There’s no question Michael E. Bowman has failed to file income tax returns since 1999 and hasn’t paid federal income taxes.

There’s no question the Columbia City man made several hundreds of thousands of dollars in income.

What’s before a federal jury in a trial that began Monday in Portland is whether Bowman acted willfully in not submitting tax returns to the federal government between 2011 and 2014.

Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Rachel Sowray argued that the 54-year-old man who worked independently as a computer contractor acted deliberately “because he disagrees with the law.’’

“Disagreement with the law is different than misunderstanding the law and disagreeing with the law is not a valid defense,’’ Sowray told jurors in her opening statement.

Prosecutors contend Internal Revenue Service agents told Bowman multiple times about the law and his need to file proper tax returns. They told jurors that Bowman had paid someone 20 years ago to file fraudulent returns for him in 1999 through 2001.

Sowray called Bowman a “well-informed’’ man who flouted the law and should be found guilty of willful failure to file the returns.

Matthew Schindler, Bowman’s defense lawyer, said his client never acted with criminal intent, but instead was driven by his deeply rooted Christian conviction that human life is sacred and his desire not to give money to the government to fund abortion.

Bowman isn’t “some kind of mumbo jumbo tax protester’’ who doesn’t believe wages aren’t income, Schindler said. Instead, it was Bowman’s “good faith’’ belief that the IRS had to make an accommodation for his views under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the First Amendment and the Oregon Constitution.

“He reasonably believed he was entitled to an accommodation,’’ Schindler said.

The unusual trial on four misdemeanor tax charges is expected to last three days before U.S. District Judge Michael W. Mosman.

Among those watching the case from the courtroom’s public gallery were two other men facing similar charges who are set for trial at the end of September and Oregon refuge occupier Kenneth Medenbach. Schindler successfully represented Medenbach in 2016 on charges stemming from the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

Bowman’s stance arose partly from his personal experience as a teenager, when his 17-year-old girlfriend became pregnant and her parents forced her to get an abortion and he didn’t have the ability to object, his lawyer said.

That sent Bowman into a deep depression.

By the time Bowman was indicted on criminal charges in February 2017, he hadn’t filed a federal income tax return for 18 years, Schindler said.

“And the IRS did nothing,” Schindler told jurors. “It never collected a single dime from him during those 18 years. That inaction, that failure, convinced him that he was right.’’

The federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act prohibits government from substantially burdening a person's religious exercise unless the government demonstrates a "compelling governmental interest'' and does so through the "least restrictive means.''

Federal law prohibits government funding for abortion, except in cases of rape or incest or to save a woman's life, but Schindler previously cited in court a Congressional Budget Office estimate that the government paid $450 million in 2014-15 to Planned Parenthood, which performs abortions in addition to providing education, contraception and other forms of reproductive health care.

While Bowman's abortion-related objection to filing income tax returns appears to be unique, the religious defense isn’t and hasn't been successful when used by others. Case law has held that the government's right to collect taxes trumps any religious objection or antiwar activist objection to paying taxes to support national defense.

But Schindler argued that the case hinges on Bowman’s intent.

“The belief doesn’t have to be reasonable. It doesn’t have to be based on a correct understanding of the law. It’s about what is in his heart and his mind,’’ he argued.

In contrast to the IRS, the state of Oregon took steps to garnish Bowman’s wages for unpaid state taxes, Schindler said.

IRS agent Jonathan W. Dittmann, the government’s first witness, testified that he contacted Bowman in the course of investigating one-time Oregon resident Joseph Oquendo Saladino and three associates. The four men were convicted of conspiring to defraud the IRS.

Bowman had paid Saladino and his “Freedom and Privacy Committee’’ to submit tax returns on his behalf in 1999, 2000 and 2001, which the IRS had deemed frivolous. Saladino was the promoter of a bogus tax dodge who insisted that personal income in the United States wasn’t taxable and had filed about 1,800 returns on behalf of clients who claimed to owe no income tax.

Dittmann said he approached Bowman in 2004 as a potential witness in his investigation of Saladino. When Bowman wouldn’t agree to be interviewed, the agent subpoenaed him to testify before a grand jury, and Bowman did.

Dittmann also testified that the IRS had sent Bowman letters, notifying him that his returns filed in 1999 through 2001 weren’t supported by law.

During another visit to Bowman’s home in March 2015, Dittmann said Bowman told him that he didn’t support any federal funds being used to support abortion. Bowman also compared taxation to slavery and argued that taxation was voluntary, the agent testified.

“He said he was never going to file and pay taxes,” Dittmann testified. “We should just take him to jail.’’

During cross-examination, Dittmann was asked why he never arrested Bowman. Dittmann said he was focused on going after bigger fish committing tax fraud.

“I was hoping Mr. Bowman would have a change of heart and start filing tax returns,’’ Dittmann said.

Bowman lives alone in a rental home, where he pays $1,500 a month. He drives a 20-year-old Jeep Cherokee and pays support for his teenage son who lives with his ex-wife, his lawyer said.

According to Schindler, Bowman was scammed by Saladino. During his 2004 grand jury testimony, Bowman declared his religious objections to filing tax returns, but the federal government took no action against him until more than a decade later, the defense lawyer said.

“How does it suddenly become a crime in 2017?’’ Schindler asked.

In April 2018, Mosman threw out a felony tax evasion charge against Bowman, finding the government failed to provide evidence that Bowman had tried to conceal or mislead government officials because he cashed his checks and kept a low bank balance so tax collectors couldn’t garnish his account to pay taxes.

-- Maxine Bernstein

Email at mbernstein@oregonian.com

Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian

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