Because that worked so well for Al Capone :-) (murder ok, but not paying taxes, no so much) ... or just read 6012 of CFR https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/26/1.6012-1
and sleep at home and not at Leavenworth... just saying...
Discussion
Don't be a mob boss, & also don't be a wuss about it. They aren't gods.
Poor Al didn't have good counsel.
I haven't paid a nickel in federal income tax for thirty years, and sleep well.
6012 CFR is a freakin' Hall of Mirrors, full of intentional misdirection and double-speak. It employs Alice in Wonderland "words of art" that have common meanings, but have been redefined strictly for use in the statute to make the untrained and unwary (i.e., virtually everyone) believe that they are that "individual" with a "taxable year" even though the "law" does not remotely apply to them at all.
If you can get a copy, read Dave Champion's "Income Tax: Shattering the Myths" or Otto Skinner's book "The Best Kept Secret: Taxpayer v Non-taxpayer."
#[0] kinda hard to believe and I will take your word on it. Did you actually file though and just declare non-taxable income or not filed in 30 years? Just curious...
When you file a return, you are volunteering to pay a tax you do not owe (assuming you are a typical working stiff and not an employee of the federal government or a government owned corporation).
It's a tad more complex than that, but no, I've neither owed nor filed since the early '90s.