Hovind indicted

[Savonarola]

Evangelist arrested on tax evasion
Michael Stewart
@PensacolaNewsJournal.com
A Pensacola evangelist was arrested Thursday and indicted in federal court on 58 charges that include income tax evasion, making threats against investigators and filing false complaints against Internal Revenue Service agents.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Miles Davis handed down the indictment against Kent Hovind, who operated a creationist theme park Dinosaur Adventure Land, off Old Palafox Road.

Hovind’s wife, Jo Hovind, was also indicted on 44 of the counts and appeared in court alongside her husband.

Arraignment for the Hovinds is scheduled for2 p.m. Monday. The couple was released pending their trial but are not allowed to travel outside the Northern District of Florida.

[Doug]

DOUG
OK, my reaction to this article is the closest I've come to belief in God since I became an atheist...

[Savonarola]

DOUG
OK, my reaction to this article is the closest I've come to belief in God since I became an atheist...

Oh my.... What will happen to you if he's convicted?

[Barbara Fitzpatrick]

Does a belief in "what goes around, comes around" constitute a belief in god? If so, I'll happily light a candle to Nemesis, daughter of Night, goddess of justice and retribution.

[Savonarola]

Update

Here are some excerpts:

Hovind's attorney, Assistant Public Defender Kafahni Nkrumah, told U.S. Magistrate Judge Miles Davis at a hearing Monday that his client did not want to enter a plea because he does not believe the United States, the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Attorney's Office "have jurisdiction in this matter."

When asked where he lived, Kent Hovind replied, "I live in the church of Jesus Christ, which is located all over the world. I have no residence."

Kent Hovind is accused of failing to pay $473,818 in federal income, Social Security and Medicare taxes for employees of his Creation Science Ministry between March 31, 2001, and Jan. 31, 2004.

Last week, Davis ordered Hovind to surrender his passport and guns. Hovind claimed "thousands and thousands" were waiting to hear him speak in South Africa next month. He also claimed the guns belonged to "the church."

Numerous Web sites and blogs about Kent Hovind have been filled with comments during the past few days about the case. Many of the blog comments are sarcastic references to Hovind's failure to "render unto Caesar."

Like here on IIDB. *snicker*

[Barbara Fitzpatrick]

Is Hogeye a member of his church? Hovind's arguments sure have a familiar ring.

[Hogeye]

I'm a hardcore atheist, as you know. Other than denying the US State owns "its subjects," and denying any moral obligation to pay extortion money, I see little philosophical commonality with Hovind.

It is unclear whether Hovind agrees with me even on these things; rather than my principled approach, he may just be objecting on a narrow legalistic basis. E.g. Some of the religious-constitutionalist types argue that only Washington DC and overseas USAmericans are legally citizens and subject to income tax, or that only dividends (and not wages, proceeds from sales of goods, etc.) are taxable, or that the fringe on courtroom flags make it a military court, and other flakey claims.

There is one example I can think of, of a theist in substantial political agreement with me: Leo Tolstoy.

[Savonarola]

Here's more of a column than a news story on the subject.

[Dardedar]

It is unclear whether Hovind agrees with me even on these things; rather than my principled approach, he may just be objecting on a narrow legalistic basis.

DAR
Or Hovind may being doing this because he is simply a dishonest fraud who wants to get out of paying taxes. Hovind is a classic snake oil sales man, dishonest through and through.

D.

[Hogeye]

Then again, he might be an honest man who simply doesn't want to pay extortion to the government. Of course, according to you Darrel, Hovind has nothing to worry about. You wrote earlier about evading taxes, "They won't even lock you up. The US doesn't even have a debtors prison."

[Savonarola]

Then again, he might be an honest man . . .

Hogeye is obviously not the least bit familiar with Hovind.

[Hogeye]

Right. For all I know, he honestly believes in creationism. Until I have evidence otherwise, I prefer to think of him as mistaken and wrong rather than dishonest.

[Dardedar]

Then again, he might be an honest man who simply doesn't want to pay extortion to the government.

DAR
Doug and I have been following this clown for years and he is not honest. We also debated him once on a radio show on KFAY and a good friend of ours has also debated him.

Of course, according to you Darrel, Hovind has nothing to worry about.

DAR
Not true. Hovind has lots to worry about. I do think he will be going to jail on this one. Finally.

You wrote earlier about evading taxes, "They won't even lock you up. The US doesn't even have a debtors prison."

DAR
Which is true of course. Perhaps you should consider the context of what I said and what I was responding to. As I wrote in my very next post in the thread to which you refer:

***
Hogeye Quote:
"No imprisonment for tax resistance ("evasion")?"

DAR
You will get imprisoned for fraud of course. And that is as it should be. But you claimed the state threatens "death to those who don't pay."
***

If Hovind goes to jail it won't be because he is broke and cannot pay his taxes, it will be because he has dishonestly, probably fraudulently, avoided paying any taxes on his rather substantial income. I doubt his: "I live in the church of Jesus Christ, which is located all over the world. I have no residence." is going to fly with jury or judge.

