Tax Protester Ordered to Enter Prison Next Month

Convicted Orange County tax protester Ronald Matheson was ordered Friday to report to prison on Nov. 8 by U.S. District Judge David V. Kenyon.

In July, 1984, Matheson, 49, was convicted on four counts of failure to pay federal income tax. A month later, Kenyon sentenced him to serve two years in prison and pay a $10,000 fine.

Matheson’s attorneys pledged to appeal Kenyon’s decision.

About 300 Matheson supporters, many of them carrying publications protesting income taxes and passing out cards from the John Birch Society, lined a federal courthouse corridor. About 100 orderly observers packed the courtroom for the afternoon hearing. U.S. marshals said it was one of the largest crowds to attend a federal court hearing.

Kenyon said it was too late for Matheson’s attorneys to be raising new issues in the case. He said they already had presented a box full of documents. Kenyon also chastised Matheson for sending him a cassette tape, which Kenyon said he did not listen to.

Radio Producer

Matheson, who produces a KIEV radio talk show for arch-conservative commentator Alan Stang, was formerly head of the Freedom League, an anti-tax group.

In recent court filings, Matheson’s attorneys contended that the 16th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which authorizes Congress to collect income taxes, was not properly ratified by 34 states. Twenty-two states made slight changes in punctuation and 11 others made minor word changes, according to the documents filed. Matheson and other tax protesters across the country contend that these errors invalidate the amendment, which was ratified in 1913.

Kenyon said he was personally “not in favor or opposed to the tax laws,” but “99% of the people of the U.S. feel there should be lots of changes made.”

Last-Minute Motions

On Wednesday, Kenyon rejected a motion by Matheson’s attorneys for a reduced sentence, saying they did not raise any “serious new issues.”

Assistant U.S. Atty. Russell Hayman said the last-minute motions to keep Matheson out of prison were “patently frivolous” and “a fraud on the court.”