A patriotic Christian man who refuses to pay income taxes, because he does not want the government using his tax dollars to fund abortions, has won his first day in court.
Like many Christians and other Americans – nearly 60% in fact – Oregon man, Michael Bowman, opposes taxpayers funding abortion. However, unlike most Americans, he is willing to defy the Internal Revenue Service to avoid doing so.
According to local newspaper The Oregonian, Bowman is a 53-year-old Christian and contract engineer in Columbia City, Oregon. He has refused to file a tax return or pay taxes since 1999. His reason? The federal government’s using his tax dollars to fund the abortion industry.
“I’m not a tax protester. I love my country,” he told the paper. “I have a duty to my country. I have a duty to my conscience.”
Indicted for Felony Tax Evasion
The IRS has sent him numerous warnings over unpaid taxes from 2002 to 2014, and in 2012 the Oregon Department of Revenue began garnishing money from Bowman’s bank account. In response, he started cashing out his paychecks and leaving only a minimum balance in his account.
This, federal prosecutors say, constituted “removing his income from the reach of taxing authorities.” They indicted him for felony tax evasion in the amount of $356,857, as well as four misdemeanor counts of willful failure to file tax returns.
Bowman’s attorney, Matthew Schindler, argued that his client was fully transparent every step of the way, from disclosing all of his paychecks to cashing them at his own bank, under his own name.
“Like a player collapsing as they lose Twister, the government has reached too far forward and stretched way too far back,” his motion to dismiss read.
In what many believe to be a surprising, yet encouraging victory for Bowman, US District Judge Michael Mosman sided with Bowman on the felony charge, ruling that the feds failed to show he attempted to conceal income or deceive the government. Prosecutors remain free to re-introduce the charge in the future and are currently weighing whether to do so.
Bowman elaborated on his stand in a recent interview with CBN News.
“First, I would love to pay taxes so as to have a normal life. However, our government is using the tax dollars to fund Planned Parenthood; which commits abortions – the death of the innocent,” Bowman said. “Apparently, a woman has the right to choose, but evidently, I do not.”
He also took aim at the common rejoinder that every American citizen has to pay taxes for things with which they might personally disagree, such as war. “You see, the Constitution grants certain abilities to the government, e.g., funding the military, but killing children is not a Constitutional backed, compelling interest of the government by any stretch of the imagination,” Bowman explained.
Bowman vowed that he would continue his one-man tax revolt as long as the government continues to fund the abortion industry.
“My effort is about standing up, standing firm for my Constitutional rights, and getting the government to honor title 42 Chapter 21.b The Religious Freedom Restoration Act, so that I may live a peaceful life, and in the end face God, and hopefully have Him say, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant!” he said.
