Judge not quitting Schiff tax case

Friday, April 11, 2003 | 9:17 a.m.

U.S. District Judge Lloyd George was scheduled today to hear the case for a preliminary injunction against anti-tax activist Irwin Schiff, after a motion to have the judge removed from the case failed.

Schiff was in federal court Thursday asking that George recuse himself from the case because in a March 19 hearing George said that Schiff's claim that federal income tax payment is voluntary was "nonsense."

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.

The argument that paying taxes is voluntary has been dismissed in numerous previous cases. That's why George called Schiff's argument nonsense, U.S. District Judge Roger Hunt ruled Thursday.

archive