes. Schiff further asserted that if the judge proceeded with giving a knowingly false jury instruction, that he was guilty of conspiring with the government to deny him a fair trial.

Despite Schiff’s objections, the Court issued the instruction to the jury.

The final government witnesses are scheduled to testify this week, including two IRS CID agents that Schiff has been denied from examining under oath during IRS’s several-year long civil prosecution of him. The defense case follows, beginning either late this week or early next week.

Schiff again urges everyone to read his Motions to Dismiss, which succinctly detail the lack of jurisdiction and legal authority to impose or enforce the federal income tax on individuals. See Schiff’s website, www.PayNoIncomeTax.com or the previous WTP update about Schiff to access these compelling court documents.

Irwin Schiff Everyone is urged to support Irwin, Cindy and Larry and attend the final days of this very important trial that is continuing at the federal courthouse in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Although banned for sale by Schiff, copies of Irwin’s book, The Federal Mafia are available on e-Bay. Schiff, an economist by profession, continues to sell other educational products at his website.

You can listen to free audio interviews created by Schiff supporters at two “blogging” websites, http://triallogs.blogspot.com/ and http://irwinschiff.blogspot.com

http://www.givemeliberty.org/RTPLaw...

Forum posts

  • I hope Schiff wins. It will mean that the corporations will have to pay their taxes, instead of getting tax cuts from Bushco. It might even mean that people will start to think about other places that the government (federal or otherwise) has been interfering with their lives without a legal leg to stand on. Who knows; maybe this is the beginning of a new American revolution!

    • I’m afraid you can do everything if you just proclaim it as "economic". Genocide or theft it doesn’t matter the NYSE is booming. Heal to the share holders. This so called economy without any value as "share holder value" makes me sick.

  • First, whoever wrote this article is the same type of tax lunatic as Schiff. Remember, he has been convicted a number of times for this, and no matter how many ways he picks one line from one statute, another line from another statute, and puts them together (in a way noone ever intended) in order to justify his lunatic tax views, it does not make it right.
    Second, in the American legal system, the jury does not decide the law, the Court does. It is the jury’s job to determine the facts. If I believe that the Constitution states that the Commerce Clause prohibits the interstate shipment of milk, and then I firebomb all the milk trucks, that does not force a judge to instruct the jury on my belief of the Commerce Clause. The key issue is that the belief be reasonable, and since Schiff has been convicted numerous times for his unreasonable tax beliefs, despite what numerous Courts and juries have told him, his beliefs about the Code are unreasonable.
    If you believe as he does, your beliefs are unreasonable too. Because no matter what people tell you, you still believe this nonsense. The definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing and expect a different result. Schiff has been doing the same thing, and he keeps getting into trouble. If you do it, eventually you will too. The IRS may not be the smartest or most efficient agency of the Government, but eventually they figure it out. And remember, there is a 6-year statute of limitations for tax crimes.
    – A Lawyer Who Is Tired of Seeing Stupidity

    • You, being an "AGENT" (puppet) of the court, I can only presume that you sir will ONLY support what the court and your kind dictate to be public law. RIGHT?
      You sir can only repeat what the court says. Right, and nothing else?
      Surely you wouldnt say anything against the court now would you? Or could you?????
      Probably wouldn’t be "WORTH" your time. Would it????
      The courts pay you pretty good though, so I dont really blame you for selling out. ;)

      "The Expatraitor"

      p.s. "For those that are without law are subject to a pirate and wolf and deserved to be clubed over the head!!!"

    • If you’re tired of looking at stupidity, don’t look in the mirror.

    • I find that your editorial on this subject says all that needs to be said. You come to your poiint from the high ground of a plow horse with blinders on full. I am glad that you didn’t have a hand in writing the constitution of the Unite States. God save the home of the brave and the land of the free.......

    • This lawyer that supposedly "represents" people must be tired of himself. He drags out the irrelevant Constitutional argument. (I sure hope he doesn’t argue this way in court.) The TRUTH is that Schiff has NEVER claimed that income tax is unconstitutional; he rightly claims that it is illegal. That’s a big difference. He is trying to force the government to follow the clear wording of the law.

  • If Mr. Schiff is wrong and there is any law that states that every person in the country is required to pay X percentage of the money they receive in exchange for work to the U.S. Government then it seems it would not be that difficult for the government to cite this law to Mr. Schiff and the rest of the American people. He has a right to his opinion and a right to express his opinion—if he is wrong then why was his book banned and what exactly is the government so concerned about. If Mr. Schiff is guilty of a crime this can only be determined by a jury and it seems clear that the jury will not be given all the facts to consider in this case. If the government is right and Mr. Schiff is wrong, then what are they so worried about?

  • Schiff is wrong, the Supreme Court never said that taxes only apply to corporations.

    From EISNER v. MACOMBER , 252 U.S. 189 (1920):

    ’Income may be defined as the gain derived from capital, from labor, or from both combined,’

    From Southern Pacific Co. v,. Lowe, 247 U.S. 330, 333-34 (1918),

    "’that there shall be levied, assessed, collected and paid annually upon the entire net income arising or accruing from all sources in the preceding calendar year’ to every person residing in the United States"

    There you go.

    There’s more here: http://evans-legal.com/dan/tpfaq.html#corporations

    • Let me see....
      My boss hires me out, for let’s say $80.00 an hr. I get paid wages of $20.00 an hr. CORPORATION GETS $60.00 an hr. "PROFIT"!!! It’s the corporation that pay’s not ME!!!(’Income may be defined as the gain derived from capital, from labor, or from both combined,’) "AT A CORP. LEVEL"!!!
      What the court also did not say in that case...is that the tax is applied to an "individual AND corporation". Or that the individule was acting as a corporate entity.
      Look THEY’er not going to explain it to you...why should they!
      If your not man/ or woman enough.......well........."for those that are without law are subject to a pirate and a wolf and deserved to be clubed over the head."
      Does that explain it all! Probably not.
      Screw taking back America, we need to TAKE BACK OUR AMERICAN COURTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
      America will follow!
      Remeber! The people are not here because of the government...The government is here because of the people!!!

      The "Expatriator"