Kent Hovind Arrested...

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notto

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Poke said:
Hovind could easily have paid a few dollars for a building permit instead of spending thousands on a legal fight to exempt the ministry. He could easily have registered his ministry as a 501c non-profit with the IRS, and avoided costly legal issues. He could have easily withheld SS, medicare, and income taxes from what he paid those working for him as employees, instead of leaving the payment of these taxes up to those hired as contractors, and avoided tax evasion charges.

Hovind is only charged with violating BS Big Brother laws, not of lying, stealing, etc. Hovind is an eccentric man who really believes that God's business is not the State's business, and he's willing to fight for it.

If he's willing to fight for it then he should not be surprised if he spends some time in jail for it. As for what he's been accused of, he certainly is accused of lying and stealing. He lied to judges and the IRS didn't pay payroll taxes that were due on behalf of his employees. If that isn't lying and stealing, I don't know what is.
 
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KerrMetric

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Poke said:
Hovind could easily have paid a few dollars for a building permit instead of spending thousands on a legal fight to exempt the ministry. He could easily have registered his ministry as a 501c non-profit with the IRS, and avoided costly legal issues. He could have easily withheld SS, medicare, and income taxes from what he paid those working for him as employees, instead of leaving the payment of these taxes up to those hired as contractors, and avoided tax evasion charges.

Hovind is only charged with violating BS Big Brother laws, not of lying, stealing, etc. Hovind is an eccentric man who really believes that God's business is not the State's business, and he's willing to fight for it.

He is also charged with making threats - something he has also been charged with in the past.

Add in the fact he is a stupid ignorant man and you have an all around grade A loser.
 
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random_guy said:
Of course, if you change Hovind's name with some business that makes profit from employing undocumented workers, in the name of God, all conservatives would be up in arms. Tax evasion is tax evasion, whether it's in God's name or not. It's funny to see how so many people seem support illegal activities because the person fighting is religious.

I don't know how much simpler I can make this, the article doesn't identify anything that is illegal in and of itself.

It's pefectly legal to hire people as contacters (where the contractor pays the taxes on his income, rather than an employer withholding taxes). The IRS would be insisting that these people are employees rather than contractors. Hovind is insisting that they're contractors rather than employees. But, this is one of those BS things (I don't like the term BS, but...) where there's a violation of the law only because the government says so, not because any law says so.

No taxes have been evaded. The government has just arbitarily decided that they object to the structure. Those taxes that the article says Hovind owes, are really owed by the people who work for Hovind, and not owed by Hovind himself.

In fact, the article itself is full of blatant inaccuracies, such as claiming Hovind failed to comply with bank reporting laws and that he owes income tax on money he paid to employees. Only banks can fail to comply with reporting laws and only the employee pays income tax on money paid to him, not the employer.
 
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notto

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Poke said:
It's pefectly legal to hire people as contacters (where the contractor pays the taxes on his income, rather than an employer withholding taxes). The IRS would be insisting that these people are employees rather than contractors. Hovind is insisting that they're contractors rather than employees. But, this is one of those BS things (I don't like the term BS, but...) where there's a violation of the law only because the government says so, not because any law says so.

You still can't pay them in cash and not report it. It is illegal. The contractors need to be registered by the company as a contractor and their wages need to be reported by the company that has hired them.

If they were legitimate independent contractors or they were provided by a legitimate organization, then Hovind should be able to clear this up by providing either their independent contractor agreements or the canceled checks to the company he paid.

I'm guessing he will do neither and is in violation of the law and is avoiding paying taxes.
 
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seebs

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Poke said:
Hovind could easily have paid a few dollars for a building permit instead of spending thousands on a legal fight to exempt the ministry. He could easily have registered his ministry as a 501c non-profit with the IRS, and avoided costly legal issues.

Actually, he couldn't.

It's not a real non-profit. It's a personal cash cow.

Or did the part where he was taking in a million dollars for his personal use escape your notice?

