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Tax resisters hold up in new hampshire fortress { April 25 2007 }

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http://www.citizen.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070425/NEWS0201/70425023/-1/CITIZEN

Wednesday, April 25, 2007
N.H. tax evaders sentenced in absentia

By PHILIP ELLIOTT
Associated Press Writer

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) _ A federal judge sentenced a pair of convicted tax evaders in absentia Tuesday, but officials said they have no plans to lay siege to their hilltop compound to send them to prison.

Ed and Elaine Brown skipped the court appearances in favor of remaining holed up in their fortress-like Plainfield home. The Browns say federal tax laws don't exist, and Ed Brown vows to use force to avoid capture.

But U.S. marshals, charged with seizing the former exterminator and his dentist wife, say they're not planning to attack the rural site.

"We're not going to engage in that kind of game with them," U.S. Marshal Stephen Monier said in an interview. "Law enforcement is not going away and neither are the warrants."

The Browns were convicted in January of plotting to conceal their income and avoid paying federal income tax. Elaine Brown also was accused of not paying taxes for employees at her dental clinic. U.S. District Judge Steven McAuliffe on Tuesday sentenced them each to more than five years in prison.

But in telephone interviews Monday and Tuesday, Ed Brown said they will stay in their home despite convictions and warrants.

"I could care less what he does," Brown said of McAuliffe. "I can't talk to a fiction. You're a fiction, too."

Reached after the sentences were handed down, Brown said the only law he's following is God's.

"The world belongs to the creator. It doesn't belong to man. It doesn't belong to the United States government. It doesn't belong to me. It doesn't belong to you," said Brown, 64.

The couple stopped attending halfway through their trial this winter. She returned toward the end; he remained on their 110-acre hilltop retreat, which features a watchtower with a 360-degree view of the countryside, solar and wind power and ample food and other supplies.

"They've acted as if they're above the law," Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Morse said.

A jury decided in January the Browns had engaged in a scheme to hide Elaine Brown's income of $1.9 million between 1996 and 2003. Jurors also found that over 10 years, the couple used $215,890 in postal money orders _ in increments just below the reporting threshold _ to pay for their compound and for Elaine Brown's dental practice.

After the verdict, Elaine Brown was released to her son in Worcester, Mass., and promised the judge she would have no contact with her husband. But she violated her bond agreement and returned to Plainfield.

On Monday, Ed Brown said his 66-year-old wife, who earned most of the couple's income, wouldn't be at her sentencing.

"I speak for her. You speak to the head. You don't speak to the woman. That's the way it was until the last decade or so," he said.

Outside the courthouse on Tuesday, about a dozen supporters protested the proceedings. Waving "Don't Tread on Me" flags and holding signs, the Browns' supporters said the entire process was a sham.

"Show me the law," said Bernie Bastion of Weare. "They can't, because there is no law."

The Browns and their supporters say the federal income tax is oppressive and tyrannical.

"We might as well be in Soviet Russia or Nazi Germany," said Dennis Mounce of Manchester. He stood with signs that read, "Fed Bullies: Leave the Browns Alone."

The U.S. marshals might just do that. Although both Browns are wanted on active warrants, marshals said again Tuesday they have no plans to storm the compound.

"They've said all along they're not leaving. You know what? I believe them," Monier said.

No marshals are on the site and Monier said they aren't going to start blockading roads or cutting off supplies.

"Once we're there, we'd be there forever," he said.


james-traficant
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Tax resister refuses to pay for war { June 2007 }
Tax resisters hold up in new hampshire fortress { April 25 2007 }
Tax resistor declares republic of texas

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