RIP, Irwin A. Schiff, patriot and revolutionary.  He refused to allow political conformity, the status quo, or the oppressive weight of prison, to corrupt his commitment to what he believed were the important founding ideals of this country.  From a eulogy written by his son, Peter, which should be read in its entirety:

“My father had a life-long love affair with our nation’s founding principals and proudly served his country during the Korean War…”

…….

“But my father was most known for his staunch opposition to the Federal Income Tax, for which the Federal Government labeled him a “tax protester.” But he had no objection to lawful, reasonable taxation. He was not an anarchist and believed that the state had an important, but limited role to play in market based economy.  He opposed the Federal Government’s illegal and unconstitutional enforcement and collection of the income tax. His first book on this topic (he authored six books in total) How Anyone Can Stop Paying Income Taxes, published in 1982, became a New York Times best seller. His last, The Federal Mafia; How the Government Illegally Imposes and Unlawfully Collects Income Taxes, the first of three editions published in 1992, became the only non-fiction and second-to-last book to be banned in America.”

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“His crusade to force the government to obey the law earned him three prison sentences, the final one being a fourteen-year sentence that he began serving ten years ago, at the age of 77. That sentence turned into a life sentence, as my father failed to survive until his planned 2017 release date. However, in actuality, the life sentence amounted to a death sentence. My father died from skin cancer that went undiagnosed and untreated while he was in federal custody.”

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“Whether or not you agree with my father’s views on the Federal Income Tax, or the manner by which it is collected, it’s hard to condone the way he was treated by our government. He held his convictions so sincerely and so passionately that he continued to espouse them until his dying breath. Like William Wallace in the final scene of Braveheart, an oppressive government may have succeeded in killing him, but they did not break his spirit. And that spirit will live on in his books, his videos, and in his children and grandchildren. Hopefully his legacy will one day help restore the lost freedoms he died trying to protect, finally allowing him to rest in peace.”