A Texas employer who does not withhold taxes from his workers’ paychecks and who is charged with violating 27 counts of federal income-tax law was freed from jail yesterday, reports We the People, a leading organization in the “tax honesty” movement.
According to WTP’s statement, Magistrate Erma Ramirez was not convinced by an assistant U.S. attorney that Dick Simkanin was a “danger to the community” and a “flight risk” from prosecution. He now is able to prepare for his trial without being behind bars.
In 2000, Simkanin, owner and principal of Arrow Custom Plastics in Bedford, Texas, stopped withholding from his employees’ wages. Although he has defended himself from possible grand jury indictments over the last two years, last week a Dallas grand jury did indict him.
After a 90-minute hearing, Ramirez ordered Simkanin released on his own recognizance without bail or other financial encumbrance. He is to report to court in Fort Worth tomorrow, according to the statement.
WTP says it had 40 volunteers in the courtroom in support of Simkanin.
We the People has a national campaign to encourage employers not to withhold taxes for the government. In a statement on its website, the organization says:
“On March 15, 2003, {WTP Chairman] Bob Schulz officially put the IRS on notice that WTP has initiated a national campaign to educate officials of private companies that under U.S. law, their workers are not subject to withholding, that the companies are not legally ‘withholding agents’ and that the individual income tax is fraudulent in its origin and unlawful in its enforcement and operation.”
The group provides information advising businesses about tax law regarding withholding.
