An anti-tax protester who refused to pay Uncle Sam more than $67,000 in back taxes will have time to think about his opposition in federal prison.
James J. Guinn, a Monroe plumber, was sentenced to a year and three months in prison for failing to pay taxes on more than $350,984 between 2003 and 2006.
Federal prosecutors said the Internal Revenue Service warned Guinn, owner of Bulldog Plumbing, multiple times that he was obligated to file tax returns, but he ignored the warnings. He was convicted during a federal trial in March.
Guinn, 45, "adopted the legally unsupported, anti-tax beliefs" of the group American Rights Litigators, which purports to help members legally avoid paying taxes by selling "tax defiance schemes," prosecutors have said.
“Taxpayers fall out of the system for many reasons, but the intentional failure to file your tax return is a federal crime," said Reginael McDaniel, IRS-criminal investigation special agent in charge. "While taxpayers have the right to contest their tax liabilities, they don t have the right to violate and disobey the tax laws.”
After his conviction in March, Guinn's lawyers indicated he would appeal after his sentencing
“Mr. Guinn was convicted after a three-day trial of willfully failing to file income tax returns for four calendar years,” Morad Fakhimi told The Walton Tribune at the time. "His defense at trial was that he sincerely believed, based on his understanding of the tax laws, that he was not legally required to file returns for those calendar years."
Guinn's prison stay will be followed by six months of community confinement as part of one year of supervised release. He was also fined $20,000 and ordered to pay $67,513 restitution.
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