Recently there appeared an item in the news regarding anti-tax crusader Doug Guetzloe. As author of the recent book, “Axing Taxes,” which outlines a detailed and historic perspective as to the successes of Doug and his Ax the Tax movement, I’d like to lend some light to an unclear situation.
 
Following attempts by prosecutors at trying to shut Doug up by filing 14 misdemeanor charges against him for a missing disclaimer on campaign mailers (using a law declared unconstitutional), the IRS received the ‘Guetzloe file’ in 2006. That began an exhaustive, intensive investigation into Guetzloe, his family, his children, his business and all of his financial affairs in a desperate attempt to find illegal and fraudulent financial transactions. Hundreds of federal grand jury subpoenas were delivered throughout the state to anyone who had done business with Doug.
 
The effort was clearly designed to starve Doug from his tutelage as the de-facto leader of Ax the Tax, a movement that had deprived government – at all levels – of billions of dollars in taxes.
 
After full and ongoing investigations with dozens of agents, all the federal prosecutors could come up with was the ‘illegal’ act of failing to file two tax returns. Not failing to file taxes, but simply the forms – that’s it.
 
Witnesses at the trial testified that Doug did not ‘willfully’ or ‘intentionally’ fail to file, that conversely there were numerous legitimate reasons why the filings were not complete.
 
It is important to note that the IRS testified that there was no evidence of fraud, tax evasion or any other attempt to not pay taxes – only to not file the form for two years.
 
Now Guetzloe fights for his life and that of his family as he faces 15 months in a federal prison. The judge was fully aware that Doug is the only bread winner for his family and turned a deaf ear. Doug's harsh sentence is the result of opposition to the Ax the Tax movement.
 
Gerald Shaw is the author of Axing Taxes - The First Amendment Battle of an Ax the Tax Crusader: How Doug Guetzloe Helped Save Taxpayers $50 Billion