Our Low-Tech Tax Code

theodp writes "After establishing that nothing can excuse Joe Stack's murderous intentional plane crash into an IRS office, a NY Times Op-Ed explains the reference in Stack's suicide note to an obscure federal tax law — Section 1706 of the 1986 tax act — which the software engineer claimed declared him a 'criminal and non-citizen slave' and ruined his career. Interestingly, a decade-old NY Times article on Section 1706 pretty much agreed: 'The immediate effect of these [Section 1706] audits is to force individual programmers ... to abandon their dreams of getting rich off their high-technology skills.' Section 1706, the NYT Op-Ed concludes, 'is an example of how Congress enacted a discriminatory law that hurt thousands of technology consultants, their staffing firms and customers. And despite strong bipartisan efforts and unbiased studies supporting that law's repeal, it remains on the books.'"

Re:There's more to this story

[Ultra64]

teabaggers go nuts.

Huh huh huh

Re:There's more to this story

[Anonymous Coward]

If we keep trying to band-aid and duct tape our problems, china and europe will eventually eat our lunch.

You silly americans think everyone enjoys eating your food.

Re:Double-Standard

[ArsonSmith]

Glen Beck is little more than a political comedian. It's not his fault that progressives seem to say the funniest (in a scarry way) things.

Re:Double-Standard

[fishexe]

This guy was a fundamentalist libertarian terrorist.

BZZZZTTTT! Libertarians don't go around quoting Marx.

Sorry. Try again.

Sure they do. Makes them sound well-read.

Re:Good luck getting it repealed now

[h4rr4r]

No, I picked that example for that reason. You see the founding fathers did not want to pay taxes,s o they fought a war and made their own country, this asshole wanted to just lie on some forms. They had more dedication, he was just a wimp who offed himself the minute things did not go his way.

The reality is the founding fathers got very little for their tax, we today get far more. Look at all those wars the american people so dearly love, we have at least 2 going at any given time.

Re:Was it a cause of his legal trouble?

[publiclurker]

Just out of curiosity, how do you manage to "earn" 8K a year. You obviously don't have enough marketable skills or even higher order brain functioning to command that amount. If it is indeed possible, than I have a few potted plants in my living room that I think I need to have start pulling their own weight.

Re:he was mentally ill

[machine321]

What do they call it when you *are* the most amazing person in the world, and you *do* succeed at everything? I'm asking for a friend.