We’ve got some catching up to do. A few miscreants that we reported on have recently reappeared in the news, so here goes.
First, our 2008 Tax Offender of the Year, Robert Beale, had his appeal heard earlier this year. It didn’t take long for Mr. Beale’s conviction of tax evasion to be upheld. Mr. Beale first alleged that the income tax doesn’t apply to citizens of the United States. From the Appeals Court: “Beale is not the first to attempt to escape his tax obligations with this type of argument, and his arguments fare as poorly as those of his predecessors.”
Mr. Beale then tried to argue that the judge should have recused herself. Of course, Mr. Beale managed to also get convicted for attempting to “arrest” the judge. The Appeals Court was having none of that:
Furthermore, Beale’s intent to manipulate the judicial system was clearly expressed when he was recorded saying that after he had intimidated the presiding judge, “no judge in the whole Court will have anything to do with me.” Complaint ¶ 5, Beale, No. 0:08-cr-00210-RSWJJK. Remanding for a new trial with a different judge would be an undue reward for an attempt to cow the entire federal bench into submission.
Mr. Beale will get to enjoy ClubFed for a few more years. (Hat Tip: Roth Tax Updates)
Meanwhile, we reported on the saga of Kent Hovind, the former evangelist and owner of Dinosaur Adventure Land (no, we’re not making that up) a couple of years ago. Mr. Hovind was convicted on 58 tax counts and I wondered, at the time, whether or not the government would soon own Dinosaur Adventure Land. Well, the government now can sell off the theme park and other properties that Mr. Hovind owned so that it can recover the money owed to the Treasury. No, Dinosaur Adventure Land won’t be reopening but the land will likely go to good use.
Finally, the case of Tennessee’s Crack Tax is done (at least, for now). The Tennessee Supreme Court ruled 3-2 that the tax is unconstitutional, upholding a lower court ruling. Peter Pappas writes that the law could be reconstituted by the Tennessee legislature but we’ll wait and see what happens.