PSA Pilot Faces Charges of State Income Tax Evasion

A PSA pilot who earned $273,953.33 from 1981 through 1983 was arrested Tuesday on charges that he evaded more than $25,000 in state income taxes for those three years.

State officials said the man claimed that because U.S. currency is “counterfeit” he had no legal money with which to pay his taxes.

The case of Flight Capt. Peter W. Sieber Jr., 50, was described by California Franchise Tax Board officials as the largest individual wage-earner evasion case in state history. Sieber was arrested at the Pacific Southwest Airlines security offices at Lindbergh Field by fraud investigators for the San Diego County district attorney.

Sieber, a Coronado resident, was charged with three felony counts of tax evasion, and bail was set at $10,000. Deputy Dist. Atty. Lantz Lewis said Sieber was arrested on a warrant requested by state officials, who set his total obligation at more than $40,000 when interest and penalties are added to the tax owed.

According to documents filed in the case, Sieber has refused to pay federal and state income taxes because filing tax returns violates his constitutional rights, and, he asserted, paying income taxes is strictly a voluntary gesture. Other reasons given by Sieber for not paying taxes include the argument that the “state” referred to in the California Revenue and Taxation Code is not California.

Lewis said that Sieber also alleged that the U.S. currency circulated by the Federal Reserve System is “counterfeit,” leaving him with no legal tender with which to pay his taxes. Sieber also made “fleeting references” to the Bible and Magna Charta when outlining his reasons for not paying taxes, Lewis said.

Sieber avoided paying taxes by lying on an Internal Revenue Service form, claiming that he was exempt from paying taxes, Lewis said.

“Mr. Sieber claimed on the form that because he got a total refund of his federal taxes each year, the company didn’t have to withhold taxes from his paycheck. So, for three years the PSA computer didn’t take out any federal or state income taxes from his paycheck,” Lewis said.

PSA spokesman Bill Hastings had no comment on Sieber’s arrest except to confirm that he was a PSA pilot.

Lewis said that state officials do not know how much Sieber may owe in federal income taxes.

“Mr. Sieber appears to be a level-headed and mature man, but his justifications (for avoiding the payment of taxes) are, frankly, frivolous,” Lewis said.

In addition to paying the back tax and penalties, Sieber could receive up to three years in state prison and a $20,000 fine if convicted.