My Turn: Stand up for your tax rights

Perhaps your headline of Feb. 2 ("Judge orders Hayden man to file tax returns") should more accurately have read "Local Judge Overturns 1885 Supreme Court Decision." I placed before the court a 24-page motion to dismiss while challenging jurisdiction. The motion is a legal work of art. Courts are required to answer jurisdictional challenges first. Judge Simpson simply set the motion aside and did not refer to it throughout the proceeding, thus circumventing the law.

It was late in the day, and everyone seemed quite anxious to "close up shop," so in railroad fashion my opponent's motion was brought forth and decided upon in a matter of minutes. There was little if any opportunity for me to respond, object, challenge, etc. It was also interesting to hear counsel for the Tax Commission drop a big fat hint after the hearing - saying that with a lawyer, I could have navigated the court system much better, and perhaps have had better results. I didn't lose a legal battle, I lost a procedural one.

While one reader of the news article might think that I'm just another deadbeat tax cheat, another may look deeper and realize I'm a courageous soul standing up for the rights and liberties of others. I am no better than anyone else and certainly not above the law. However, my tax liability begins and ends with the law! I expect to pay no more and no less than the law requires.

In order to understand that reality I read the law and I expect the courts to do nothing less. This is not about me - it's about the tyranny of the state. The government should not have the kind of power over its constituency that was displayed in that courtroom. It should be the other way around.

Should the state have the power to force someone to violate their conscience by signing off on something under penalty of perjury they know is not true? Is all that personal and private information that was exposed to the general public verified? Do you know it to be true? Hint: It's not.

When it's expedient, the courts these days readily allow hearsay to be converted to testimony. Hearsay is evidence based on the reports of others rather than the personal knowledge of a witness and therefore generally not admissible as testimony. In common terms, it's called rumor or gossip.

In a nutshell, fairness and impartiality were thrown out the window in that courtroom. And it's happening every day to many of your neighbors. Until the general population wakes up and takes a stand for our natural rights, it will only get worse.

Your readers should be encouraged to get a copy of Judge Napolitano's book "It's Dangerous To Be Right When the Government Is Wrong." It's an eye opener to the abuses we are now enduring at the hands of a government run amok.

Scott Grunsted is a Hayden resident.