Tax rebellion for dummies

>> Three different strategies for refusing to ante up

By PHILIP PREVILLE

Tax collection was much simpler in the old days: when it came time to pay the Queen's tithe, the royal henchmen showed up at your door and asked you to fork out your dubloons. If you refused to pay, they shook you up a bit; if you were bigger than they were, you probably got a job as a tax collector yourself.

Today, taxation is an indecipherable labyrinth: T-1, T-4 and other forms, calculations on schedules A through F, credits, rebates, deductions and loopholes invisible to the common man. All of which takes a full weekend or more to sort out, all so Ottawa can spend it on military equipment, debt repayment, HRDC grants and other indiscriminate pork-barrelling.

Tired of paying taxes? Then don't. Just be forewarned: some justifications work better than others. Here, in order from least to most effective, is a look at how some people are using incendiary rhetoric, creative accounting and contract law to dodge the Revenue Canada taxman.

Option 1: Civil disobedience

Michael Katz has a hearing problem. It's not severe enough to prevent him from having a normal phone conversation, but it's enough for him to count as "disabled" on federal government application forms. But the government won't hire him, nor will they hire other disabled people. According to Katz, Ottawa blatantly disregards its own Employment Equity Act, which calls upon the public service to hire Canadians with disabilities. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate for the disabled hovers near 50 per cent.

"Several years ago, as a disabled Canadian, I decided that I didn't belong in this country," says Katz. "So I advised the Prime Minister's office by registered letter that I refused to file income taxes." By his logic, the disabled weren't being represented in the democratic process, and since "no taxation without representation" is a basic principle of liberal democracy, he didn't see the point in filing his T-1.

His registered letter landed him in court last December 3. The case is still ongoing, but Katz says it's a kangaroo court. "My gesture was purely symbolic, since I earn too little to pay any taxes," he says. "In fact, I am owed money."

Katz says he has made his arguments in court to no avail. He was forced to capitulate last month; he has now filed all his tax returns and is expecting a big refund in the mail, albeit one he'd rather not get. And he may still be convicted of tax evasion.

The experience has left him bitter. Says Katz: "We have a political process that tells people, 'Shut up or we'll nail you.' The Liberals have put a system in place so they never have to hire another disabled person. I've been fighting, but instead of listening they come after me. Now I've just given up."

Option 2: Conscientious objection

In the past, explains Dominique Boisvert, the Canadian government has recognized "conscientious objecters" to military service: many people refused to bear arms due to their personal or religious convictions, and they were not forced to do so.

Today, Boisvert says, the nature of war has changed. "Wars are fought with technology now, computers and satellites and guided missiles," he says. "Canada doesn't conscript warm bodies any more. Instead, they conscript money: they use our taxes to pay for military technology."

You can see where this is going: Boisvert is a conscientious objecter to paying taxes. Not all taxes--just those spent on the military, usually about seven or eight per cent of your tax bill. "I file my return each year," says Boisvert. "I just don't pay that eight per cent."

Boisvert is joined by about 500 brothers-without-arms across the country. Boisvert works with Taxes for Peace, created in 1987, which encourages people to withhold the military appropriation in their tax returns, and to place it in a trust fund instead. If the government wants to get its grubby hands on the trust fund, all they have to do is promise not to spend it on the military.

Alas, the government has other ways of claiming that money. Boisvert, for example, says he has $400 in that trust fund. "If they owe me a GST rebate, they just don't send it to me," he says. "They keep it and deduct it from the amount I owe them." Still, the group has been been negotiating with Revenue Canada since 1994, and believe they may yet get their promise.

Could this idea work for other conscientiously objectionable expenditures, like senators' salaries or corporate welfare? Technically, yes. But, says Boisvert: "The biggest argument the government always makes is, 'If we do this for your cause, we'll have to do it for everyone else's cause.' So we'd prefer if people didn't do that."

Option 3: Terminate your taxpayers' contract

There are a number of small, loosely organized groups currently promoting legal challenges to the Income Tax Act. One, the De-Tax Group, encourages Canadians to subvert the tax system by almost any means possible. The group's Vancouver-based leader, who goes by the name Sir Laurence Loophole, claims he is not a taxpayer but "an unincorporated spiritual entity"--essentially a church with a congregation of one--which exempts him from paying taxes.

Another group, the UnTaxMan, takes a different tack: they are spreading the word about a little-known provision in the Income Tax Act which states you don't become a taxpayer until you file your very first tax return. When you file that first return, you effectively sign a legal contract with the government.

By extension, if you never sign that contract, you never become a taxpayer. And if you have signed the contract, you can legally terminate it. The UnTaxMan has set out a series of legal steps for contract termination; once you jump through the hoops, you never have to pay taxes again. "Our procedure works," insists Vancouver-based Alex Muljiani, who gives UnTaxMan seminars across Canada. "It's never been successfully challenged in court."

Georges Leblanc (not his real name) is a Montrealer currently going through the stages of contract termination. "I want to be free," Leblanc says. "The current system treats us like slaves--it 'allows' us to keep some of our money. I want to reclaim what's mine. If I enter into a contract, I want to do it freely."

Leblanc has already notified Revenue Canada of his intention and says his correspondence with them has bordered on the absurd. "Their response to me is, 'All taxpayers must pay taxes.' To which I say, 'Well, I'm not a taxpayer any more.'

"By the end of this year, I should never hear from Revenue Canada again." :

Taxes for Peace can be reached at www.cam.org/~nipp. The UnTaxMan's procedure is available at www.untaxman.com. The De-Tax Group can be reached at www.detax.com

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