This post was originally published on Forbes Jul 7, 2015
Update
Kent Hovind was released this morning (July 8, 2015) and in on his way home.
If all goes as expected, Kent Hovind will be going home to Pensacola this week. According to Rudy Davis, Kent’s son Eric will be picking Kent up in Yazoo, Mississippi on Wednesday. Kent will finish out the sentence on his 2006 conviction with one month of home confinement followed by three years of supervised release. Hovind had faced trial in March on charges of contempt of court, mail fraud and conspiracy related to actions he took with respect to property seized by the government as the result of his 2006 conviction.
The jury did not reach a verdict on the fraud and conspiracy charges thanks to the persistence of jury foreman Don Camacho, but, in a sort of compromise, found Hovind guilty of contempt of court.
Just before retrial in May the government dismissed the fraud and conspiracy charges without prejudice and Judge Margaret Casey Rodgers voided the contempt conviction clearing the decks for this week’s homecoming.
Is This The End Of The Struggle?
Kent Hovind’s supporters have waged a vigorous social media campaign on his behalf. Opinions on their effect on the jury are divided, but they clearly helped immensely in supporting their pastor’s morale and in raising the money for the appellate work that result in the dismissal of the contempt conviction. If you look at #FreeKent, their flagship website, you will see that there are further goals beyond Kent Hovind’s release. There is the release of co-defendant, Paul Hansen, who faces sentencing later this month on contempt charges, overturning Kent’s 2006 conviction, having seized property returned and damages paid. When you listen to Rudy Davis you will also hear about the need to punish the evil wicked-doers who have persecuted an innocent, godly man.
Religious Persecution?
The narrative of Kent Hovind and his supporters is that the government’s charges against him were trumped up, because he has been so effective in opposing the lies of evolution which ties into a host of other conspiracies.
The full video is a significant investment of lifespan (nearly three hours). For the enumeration of conspiracies tied into evolution you can go to 2:15:00
Among the elements of the conspiracies is the progressive income tax. Kent Hovind did a video specifically on the income tax (Creation Science Evangelism 103 Class 6)
Beginning around the two-minute mark, Hovind indicates that he believes that everybody should obey the law including the government. He indicated that he had not filed a personal income tax return in twenty-eight years. Beginning around the five and a half minute mark, he gets into the arguments that “prove” that most ordinary Americans are not legally required to pay income taxes.
I don’t doubt Hovind’s sincerity. Among the “authorities” he cites is Irwin Schiff. Doctor Ward Dean, who was kind of one of Hovind’s Pensacola anti-IRS battle buddies and a friend of Don Camacho from their service together in the Escambia Country Militia, continues to believe that the theories are correct even after serving a long prison sentence for following them.
Doctor Dean believes that it is inaccurate to call people like Hovind and himself tax protesters – what they are really seeking is tax honesty.
What’s In A Name?
I like to call people what they like to call themselves and there seems to be no mutually acceptable term for the type of tax theories that Hovind and Dean have embraced. So I will instead define the broad tax theory that I and the overwhelming majority of tax practitioners share. I call it “conventionally tax compliant” (CTC). People who hold with CTC believe that most ordinary Americans whose income in more than insubstantial have a requirement to file an individual return and make the required payment, if any. I go into this in some detail in a post titled “Has Kent Hovind Broken Any Laws?”
Kent’s supporters will point out that he was not convicted of income tax evasion, but rather structuring – the systematic withdrawal (in his case) of amounts slightly less than $10,000 in order to avoid currency reporting requirements. Rudy Davis thus can say that this godly man has been sent to prison for taking his own money out of the bank. Unfortunately for the Hovindication narrative, Hovind was also convicted of not filing payroll returns for Creation Science Evangelism employees, whom he referred to as missionaries. There was one more count that he was convicted on and that is really the one that ties in with Hovind’s views on the income tax. The charge was “attempts to interfere with the administration of internal revenue laws”.
I can take Kent Hovind at his word that he is not a tax protester. I can also take him at his word that he has not broken any laws, as he understands the law and that he has paid all the taxes that he believes he owes. It is clear though that Kent Hovind was not conventionally tax compliant and that is why the IRS took an interest in him. To demonstrate this it is worth looking at his litigation with the government prior to his prosecution in 2006.
The Bankruptcy
In 1996 Kent Hovind filed for bankruptcy. The only claims against him were from the IRS and they were not very substantial. There was a total of $10,461.63 for the years 1989, 1990 and 1991 and $10,690.46 for the years 1992, 1993, 1994 and 1995. Kent did not get much sympathy from the bankruptcy court.
The evidence presented at the hearing paints a clear portrait of a tax protester whose sole purpose in seeking relief under chapter 13 was to obtain the release of property seized by the IRS.
