FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 4, 1998

14th TAX PROTESTER ARRESTED ON TAX CHARGES

GAFFNEY -- A Gaffney man who told the South Carolina Department of Revenue he was not constitutionally required to pay tax was arrested today and charged with failing to file state income tax returns.

Joel B. Hudson, 42, is being held in the Cherokee County Detention Center on a $10,000 surety bond after Department of Revenue investigators charged him with failing to file income tax returns from 1992 through 1996.

Hudson was first contacted by the DOR in 1995 after an audit showed he had not filed 1992, 1993 and 1994 tax returns. He has repeatedly told the agency he is not required to pay state income tax. His tax liability has not yet been determined.

Hudson is the 14th person arrested since 1996 when the DOR began a crackdown against tax protesters. Tax protesters follow similar schemes to avoid paying taxes, such as claiming exemption from withholding tax, denouncing their United States citizenship or claiming the income tax is unconstitutional. Three tax protesters have gone to trial since the crackdown and each has been convicted and sentenced to prison.

Hudson is facing up to five years in prison and a $50,000 fine if convicted of all the charges.

The Cherokee County Sheriff's Department assisted the DOR in Hudson's arrest.