Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Should tax evasion be a capital crime?

I was thinking the other day that blatant disregard for paying one's taxes is rather evil when given that taxes fund lifesaving government entities in addition to libraries.  

So it got me to thinking if legally it could be construed as a capital crime. 
Capital punishment is reserved for murder, but murder is a legal term that can easily be redefined.

For example:

Charles Manson was convicted of the murders through the joint-responsibility rule, which makes each member of a conspiracy guilty of crimes his fellow conspirators commit in furtherance of the conspiracy's objective.[4][5]

Just looked up some words on dictionary.com.

tax evasion

noun
the nonpayment of taxes, as through the failure to report taxable income.

mur·der 

noun
1. Law . the killing of another human being under conditions specifically covered in law. In the U.S., special statutory definitions include murder committed with malice aforethought, characterized by deliberation or premeditation or occurring during the commission of another serious crime, as robbery or arson (first-degree murder),  and murder by intent but without deliberation or premeditation (second-degree murder).
2.Slang . something extremely difficult or perilous: That final exam was murder!
3.a group or flock of crows.
verb (used with object)
4.Law . to kill by an act constituting murder.
5.to kill or slaughter inhumanly or barbarously.
6.to spoil or mar by bad performance, representation, pronunciation, etc.: The tenor murdered the aria.

a·fore·thought

adjective
1.thought  of previously; premeditated (usually used predicatively): with malice aforethought.

mal·ice  

noun
1. desire to inflict injury, harm, or suffering on another, either because of a hostile impulse or out of deep-seated meanness: the malice and spite of a lifelong enemy.
2. Law . evil intent on the part of a person who commits a wrongful act injurious to others.

pre·med·i·ta·tion

noun
1.an act or instance of premeditating.
2.Law . sufficient forethought to impute deliberation and intent to commit the act.

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