No one likes paying taxes but some people will go to extreme lengths to avoid them, people like Ed Brown who has barricaded himself in his Plainfield, NH home after being convicted of tax evasion.

Brown is one of a large group of Americans who hold to the belief that income tax is unconstitutional and there is no law that requires citizens to file tax forms and pay taxes to the federal government.

Often cited by these anti-tax groups is their contention that the 16th amendment to the constitution was never properly ratified. Because not all the ratifying states used the exact same language or punctuation, the wording of the amendment ratified by most of the states differed from the original, with only four states ratifying the exact text proposed by Congress. Another argument made by some tax protesters is that because Congress did not pass an official proclamation recognizing Ohio’s year 1803 admission to statehood until 1953, Ohio was not a state until 1953 and therefore the Sixteenth Amendment was not properly ratified. Both of these arguments have been repeatedly rejected by the courts.

But Ed Brown still firmly believes that the government collects taxes illegally and refuses to comply with IRS regulations or recognize their authority. Brown, a former militia man who quotes the state’s motto “Live Free or Die”, plans to wait it out at his home which is equipped with generators, internet access and stocked with food. His home is also stocked with armed supporters, ready for US marshalls to descend.

The Sixteenth Amendment:
The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.

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