posted August 09, 2003 07:04 PM            

IRS Loses a Big One

Slapping down an IRS charge that a pilot illegally evaded almost $1 million in income taxes, a federal jury found the defendant not guilty. The Memphis, Tennessee jury found FedEx pilot Vernice Kuglin not guilty of evading income taxes on $920,000, but the question of payment of the taxes was left undecided. "I think it is safe to assume the IRS will attempt civil collection, but she is not guilty of tax evasion," defense attorney Robert Bernhoft of Milwaukee told the Memphis Commercial Appeal.

Rejoiced Kuglin "I feel justified," According to the Commercial Appeal the 58-year-old Kuglin, 58, a pilot for FedEx since 1985, was charged with six counts of tax evasion and faced up to 30 years in prison and $1.5 million in fines if found guilty of filing false W4 forms for the period from 1996 to 2001.

After studying court documents, legal opinions and the federal tax code Kuglin was unable to find anything in the federal tax code that said she was liable for taxes. She wrote to the IRS twice in 1995 asking questions but said she didn't get a response, the Appeal reported.

Although the government argued that Kuglin had an opportunity to discuss her situation with the IRS to learn what she owed and what documents she was required to file she failed to do so.

Defense attorney Larry Becraft of Huntsville, Ala., said Kuglin decided mandatory payment of income taxes "did not apply to her ..." After the verdict Friday, Becraft said the federal tax code is a confusing conglomeration that "at best is a walking due process violation," and noted that the average American simply doesn't understand the tax code.

Juror Barbara Snodgras of Memphis told the Appeal that the jury did not convict because "we all felt that the prosecution didn't prove its case."

posted August 11, 2003 01:07 AM            

There's a lot more talk now about a national sales tax, the elimination of the income tax and the IRS.

jwhop