SANDPOINT — Legal proceedings are intensifying against a Bonner County couple accused of withholding income taxes, court records indicate.

First District Judge Barbara Buchanan granted a peremptory writ of mandate Oct. 23 ordering Mark and Patricia Perlinger to file tax returns from 2011 to 2013. The Idaho State Tax Commission contends the couple had an income of $56,779 in 2011, $57,338 in 2012 and $59,671 in 2013.

The tax commission obtained a writ of mandate ordering the couple to file their returns in August, but the couple filed legal papers indicating they were not subject to Idaho’s tax laws. After Buchanan issued the peremptory writ of mandate, the couple filed additional documents which argued the law in Idaho is common law and the law in the state of Idaho is the Constitution.

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