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At trial petitioner, a police officer, testified that he did
not believe he was required to file in 1986 or subsequent years
because filing was “voluntary” and because of his growing belief
in “Hawaiian Sovereignty”. Petitioner testified his post-1985
beliefs were based on the advice of a “tax accountant”, a Mr.
Kailing. The record is devoid of corroboration for petitioner’s
testimony as to his growing belief in “Hawaiian Sovereignty” as a
reason for his failure to file tax returns or pay taxes prior to
his criminal trial in 1995. Indeed, the representations made by
petitioner and his attorney in the record indicate petitioner
held no such belief prior to his criminal trial.
We do not find to be credible petitioner’s testimony that he
failed to file tax returns or pay taxes because he believed the
tax system to be voluntary or because of his growing belief in
“Hawaiian Sovereignty”. Rather, the record clearly and
convincingly demonstrates that after petitioner filed his 1985
return in 1986, the alleged reasons that petitioner used to
justify his failure to file returns simply shifted from one
rationale to another. When it served petitioner’s purposes he
and his agents made representations to the Internal Revenue
Service that he had been misled or misguided. However, after
every such instance petitioner reverted to another justification
for his continued noncompliance. The only thing that remained
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