Mediaboss Marketing

Date: Friday May. 11, 2012 9:55 AM PT

A B.C. tax protester who preached a bogus scheme to evade the Canada Revenue Agency has been sentenced to four years, six months in jail and fined $274,815.

Chilliwack resident Russel Anthony Porisky was convicted on two counts of tax evasion and one count of counselling to commit a crime in January after both following and prescribing the repeatedly-disproven "natural person" theory.

The legally flawed presumption is that one can avoid paying taxes by declaring themselves a "natural person" rather than a taxpayer an argument Canadian courts have consistently rejected.

The CRA responded to Porisky's sentence, handed down Thursday in B.C. Supreme Court, with a warning to others of his ilk who subscribe to what the agency describes as dangerous "tax myths."

"Individuals who plan to use the tactics of tax protesters should know that this could have significant personal and financial consequences, including fines, imprisonment, or seizure of goods," the CRA said in a statement.

Those convicted of tax fraud are on the hook for past taxes owing, plus interest, and can be fined up to 200 per cent of their unpaid taxes, it added. They can also faceup to five years in prison.

Porisky's common-law wife Elaine Gould was also fined $27,434 for one count of tax evasion and given a six-month conditional sentence.

Together, the couple ran a company called Paradigm Education Group, which offered seminars, consulting services and other products teaching clients how to apply the "natural person" theory.

Porisky earned $555,782 from 2004-2008, all from Paradigm. The company's "educators" charged seven per cent of a student's income for two years -- a system resembling taxation and funneled a portion of that back to their boss, who also profited from the sale of his books, brochures and DVDs.

Continued here:
B.C. tax protester sentenced to 4.5 years in jail