A Colorado man, Douglas Bruce was in a Denver court on Monday to enter a plea for his tax evasion charges. Bruce refused to enter a plea because he had no legal counsel. The judge entered a not guilty plea for him. Bruce alleges the tax evasion charges stem from his political viewpoints. The judge gave him 80 days to find counsel; he will benefit from the representation of a tax attorney.
He is being charged with failure to pay state taxes between 2005 and 2007 and giving false information to the Department of Revenue.
Bruce is a proponent of smaller government and has crusaded against taxes. He is the creator the tax-limiting TABOR movement, and asserts that he donated his income to his charity. Should he retain a tax lawyer, they will be able to prove his claim.
Bruce also feels that he is being unfairly targeted in order to silence him. Bruce said in a statement to the court, “I am being targeted. They want me to spend all my time with this. They don’t want me to inform the public of their rights.”
Mike Saccone, a spokesman for the attorney general’s office said, “We treated this case like any other tax evasion case. There’s no animus, no vendetta or personal feelings that go into that process.”
Whether or not a person feels like officials are conspiring against them, it would be unwise to take tax evasion charges frivolously. When facing any tax charge a person should immediately contact a tax attorney for representation.
