Thread by @egavactip

Thanks to all who responded! Here's the answer: The "reliance defense" was one of the most popular tax protest strategies of the 1990s. In the 70s-80s, tax protesters generally tried to make their tax protest arguments in court, like the 5th Amendment meant they didn't have to

https://twitter.com/egavactip/status/1453420593345351682

pay income tax or that the 16th amendment was never lawfully ratified. Those always failed. Then, in the early 90s, a number of tax protest leaders began selling "expert letters" to people telling them that in their legal opinion, those people didn't have to pay taxes. That

way, or so the reasoning went, if those people were ever charged with tax-related crimes (crimes that generally require a *willful* intent to violate the law in order for conviction), they could whip out those expert letters and basically say "Judge, I honestly thought I didn't

have to pay my income taxes because all of these seemingly knowledgeable experts told me I didn't have to, so you can't convict me because I had no willful intent." These folks thought they were being soooo clever, but judges and juries generally saw right through such schemes.