A conservative north Idaho lawmaker faces federal tax evasion charges in Texas.
Republican Representative John Green of Post Falls, who won election to the state House last fall, was indicted last year for conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government dating back to 2005 or 2006 in Texas when he acted as an attorney. Prosecutors allege Green helped a well-heeled couple avoid federal taxes by hiding the proceeds from the sale of gold coins. The alleged scheme allowed Green’s clients to direct their profits into a trust account used by lawyers, which Green controlled “in order to evade paying their federal income taxes.”
The indictment further alleges that all three defendants were involved in the filing of a false partnership tax return related to a partnership. Green’s lawyers deny the allegations.
Green, who spent about 10 years as a Texas sheriff’s deputy, belongs to the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, a group that believes federal agencies exceed their constitutional authority on issues concerning taxes, land management, and gun rights.
In his failed 2010 bid for the Idaho House, Green’s campaign website said he believes the Internal Revenue Code is an “abomination.”
Before moving to North Idaho from Houston, Green represented tax protester and Idaho Republican Representative Phil Hart, who stopped paying income tax in 1996. In 2012, the Idaho Supreme Court ordered Hart to pay more than $53,000 in delinquent taxes. In 2004, Green was barred from practicing law for five years in Texas’ Eastern District for a “recklessly false” statement when questioning the integrity of a magistrate while he was representing another persistent tax protester. (AP, Spokesman-Review)
