ACLU says anti-tax activist protected by First Amendment

Jace Radke

Tuesday, April 8, 2003 | 9:45 a.m.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada has challenged a federal judge's temporary restraining order that makes it illegal for an anti-tax activist to sell a book promoting the idea that federal income tax is voluntary.

Last month U.S. District Judge Lloyd George ordered Irwin Schiff to stop selling a book entitled "Federal Mafia: How it Illegally Imposes and Unlawfully Collects Income Taxes."

ACLU attorney Allen Lichtenstein said the speech in the book, which includes attacks against the government, is protected by the First Amendment.

"Mr. Schiff's theories concerning taxes, however false or frivolous they may appear to the government, are protected speech ... as are his caustic and vehement attacks on the government," Lichtenstein stated in a brief filed last week. "While the book touts Mr. Schiff's own controversial tax theories, it also makes clear that acting on them can and has landed people in jail."

Schiff, 75, is the subject of an IRS investigation into allegations that he and his associates, Cynthia Neun and Lawrence N. Cohen, conduct seminars and sell books, audiotapes and other products designed to help customers evade federal taxes. The information primarily instructs customers to fill out income-tax returns falsely listing no income and no tax due, Assistant U.S. Attorney Evan Davis said.

Davis, who works in the U.S. attorney's tax division in Washington, alleges that the "Federal Mafia" provides step-by-step instructions for filling out a "zero income tax return," and that Schiff is running a tax scam that has cost the country $56 million in revenue.

A preliminary injunction hearing Monday was delayed until Friday after Schiff filed a motion calling for George to be removed from the case. U.S. District Judge Roger Hunt will hear Schiff's motion for George's recusal at a Thursday morning hearing.

"Judge George and the U.S. attorney are conspiring against me and conspiring against the American public," Schiff said.

George's original order, which restrains Schiff from selling or publicizing material that specifically advises people to break the law and makes it illegal for him and his associates to prepare tax returns, remains in effect.