Tax Protester Conspiracy Arguments - Conspiracy Arguments, in General - "Capital Letters" Argument

"Capital Letters" Argument

Some tax protesters (and occasionally persons brought before courts) have argued that because the titles of court cases identify the parties in all capital letters, the persons thus identified are "fictitious entities". In other words, a court hearing a case titled "STATE v. JOHN Q. SMITH" has no authority over the defendant, "John Q. Smith" because the capitalization of the name means the court is addressing a person who does not exist. Such an argument was made by Eddie Ray Kahn, a co-defendant of Wesley Snipes in the latter's high-profile tax evasion case. Kahn "made several missteps and peculiar motions. For example, he sought to be immediately freed because the indictment lists his name in all capital letters, and he claimed U.S. attorneys have no jurisdiction because Florida supposedly was never ceded to the federal government". The court denied these motions.

No court has ever upheld such an argument. See, e.g. United States v. Frech ("Defendants' assertion that the capitalization of their names in court documents constitutes constructive fraud, thereby depriving the district court of jurisdiction and venue, is without any basis in law or fact"); United States v. Washington ("defendant contends that the Indictment must be dismissed because 'KURT WASHINGTON,' spelled out in capital letters, is a fictitious name used by the Government to tax him improperly as a business, and that the correct spelling and presentation of his name is 'Kurt Washington.' This contention is baseless"). See also United States v. Ford (taxpayer's argument—that an IRS summons was invalid because the IRS capitalized all the letters in the taxpayer's name in the caption of a petition—was ruled to be frivolous). Similar arguments have been raised unsuccessfully about things such as the presence or absence of punctuation, or of a middle name or middle initial.