Apparently, Ron Paul has hired the son of legendary tax protester notorious crank Irwin Schiff as his tax advisor:

Representative Ron Paul, the Texas doctor with the libertarian streak who is seeking the Republican nomination, has taken on an economic adviser with very close ties to people who assert that the income tax is illegal. Dr. Paul announced that his new economic adviser is Paul Schiff, who runs Euro Pacific Capital Inc., an investment fund. He is also the author of “Crash Proof,” a book about a coming economic collapse that on Friday was listed as #224 at Amazon.com. Not mentioned by the Paul campaign is that Mr. Schiff is the son of Irwin Schiff of Las Vegas, now serving his third federal prison sentence for tax crimes. He is also the author of such books as “The Federal Mafia,” which asserts that federal judges are paid off by the Internal Revenue Service, and other books describing the federal government as a criminal organization that illegally extracts income taxes. (…) The son, in interviews, has said he thinks his father is correct in asserting that there is no law to make most Americans liable for income taxes and so they can legally put zeroes on their tax returns. Peter Schiff, however, said that he pays his taxes.

Well, they can put zeros if they want to, but they’d better plan on some time in prison if they do. Let’s be blunt about, there is no legal merit to the arguments that Schiff and the other tax protesters, such as Wesley Snipes, make. The 16th Amendment was legitimately ratified and is blindlingly clear:

The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.

And the Internal Revenue Code clearly defines income:

Except as otherwise provided in this subtitle, gross income means all income from whatever source derived, including (but not limited to) the following items: (1) Compensation for services, including fees, commissions, fringe benefits, and similar items; (2) Gross income derived from business; (3) Gains derived from dealings in property; (4) Interest; (5) Rents; (6) Royalties; (7) Dividends; (8) Alimony and separate maintenance payments; (9) Annuities; (10) Income from life insurance and endowment contracts; (11) Pensions; (12) Income from discharge of indebtedness; (13) Distributive share of partnership gross income; (14) Income in respect of a decedent; and (15) Income from an interest in an estate or trust.

Schiff is a scam artist and he’s serving time in jail because he broke the law. And the Paul campaign has hired his son, who apparently agrees with his father but apparently isn’t stupid enough to actually put his ideas into practice.

You can argue that the law is unjust, or that we should repeal the income tax, but the argument that we aren’t legally required to do what the law allows is just plain nonsense and it’s truly unfortunate that the libertarian movement is becoming associated with nonsense like this.

The Times article goes on:

Dr. Paul has not criticized the tax protesters among his supporters, even ones who deny the legitimacy of the tax laws. While he has said that the income tax law is valid, he has also said that rules requiring people who make more than minimal income fill out income tax returns violates the 13th Amendment’s prohibition against involuntary servitude.

I haven’t heard Dr. Paul make this argument, but if he has he’s just plain wrong.