A man in Victoria, apparently a follower of the Michael Scott school of financial responsibility, has attempted to get out of paying taxes by arguing that he’s not a person. Do you think he’s been talking to old mate who wishes he wasn’t a living person?
The man, from North Bendigo, failed to submit tax returns for six years running, from 2012 to 2017. When he appeared in court on Wednesday, he told the magistrate that, “as a human being who waives my right to recognition as a person”, he did not accept the six charges of failing to provide an income tax return.
Did it work? What do you reckon? Of course it didn’t – the magistrate described his argument as ‘nonsense’, and I’m inclined to agree.
In addition to arguing that he wasn’t a person, he also argued that human rights laws protected anyone from being held in servitude, so I have a strong suspicion this guy is one of those ‘taxation is theft and/or slavery’ types.
Unfortunately, the judge wasn’t having it – he found him guilty on all six charges, and fined him $6000 plus costs. He described the man’s arguments as “entirely lacking in merit” and that his attempt to argue that individuals can pick and choose which laws apply to them “would make a mockery of the law”.
Such a shame. I’m sure we’ve all felt like not being people come tax time. But my main question is, if he isn’t a person, what is he? A cat? An alien? A ghost? How can a non-human appear in court in the first place?
I feel like he simply didn’t think this through. Shocking, I know.