NEW YORK, June 18, 2008 — The Internal Revenue Service has finally caught up with Charles Merrill and he may face three years in prison for not filing income taxes since 2004. The penalty for not filing for each year is 3 years in jail or a $25,000.00 fine.
A self-made millionaire, artist, fervent atheist and cousin of the co-founder of Merrill Lynch – with the support of his partner of 16 years, Kevin Boyle – decided to take action against the anti-gay discrimination implicit in the United States federal tax code.
Merrill, a bisexual, was also married for 23 years to Evangeline Johnson, the only daughter of Johnson & Johnson founder Robert Wood Johnson. Having experienced the benefits that the tax code afforded to straight married couples, he realized firsthand exactly how unfair the laws were when applied to same-sex couples.
Merrill said from his Waldorf Astoria suite in New York, "Marriage between 'gender neutral' couples is legal in California, but our union is not recognized by the Federal Government and we don't get the over 1,000 Federal benefits automatically extended to heterosexual couples. This inequality, thanks to the Defense of Marriage Act, was voted on by congress and signed into law by President Clinton. What a can of worms that has turned out to be … President Bush believing in and talking to an imaginary sky god and wanting to make an amendment to our Constitution that would ban two people in love from getting married. The Government has no business in checking out the gender of two people who want to be married. Presidential Candidate John McCain was living in adultery with his present wife Cindy while still married to his former wife. According to the Bible, he should have been stoned to death for adultery."
Merrill continued, "Since our marriage is not recognized by the Federal Government, the carving over the Supreme Court of the United States is just meaningless words, the words that say, 'Equal Justice Under The Law.'"
Merrill's trial is scheduled for November 17, 2008 at the U.S. Tax Court, San Diego, California.
Contact:
Charles Merrill
760 219 1121
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