No Name Defence

An Alberta-born man who tried to defy one of the immutable facts of life – taxes – by claiming he doesn't actually have a name, is going to have to go back to the drawing board. Cliff Hanna, who now makes his home in Whitehorse, was fined $3,000 for failing to file tax returns for the past three years. Hanna's rather unique defence and his insistence that he was a free man, didn't fly with territorial justice of the peace Garry Burgess. In a sworn affidavit, Hanna claims his name, James Clifford Hanna, was assigned to his birth certificate many years ago in Alberta. And he claims no responsibility for debts or obligations the government may now assign to that name.Hanna says people continue to be defrauded into believing their birth certificate obliges them to obey demands of the Crown. He says there is no record anywhere that he ever accepted the Hanna name. And the fact he occasionally responds to that name when called means nothing. "I respond to 'Uncle' from my niece and nephews, and 'Meow' from my aunt's cats, but it is doubtful that any of these is my true name," he argued in court documents. As far as he's concerned, the name James Clifford Hanna is "hearsay" to him. He concludes, his name is the property of, and creation of the Crown, a bankrupt entity, with no real money. "If you wish to collect debt instruments [Canadian legal tender] ... may I suggest you send your invoice and demand for performance to the ministry responsible in Alberta," Hanna's affidavit reads. The JP would have none of it, handing Hanna the minimum fine plus a surcharge totalling $3,450.