If you think paying taxes is unfair, illegal or unconstitutional, then watch out -- the Justice Department is after you.
Just as the Internal Revenue Service is getting into its perennial tax-season tough talk, Justice Department officials weighed in Tuesday with a vow to ramp up efforts against "tax defiers."
A tax defier is not a wealthy individual who buys a sophisticated tax shelter in a fraudulent effort to shield legitimate income from taxes. Nor is a defier a taxpayer who has a difference of opinion with the I.R.S. over deductions, or one who challenges specific tax policies enacted by Congress.
A tax defier, according to a Justice Department statement, is someone who "seeks to deny and defy the fundamental validity of the tax laws."