COUNCIL TAX DODGER JAILED

A man who tried to use an ancient law to argue against paying council tax has been sent to jail. Music teacher Mark McKenzie, 54, announced himself a ‘Freeman-on-the-Land’ and refused to accept he was liable for almost seven years’ worth of payments on his home in Moss Side. However he has now been sent to prison and ordered to pay thousands of pounds.

A MAN who refused to pay council tax claiming there was an ancient legal loophole has been locked up and ordered to pay thousands of pounds.

Music teacher Mark McKenzie, 54, announced himself a ‘Freeman-onthe-Land’ and refused to accept he was liable for almost seven years’ worth of payments on his home in Moss Side.

McKenzie has now been sentenced to 40 days in prison after being found guilty of wilful refusal to pay council tax. He now owes more than £7,000.

Town hall bosses branded his argument ‘pseudo-legal mumbo jumbo’ and welcomed the sentence.

They said McKenzie, is ‘a self-proclaimed Freeman-on-the-Land,’ who declared himself ‘independent of government jurisdiction and holds the archaic belief that all statute law is contractual and therefore only applicable if an individual consents to it.’

Tax regulations give local authorities the right to demand tax.

McKenzie has been living at Parkside Road, Moss Side, since October 1, 2010, but has not made any council tax payment at that address.

Coun John Flanagan, Manchester council’s executive member for finance and human resources, said: “From time to time we get people convinced by an urban myth that using an archaic law means they don’t have to pay. It’s pseudo-legal mumbo jumbo, and this case shows that people won’t get away with it.”

In July 2015, McKenzie was summoned to Manchester Magistrates’ Court in respect of his outstanding council tax payments, but was sentenced to one night in custody after being found in contempt of court for trying to record the proceedings. The council’s case was heard upon his release, the following day, where he was sentenced to 40 days in prison suspended and ordered to pay £50 per month towards his outstanding council tax liability. McKenzie failed to make any payments and was summoned back to court in November 2015.

He did not attend the hearing and a warrant was granted for his arrest.

McKenzie agreed to surrender to court on Monday, May 8.

At the latest hearing he was sentenced to 40 days in prison for wilful refusal to pay council tax. He was also sentenced to 14 days in prison for nonpayment of fines. Both sentences are to run concurrently.