We’ve all seen the ads that promise big income for little investment. The jobs that promise us more free time and greater control over our lives. Usually the ads or emails declare something along the line of “Work From Home Stuffing Envelopes!”. Sounds like easy money, and it can be – if you are the scammer who places the ad.

Envelope-stuffing scams are pretty basic. You pay a small fee to get started. What you receive, however, will be instructions on how to send the same envelope-stuffing ad out to others in bulk emailings. The only money you may earn comes from others who fall for the scheme. Congratulations, you’ve become a scammer too.

Let’s face it, unsolicited email offers are not likely to result in legitimate employment. Although there are real jobs you can do from home, envelope-stuffing is one of the oldest scams, dating back well before email when the ads were found in the back of tabloids and magazines. It’s tried and true and still entices enough people to make it worthwhile for the scammer.

Make your work at home the task of deleting these email schemes as soon as they hit your inbox.

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.

Fox News

KQED: You Decide Federal Taxes

The savvy internet user keeps abreast of the news when it comes to email and internet scams and schemes. Being wary and informed is the best way to avoid identity theft, fraud and financial loss. As consumers become aware of the old scams, the thieves concoct new ones. Often the emails purport to be from banks and government agencies.

These two scams reported on the FBI website stretch the imagination:

The first threatens the life of the recipient. The sender claims to be a hit-man who was hired to kill the email recipient but in exchange for several thousand dollars will call off the killing. The sender of the email threatens to carry out the killing immediately if the recipient goes to the police and demands a quick response and a telephone number to be provided. The FBI warns against responding to this email in any way or providing any personal information.

The second is a twist on the first but purports to come from the FBI in London. The email states that an individual was recently arrested for several murders in the US and the UK and that information was found on the suspect identifying the email recipient as the next name on his hit list. It further states that the email recipient should respond to help in their investigation. This email is a scam and does not originate with the FBI.

For more information on these email scams and how to report them, visit the FBI website.

If you plan to file for deductions for state sales taxes, college tuition and classroom supplies you may have to wait. The 2006 IRS tax forms don’t have lines for those deductions.

The 109th Congress extended those deductions at the last minute but they were not in time to make it into the tax forms printed up by the IRS.

To claim these deductions, go to the IRS website for instructions. If you e-file, the IRS says the online forms should all be updated to include these deductions. However, the IRS doesn’t plan on processing forms claiming those deductions until after Feb 3, so there’s no rush to file yet.