Re:Accidental Tax Break Saves Wealthiest Americans $100 Billion
by dragonwriter on Tuesday December 17, 2013 @01:53PM
(#6922975)
> Charge them with tax avoidance for not paying those taxes, then throw them in jail.
Tax avoidance isn't a crime (or even illegal.)
Tax evasion is a crime, but consists of concealing or misrepresenting material facts to avoid an assessment of liability, which isn't what your scenario presents.
Willful failure to pay taxes is also a crime, but mere inability isn't willfulness.
Your argument that retrospective taxes (which aren't retroactive unless the tax becomes due in the past) being a license for arbitrary imprisonment rests on a misrepresentation of criminal laws associated with taxes (and would require them to be applied in a manner not only inconsistent with existing law, but in a manner which I'm fairly certain has been held unconstitutional as a violation of due process rights even outside the context of retrospective taxation.)
Tax avoidance isn't a crime (or even illegal.)
Tax evasion is a crime, but consists of concealing or misrepresenting material facts to avoid an assessment of liability, which isn't what your scenario presents.
Willful failure to pay taxes is also a crime, but mere inability isn't willfulness.
Your argument that retrospective taxes (which aren't retroactive unless the tax becomes due in the past) being a license for arbitrary imprisonment rests on a misrepresentation of criminal laws associated with taxes (and would require them to be applied in a manner not only inconsistent with existing law, but in a manner which I'm fairly certain has been held unconstitutional as a violation of due process rights even outside the context of retrospective taxation.)