Tax Protester’s Arguments Rejected by the Court

Posted on November 27, 2018

In a recent case, the IRS filed suit against a taxpayer to reduce its claim to judgment, to foreclose upon its tax liens and to collect tax liabilities assessed against the taxpayer. In response, the taxpayer argued that he is a “sovereign American citizen” and, as such, the IRS has no right to collect taxes from him. The Court reviewed other cases where taxpayers made similar arguments, such as the argument that he was a freeborn, natural individual, a citizen of the State of Indiana, is a master, not servant, of his government and that taxpayers were not citizens of the United States, but rather Free Citizens of the Republic of Minnesota and, consequently, not subject to taxation. In those cases, and in this case, the Court rejected the taxpayer’s claim that he was not an individual citizen of the United States and held for the IRS. Tax protester-type arguments have been made as long as there have been taxes. Although these arguments are interesting, the Courts have routinely rejected these arguments and uphold the legality of the tax system. What do you think?