<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by richard:
You are forced to sign a tax return the same way. You don't "have" to sign it -- but you could wind up in jail if you don't. So you are in essence forced to sign. Since there is a strict right that you have against being forced to incriminate yourself, how is the requirement to sign a tax return under penalty of perjury reconciled with the right against self-incrimination?
It is to my thinking an identical circumstance with regard to being searched when you travel by air. Since you are "forced" to be searched, in the same way you are "Forced" to sign your tax return, the search must be narrowly focused and everything else turned up must be overlooked.</font>
The difference is that on the tax return it states... "To the best of my knowledge the information on this form is complete and correct." That is the out. If something is incorrect, and you have kept your paperwork in order, there is no problem. If you indeed lied then that is another matter.
The bottom line is that this is not going to go away anytime soon, so you can either check that bag or not. Arguing about it, like arguing about paying taxes is pointless.
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"All life is a concatenation of ephemeralities" - Alfred Kahn, American economist