At page 330 Interpreting statutory language regarding tax withholding failure3 citing cases
- United States v. Gary W. Bass, 784 F.2d 1282 (5th Cir. 1986).publishedId. at 472 (citing, inter alia, United States v. Johnson, 576 F.2d 1331, 1332 (8th Cir.1978) (per curiam); United States v. Smith, 487 F.2d 329, 330 (9th Cir.1973) (per curiam), cert. denied, 416 U.S. 989 , 94 S.Ct. 2396 , 40 L.Ed.2d 767 (…
- United States v. Martin D. Herzog, 632 F.2d 469 (5th Cir. 1980).published See United States v. Johnson, 576 F.2d 1331, 1332 (8th Cir. 1978) (per curiam); United States v. Pryor, 574 F.2d 440, 443 (8th Cir. 1978) (per curiam); United States v. Smith, 487 F.2d 329, 330 (9th Cir. 1973) (per curiam), cert. denied, 4…
- United States v. Lyle B. Snider, United States of Am. v. Lyle B. Snider, & Sue T. Snider, 502 F.2d 645 (4th Cir. 1974).published The Ninth Circuit, in United States v. Smith, 487 F.2d 329, 330 (1973), a case on facts which are indistinguishable from those here, has articulated the proper rule to apply in this case which is consistent with that part of § 7205 just qu…
Other citing cases
- United States v. Paul Alvin Wellendorf, 574 F.2d 1289 (5th Cir. 1978).published
v.
William R. SMITH, Defendant-Appellant; UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v . Jack H. WRIGHT, Defendant-Appellant; UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Billy R. POULSEN, Defendant-Appellant
Defendants appeal from a 30-day jail sentence and a fine of $250 following conviction of violating 26 U.S.C. § 7205, which makes it a misdemeanor willfully to supply false information upon an Internal Revenue Service form.
Defendants, protesting the withholding of income tax from the wages of workmen, elected to declare a sufficient number of nonexistent dependents to make certain that no taxes would be withheld. One defendant filed a W-4 form claiming 17 dependents, the others claimed 10 each. All three sent letters to the Internal Revenue Service in which they stated that they had inflated their number of dependents to prevent their wages from being illegally seized.
Defendants now contend that they were entitled to engage in these theatrics because they had no “intent to defraud.” In a misdemeanor prosecution, however, the government need not prove fraud, loss of revenue, or reliance' by the government. The offense is made out when a person required by 'law to complete and file a W-4 intentionally uses the form to supply false information. United States v. Malinowski, 472 F.2d 850 (3rd Cir. 1973).
Our system of self-assessment and concurrent payment of taxes as income is earned cannot survive if every taxpayer is permitted to formulate his own rules. Misdemeanor penalties were provided by Congress with the knowledge that for certain types of forbidden behavior, even though criminal conduct is not present, a mild deterrent and the certainty of punishment are vital to the system. The defendants are free to express their political discontent in other ways. When they elected to defy the tax laws, they assumed the burden of the penalties provided by those laws.
The defendants have represented themselves in this court and in the district court. None has legal training. It is perhaps appropriate, therefore, to[*331] point out that under the law they have the right to apply to the sentencing court for a reduction of their sentence within 120 days from the date the judgment in this case becomes final. See F. R.Crim.P. 35.
Affirmed.