In the face of all of the foregoing, the debtor apparently maintains that as a minister of God everything he owns belongs to God and he is not subject to paying taxes to the United States on the money he receives for doing God’s work. While in his correspondence to the IRS he denies being a tax protester, the evidence overwhelmingly establishes otherwise. At the hearing on this motion, debtor’s counsel represented to the court that the debtor was now ready to do everything which was required of him to comply with the Bankruptcy Code and the Internal Revenue Code including the filing of tax returns and payment to the trustee in accordance with the plan filed immediately prior to the hearing. However, the debtor himself never took the stand during the hearing to testify to that nor has he ever filed any amended schedules and statement of affairs to reflect his true financial status. Given this debtor’s history and the documentary evidence presented, I cannot find that this debtor has any intention of complying with the Bankruptcy Code nor with the Internal Revenue Code.
Suing The Agents
If you believe in conventional tax compliance, you also believe that the compliance requirements are backed up by legitimate law enforcement. If you don’t self-assess by filing a return, the IRS will do an assessment after some investigation. If you don’t pay, they have the power to take your stuff. Of course, if you don’t believe that the income tax applies to you, you are going to believe that the people poking into your business should be minding theirs and the people who come and take your stuff are stealing. Kent Hovind launched two lawsuits against agents who were enforcing the tax laws and local law enforcement. He did not get anywhere with those lawsuits.
In 1997, Hovind v Kelly et al was filed against IRS agents and Escambial Sherrif’s Department employees who were involved in the seizure of motor vehicles.
Plaintiff filed an amended complaint on January 28, 1997. He again alleges jurisdiction “under the American Flag of Peace.” Apparently, plaintiff is alleging that the IRS defendants, assisted by the Deputy Sheriff defendants, entered his property and seized three automobiles and a trailer in violation of his constitutional rights, while executing an IRS tax lien. He also again alleges a conspiracy under Title 42, United States Code, Section 1985.
The suit was dismissed for failure to state a claim.
The essence of the suit was that Scott Schneider ignored a no trespassing sign specifically directed against local, state and federal government agents, employees and inspectors.
Despite the notice, Schneider entered the premises without procuring prior written consent and served the summons. The petitioners contend that Schneider entered the property, notwithstanding the posted notice, “with reckless disregard towards constitutional rights.”
According to the petition, the petitioner have “realistic concerns and fears stemming from previous Gestapo actions of the Internal Revenue Service against .” These concerns stem from a “raid” that the IRS allegedly performed on Kent E. Hovind’s home. The petitioners also allege that “Internal Revenue Service agents are permitted to carry and use automatic firearms in the course of their investigative tactics, which includes terrorizing citizens of this country.” The petitioners now seek to enjoin the IRS and its agents from “contacting, harassing, and trespassing upon the premises of petitioners.”
Again Kent did not have any luck in this lawsuit.
The IRS is pursuing a criminal investigation regarding Kent E. Hovind’s federal income tax liabilities. The actions the petitioners seek to enjoin would impair the IRS’s attempt to assess and collect those taxes. Therefore, the Anti-Injunction Act is applicable in this instance, and the petitioners have the burden of demonstrating that an exception should be applied. Bowers v. United States, 423 F.2d 1207, 1208 (5th Cir. 1970). The petitioners have not done so. After review of the complaint, it is clear to me that this case does not present one of those “rare and compelling circumstances” necessitating an exception. The Anti-Injunction Act bars this Court from exercising jurisdiction over this matter. As a result, the complaint must be dismissed.
Is It About Jursidiction?
Underlying Hovind’s long struggle with the IRS is a belief that the federal government has much less authority than it claims. Hovind’s co-defendant, Paul Hansen articulated this position in an interview with Rudy Davis yesterday.
Hansen seems to sincerely believes that soon the walls will come tumbling down and then Judge Rodgers, Scott Schneider and a host of others will find themselves before “courts of record” for having exceeded their authority.
Hovind has not renounced these theories, but he has not exactly been living by them either. The appeal that got his conviction reversed was conventional legal work, by what Kent’s main supporter, Ernie Land refers to as “bar licensed” attorneys. Hansen scorns the use of those attorneys, since they refuse to make the killer “territorial jurisdiction” arguments. It is worth noting that Hansen is in jail awaiting sentencing and Kent Hovind will soon be on his way home.
Kent Hovind’s 2015 Form 1040 Coming Next April?
Kent Hovind’s reliance on conventional legal means to get out from under the most recent prosecutions makes me optimistic that at least for the term of his supervised release, he will be conventionally tax compliant. In my interview with him in January, he did not rule that out.
I’m glad that he is free and wish him and his family well in his homecoming. I really thought the government’s most recent prosecution of him was ill advised. Nonetheless, I wish he and his supporters would reevaluate the religious persecution narrative. It really was about the taxes, not the dinosaurs.
