Death and or Taxes

"In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes."
Benjamin Franklin
It seems that it won't be death AND taxes for Mr. and Mrs. Brown, but instead, they have vowed for death BEFORE taxes.

The story talks about Ed and Elaine Brown who claim that there is no law requiring citizens to pay taxes. Therefore, they have avoided paying taxes for the last decade. Because of their refusal to pay, they have been sentenced to prison and been told they owe the government $200,000. Mr. and Mrs. Brown have said that they will die before they pay or go to prison. The government is now in a perplexing situation as they get to choose between ignoring this or getting into a shoot-out with a grandma and grandpa over money.

When I first read about this case, my initial thought was, "Crazy people." Then as I read on my thoughts changed to, "Could they really be right?" I was intrigued that the Brown's could actually make a case for not paying their taxes. Very interesting.

But as I read on further, I discovered something that really ticked me off. I found out that our own government is pushing a bill that will forgive all back taxes owed by illegal immigrants. So the Brown's own hypocritical government would like to lock them up while at the same time they smooth the way for the millions of people here illegally by erasing their debts. What a quandry we are in as a country. How can our goverment wave a special wand of forgiveness over illegal immigrants, but refuse to give it's own citizens the same consideration?