Posted 2/23/2004 11:09:00 PM by Douglas

I just got wind of Richard Simkanin, but apparently, he's going down for not paying taxes. This is unfortunate.

On Monday, prosecutors put 11 witnesses on the stand -- including Simkanin's sister-in-law Dianne Clemonds -- to try to show that Simkanin knew what he was doing when he stopped withholding and paying taxes on employee wages.

Clemonds said she worked at Simkanin's company, Arrow Custom Plastics, for 11 years, including as an accounts payable clerk. Eventually, she became aware that Simkanin had decided not to pay the income taxes.

She testified that Simkanin made her "president" and put her name on the bank accounts and credit card bills because he didn't want to sign any legal documents. Simkanin "didn't want to be part of the system," she said.

Clemonds testified that she resigned because she didn't want the responsibility and that she "wasn't going to go to jail for him."

Accountants James Kelly and Fred Taylor said that they repeatedly warned Simkanin that his approach to filing his taxes would get him into trouble. Eventually, they said, they refused to prepare his business and personal tax returns.

"He did not believe the Internal Revenue Code applied to him," Taylor said. "I told him it did and that he would get into a lot of trouble."

I don't think anyone enjoys paying taxes, but the way to beat the system isn't by ignoring it. I also have a news flash to U.S. District Judge John McBryde:

McBryde has compared the tax honesty movement to a cult.

I don't know what Judge McBryde's definition of a cult is, but I think that if you've got 100 Million members of a group that hates paying taxes, it loses a bit of its cult status.

There's a lot of subtext to what's going on here, and I don't know the half of it, but I do know that Mr. Simkanin is relying on his Christian faith to exonerate him. Seems like he needs to read Matthew 22:21 a few more times, for clarity.