I’ve been reading a bunch of old Analog Science Fiction magazines from my youth. Tonight I was reading the February 1975 Analog and a short story by Stephen Robinett entitled The Tax Man amused me. It would make a fun case study for a Law and Science Fiction seminar. There are going to be links to the story and other pertinent stuffs on my blog. So, if you want to read the story, stop here.
SPOILER WARNING 1
In the story, there is a massive wall between the USA and Mexico. But it’s not intended to keep people out. Instead, it’s intended to keep people in. (That'd trigger some class discussion, I suspect.)
You see, the Tax Reform Act of 1987 created a flat tax rate of 98 percent and made tax evasion a capital offense. The Supreme Court through that out as a violation of the 8th Amendment. Initially, Congress changed the penalty to life imprisonment, but that was too expensive due to the vast number of tax evaders. (There’s a law and economics subtext there.)
So they amended the Constitution to bring back the concept of Civil Death (with a citation to Blackstone’s Commentaries in the story, no less).
Our hero is visited by an IRS agent who informs Larry that he has been convicted of nonpayment of income taxes for 1998 in a trial conducted entirely by computers. There is no appeal. In three hours, Larry will declared civilly dead and anyone can kill him, after which he will buried in the middle of the road.
Larry’s a long distance trucker and decides to take his rig on a run from LA to the Mexican border. The IRS agent chases him and they argue over CB radio about tax policy.
In case you've decided to go get the link to the story, I've put another spoiler warning to avoid springing the ending on you.
SPOILER WARNING 2
Eventually Larry slams his truck into the Mexico border wall, wrecking it. He’s saved by the ejection seat. And notices an obscure tax loophole that provides a tax credit for the loss of a capital asset caused by government action. They wrangle a while over the fine print, but it turns out the loophole wipes out Larry’s tax debt. His life spared, he saunters through the hole in the wall caused by the crash and walks off into the Mexican sunset.
As I said, I think this would a hoot for a Law and Science Fiction seminar. Tax law. Tax policy. Statutory interpretation. Constitutional criminal law. Law and economics. It’s got it all.
Now I’ve just got to persuade the law school to let me teach the seminar .
