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FTRF Files Amicus Opposing U.S. Ban on Anti-Tax BookALA’s Freedom to Read Foundation joined the American Civil Liberties Union and three other free-speech groups May 1 in a friend-of-the-court brief that opposes a temporary restraining order preventing author Irwin Schiff from selling or distributing his 1990 book The Federal Mafia: How the Government Illegally Imposes and Unlawfully Collects Income Taxes. Imposed March 19 by U.S. District Judge Lloyd D. George, the order came a month after Internal Revenue Service agents raided Freedom House, Schiff’s Las Vegas office, the Associated Press reported May 2.Judge George noted in the order that it is illegal under the tax code to engage in “fraudulent or deceptive conduct that substantially interferes with the proper administration of the internal revenue laws” and enjoined Schiff and his business partners from “selling books that direct people how to fill out fraudulent or false tax returns or other documents to be filed with the IRS” or holding any income-tax workshops. “Even misguided or mistaken ideas have the right to be placed in the public arena,” said attorney Jonathan Bloom, who is representing the Association of American Publishers in defending Schiff’s First Amendment rights. Government attorneys, in turn, are arguing that the defendants are supporting “the false and frivolous position that paying federal income taxes is voluntary.” Also filing amicus briefs on Schiff’s behalf were the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression and the PEN American Center. Posted May 12, 2003. |
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