By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON – Joseph Stack’s methods were unthinkable – he is accused of ramming a plane into an Internal Revenue Service building in Texas – but his views on taxation follow a long line of protesters who believe tax laws don’t apply to them.
While their numbers aren’t large, according to experts, their arguments are so enticing that the IRS has published a guide to debunk their claims. In 2008, the Justice Department was concerned enough to start the “National Tax Defier Initiative” to better coordinate prosecutions.
“You would think a little light bulb would go on in their head and they would say, ‘Why in the heck is everybody else paying taxes?”‘ said Peter R. Zeidenberg, a former federal prosecutor who is now a litigation partner at the law firm DLA Piper in Washington. “There are people who are peddling this stuff. It’s a way to get people to believe something that’s too good to be true.”