He could have easily withheld SS, medicare, and income taxes from what he paid those working for him as employees, instead of leaving the payment of these taxes up to those hired as contractors, and avoided tax evasion charges.

He could have, but he didn't.

Hovind is only charged with violating BS Big Brother laws, not of lying, stealing, etc. Hovind is an eccentric man who really believes that God's business is not the State's business, and he's willing to fight for it.

He is not an eccentric man. He is a con artist.

The laws in question may be silly, but they are there for a reason, and they are the legitimate laws of the state. Flagrant disregard for them like this is just dumb, even apart from being sinful.
 
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Redneck Crow

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Poke, in case you truly don't know the difference between an employee and an independent contractor, here's an explaination. Note that a person who hires independent contractors for his business is still required to report their earnings. Not that Hovind's employees fit the bill.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRS_reclassification
 
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shernren

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AiG has already denounced Hovind plenty. :p

Technically, that's not true. It is an intriguing exercise to compare:

http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/dont_use.asp
and
http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/2996/84/

Something has been conspicuously snipped from an otherwise practically identical page on AiG's site:

What AiG won't say? said:
[Ed. note: For CMI’s point-by-point response to Kent Hovind’s attempted critique of this page, see Maintaining Creationist Integrity.]

To be honest, I don't care a single bit about whether the tax charges against Kent Hovind are real or not. I don't give a whit about whether he's got undeclared taxes costing the United States, and my only concern for Dinosaur Defactification Land is that yet more money is being shunted by well-meaning Christians away from places where it's actually needed. It doesn't affect the fact that:

When it comes to science, Kent Hovind is clueless.
 
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laptoppop

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I am saddened any time a visible Christian leader is disgraced, even if I violently disagree with them. Like Nathan with King David -- I believe our sins can give opportunity for the enemies of God. I am far from perfect, and so are many leaders.

Personally, I believe that Kent Hovind held his slightly off-base view of the government sincerely. He's wrong, of course, but I don't have any evidence that he is not sincere. However, even if I did consider him a charlatan, I would not rejoice in him being taken down, but rather I suggest praying that it would not affect the cause of Christ in the hearts of unbelievers or believers.

-lee-
 
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seebs

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I am sad that any person is suffering, but I am glad for the possibility that a scammer will get shut down. He's made a lot of money fleecing people.

I think his previous actions have done more to harm the cause of Christ than getting busted will. If nothing else, this helps people believe that there is justice. :)
 
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T

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laptoppop said:
Personally, I believe that Kent Hovind held his slightly off-base view of the government sincerely. He's wrong, of course, but I don't have any evidence that he is not sincere. However, even if I did consider him a charlatan, I would not rejoice in him being taken down, but rather I suggest praying that it would not affect the cause of Christ in the hearts of unbelievers or believers.

-lee-

I respectfully disagree...I have no doubt that he is a charlatan, and am embarassed by what he has done in the name a the Christian faith. I think it sends an important message to the hearts of unbelievers that we police our own, and will not defend a man simply because he is a Christian. Hovind deserves no more sympathy than any other criminal.
 
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rmwilliamsll

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but I don't have any evidence that he is not sincere.

we have this odd way of judging the truthfulness of someone's position. if they hold to it sincerely or with great passion we tend to believe it is more true than if beliefs are held insincerely or held to lightly.

there is simply no necessary relationship between the three elements:
truth, sincerity, passion

people can be and often are sincerely wrong.
people can and do hold to illusions with tenacity and great passion.

judge truth on it's evidence.

sincerity by it's fruits not its voice. if voice and deeds are in concert that is true sincerity.

and passion by how those people interact with those they don't particularly like. if they treat those people kindly despite their dislike then their passion doesn't blind them to others, a good thing.

Hovind fails on all 3 counts: truthfulness, sincerity and passion tests.
He misleads and lies, his sincerity didn't extend to spending money just to saving it for himself, and his passion is apparently to hold on to the riches of this world.

...
 
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