Story Archive

Unpersonal Income Tax

Glen James Polglaise is a human being living in North Bendigo, Vic., Australia — but not, he says, a person. When hauled into court for failing to file six years’ worth of tax returns, he claimed the tax laws didn’t apply to him because, he claims, as a matter of international human rights law, he couldn’t be held in “involuntary servitude.” And “as a human being who waives my right to recognition as a person,” he rejected the charges; he claimed they referred to a person who wasn’t him. A court dismissed his arguments, saying that to let people choose which laws to be governed by “would make a mockery of the law,” and sentenced Polglaise to a A$6,000 (US$4,300) fine — and ordered him to file his taxes. (AC/Bendigo Advertiser) ...It then authorized a revised version of “Waltzing Matilda” in which the swagman, upon being caught poaching, gladly surrenders and thanks the landlord for teaching him a lesson about law and order.