State Senator Said He Owed No Taxes Because of Race

A Republican state lawmaker associated with militias and other fringe organizations stirred new controversy Friday with the disclosure that four years ago he refused to pay federal income taxes because of what he called his “white man’s citizenship.”

State Sen. Don Rogers of Tehachapi made the assertion during a fight with the Internal Revenue Service over back taxes. He insisted he was exempt from tax payments by the 14th Amendment, which granted citizenship after the Civil War to former slaves.

Calling himself a “nonresidential alien,” the lawmaker declared in a 1992 filing with the Sonoma County recorder’s office: “I am not a citizen of the United States as contemplated by the 14th Amendment.”

In the rambling six-page document, Rogers sought to make a distinction between white males born in states such as his native Louisiana and African Americans, whose citizenship was granted in 1868.

He claimed that “because such a white man’s citizenship was not restricted by the 14th Amendment,” these individuals owe “no obedience to anyone” to pay taxes. Rogers easily has won reelection in his sprawling Mojave Desert-based district since first elected to the Legislature in 1978.

Rogers did not return telephone calls for comment Friday.

But he told the Bakersfield Californian that “when I was going through a problem with the IRS, I looked at this and I thought it was maybe something that had some merit. But since then, I’ve decided it (did) not.”

He said he relied on bad advice at the time and has paid his taxes for the past four years.

“It sounds just like what the ‘freemen’ up in Montana are saying,” said Senate Leader Bill Lockyer (D-Hayward). “It’s a bit scary to hear that same rhetoric from a member of the state Senate.”

Lockyer indicated he would not seek Roger’s removal from the Senate even though U.S. citizenship is a requirement for holding elective office in California. Rogers will retire from the Senate next year because of term limits.

Rogers, a courteous, quiet-spoken member of the Legislature, is among its most conservative members. He is an outspoken advocate of relaxing controls on gun ownership and a defender of what he terms law-abiding militias. He has carried legislation warning against a global takeover by the United Nations. He also is known for his challenges of accepted scientific theories, including depletion of the Earth’s protective ozone layer by some chemicals.

Rogers denies that he is a racist but has drawn heavy criticism for his appearances in recent years as a featured speaker at conventions of far right conservatives, including alleged white supremacists and anti-Semites.

John Dearing, an IRS spokesman, refused Friday to discuss Rogers’ case, but said some tax protesters often advance tortured legal reasoning to avoid payment.

“They are just schemes. They do not hold water. They are not recognized by the courts,” he said.

Ultimately, Rogers and the IRS settled their dispute. The IRS had sought back taxes, interest and penalties of $150,000.

Rogers told the Bakersfield paper that his tax troubles stemmed from an investment he made in a Sonoma County food company that filed for bankruptcy in 1990. His wife, Marilyn, and son, Douglas, filed similar claims to avoid paying the taxes.

Rogers, who did not identify the source of the legal advice, said he intends to rescind the document in which he declared himself not to be a citizen, the Sacramento Bee reported.

In Rogers’ high desert district, anti-government sentiment runs deep and devotees of the freemen movement flock to biweekly seminars. Still, news of the document surprised fellow Antelope Valley Republicans.

“How could he serve in California as an elected official and not be a resident of it?” asked Eve Wolowicz, president of the Antelope Valley Republican League. “If you don’t want to be a citizen of the United States and California, then you’re some kind of kook.”

Rogers’ declaration was filed as an attachment to a legal document in which he revoked a power of attorney. But Sonoma County officials said the revocation was a cover for his declaration of “white man’s citizenship” and the justifications for refusing to pay taxes.

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The Rogers Affidavit

Here are some excerpts of a six-page document that State Sen. Don Rogers filed in Sonoma County in 1992. It argued that he did not have to pay federal taxes because he was white and therefore not a U.S. citizen under the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which was ratified after the Civil War and defines citizenship.

5. And as the 14th Amendment did “not . . . impose any new restrictions on citizenship,” all white men born in any of the several states, “of parents who were its citizens, become themselves, upon their birth, citizens also,” and are “not intended to have any additional protection by . . . the [14th] Amendment:”

6. And because such a white man’s citizenship was not restricted by the 14th Amendment and because he receives no protection from it, he has no reciprocal obligation to a 14th Amendment allegiance or sovereignty and owes no obedience to anyone under the 14th Amendment:

10. And that I am not a citizen of the United States as contemplated by the 14th Amendment and that I do not reside in any state with the intention of receiving from the Federal government or any other party a protection against the legislative power of that state pursuant to the authority of the 14th Amendment.