[TAXES] Online Tax Filing For Free - Comments Page 2

I have always filed my own taxes using paper forms and mailed them in since I was 18 years old. I am now...several years older. Using tax programs decreases the possibility of errors, but they make the system so automated that there is no human intervention when questions arise that cannot be answered by "the system". Therefore I will never use them.

2014 was the first tax year that I was unable to complete my Federal tax return because it required me to sign it in order to complete it. In the State of Ohio in which I reside, we passed a Constitutional amendment in 2011 that prohibits the levying of any penalty or fine for not participating in a health care system. Anyone can search for this information, but it is short enough for me to copy and paste here.

It states:
Article 1, §21 (A) No federal, state, or local law
or rule shall compel, directly or indirectly,
any person, employer, or health
care provider to participate in a health
care system.
(B) No federal, state, or local law or
rule shall prohibit the purchase or sale
of health care or health insurance.
(C) No federal, state, or local law or
rule shall impose a penalty or fine for
the sale or purchase of health care or
health insurance.
(D) This section does not affect laws
or rules in effect as of March 19, 2010;
affect which services a health care provider
or hospital is required to perform
or provide; affect terms and conditions
of government employment; or affect
any laws calculated to deter fraud or
punish wrongdoing in the health care
industry.
(E) As used in this Section,
(1) “Compel” includes the levying of
penalties or fines.
(2) “Health care system” means any
public or private entity or program
whose function or purpose includes the
management of, processing of, enrollment
of individuals for, or payment for,
in full or in part, health care services,
health care data, or health care information
for its participants.
(3) “Penalty or fine” means any civil or
criminal penalty or fine, tax, salary or
wage withholding or surcharge or any
named fee established by law or rule by
a government established, created, or
controlled agency that is used to punish
or discourage the exercise of rights
protected under this section.

Since I did not purchase health insurance at any time during that year, If I were to follow the instructions for forms 1040, 1040A, or 1040EZ, it would require that I make a "Shared Responsibility Payment" to the IRS when making a payment for that year's taxes. If I were to do that, and agree to it by signing the 1040 document, I effectively give up my State Constitutional right to not have to pay a fine.

Everyone in the State of Ohio has this right. Don't give it up by signing that 1040 form. 2015 will be the second year that I will be unable to sign my form 1040, and I will continue to refuse to sign them in the future until the rules have been rewritten to include an exemption for all Ohio residents or the fine has been removed from the filing requirements.

For everybody's own information, I fully paid what I figured would be legally due for that year, minus the fine. I sent the IRS a check along with a six-month extension to file in April of last year and have not heard back from anyone from the IRS...although, I invite them to.

They deposited the payment the same week.

Brian J. Strohmeyer
Citizen of the State of Ohio,
6th Congressional District