D.

[Hogeye]

Hogeye> "No imprisonment for tax resistance ("evasion")?"
Darrel> You will get imprisoned for fraud of course.

Can you clarify something for me Darrel? Are you saying that you think all tax resistance is necessarily fraud? (If so, why?) Or are you saying that, even though resistance is not necessarily fraudulent, the government powers that be will call it fraud? (Which doesn't seem true, since people get busted for failure to file and failure to pay protection without getting busted for fraud.)

[Dardedar]

Hogeye> "No imprisonment for tax resistance ("evasion")?"
Darrel> You will get imprisoned for fraud of course.

Can you clarify something for me Darrel?

DAR
Sure, and will you clarify something while you are at it too. You said, as I quote again above, the state threatens "death to those who don't pay."
Do you think the Hovind is in danger of the death penality, or, will you admit that you are just making this up?

HOGEYE
Are you saying that you think all tax resistance is necessarily fraud? (If so, why?)

DAR
I guess I would need to see specific examples. If a person is conducting themselves like anyone else in this country, making money buying and selling, and wishes to get out of paying taxes under the fraudulent ruse of "I don't live in America, I live in a Ozarkia, or Jesus-land" then yes, that would seem a fraudulent attempt to avoid paying taxes while still enjoying the benefits of our taxpayer created and financed infastructure.
There may be a way a person could be a earnest tax resister without being fraudulent but I suppose they would have to be a recluse of some sort and not participate in standard commerce. I understand that if you aren't able, for whatever reason, to prepare and file a tax return, the IRS will kindly do one for you. Hovind was grossing hundreds of thousands of dollars at his creationist funny farm and dodging all taxes involved with this business and the payment of employees. It will be up to the judge and jury as to whether they buy the bullshit about "I live in the church of Jesus Christ, which is located all over the world." I am betting they don't.

Or are you saying that, even though resistance is not necessarily fraudulent,...

DAR
I agree with that. Resistance is not necessarily fraudulent, but it would take a very bizarre and convoluted existance to live in this country and not participate in commerce and the use of infastructure. Might be possible. I imagine some people do it.

I have been in this country almost twenty years and with my high school education have only made a small or average income and have been able to accumulate four houses and two or three (tiny) businesses. I have always paid little to no income taxes and file, fairly, every year. I think people who whine about paying taxes need to make less money, get over it, or get a better accountant. Taxes in this country are very fair and reasonable. Another day in paradise.

D.

[Hogeye]

Oops! We've hijacked the Hovind thread. I've started a Tax Resistance thread where we can continue discussion.

[Savonarola]

I've started a Tax Resistance thread where we can continue discussion.

I appreciate your nipping this derailment in the bud, Hogeye.

The new thread can be found here.

--Sav

[Doug]

Some of you may already know that Hovind was arrested for assault.

Here is the version of the other side, the non-Hovind. Note how she realizes, finally, that Hovind is a con man and his buddy is a career con man.

Here.

This case never went to trial.

[Doug]

The Hovind tax evasion trial has finally begun.

============
He called his employees "volunteers," "missionaries" or "ministers," she said. Wages were referred to as "gifts" or "love offerings."

Employees then became responsible for paying Hovind's portion of the income tax, she said.

And though the Hovinds refer to their business as a ministry, it's not affiliated with a church, she said.

"It's not a church," she said. "But that doesn't matter, because a church still has to pay payroll tax."

Hovind attempted to manipulate funds from the start of his ministry, she said.

===========
Read the rest here.

[Doug]

Lawyer: Hovind detailed actions
Evangelist said he 'beat the system'

A Florida attorney testified Friday that Pensacola evangelist Kent Hovind disputed the government's right to tax him and likened his ministry's powers to that of a foreign embassy.

"He tried to stress to me that he was like the pope and this was like the Vatican," Seminole attorney David Charles Gibbs testified at Hovind's trial before U.S. District Judge Casey Rodgers.

Hovind faces 58 federal charges, including failing to pay $473,818 in employee-related taxes and making threats against investigators. Hovind, a creationist who owns Dinosaur Adventure Land on North Palafox Street in Pensacola, is the founder of Christian Science Ministries.

Gibbs, an attorney with the Gibbs Law Firm in a suburb of St. Petersburg, also is affiliated with the Christian Law Association, a nonprofit organization founded by his father that offers free legal help to churches nationwide.

Gibbs has done work for Marcus Pointe Baptist Church and was a guest speaker at the church on Oct. 17, 2004, a day he said he remembers well because it was his daughter's 10th birthday.

After church, Gibbs and his daughter, along with other church members, were invited to Hovind's home for pizza and soda.

Gibbs testified he and Hovind spent several hours together watching their daughters play in the Dinosaur Adventure Land park owned by Hovind.

Gibbs said Hovind tried to persuade him he had no obligation to pay employee income taxes and explained with "a great deal of bravado" how he had "beat the tax system."

Gibbs said Hovind also told him he preferred to deal in cash and that when you are "dealing with cash there is not way to trace it, so it wasn't taxable."

See the rest here.