Questions of Citizenship Tax Sen. Rogers

Perhaps it happened something like this. Perhaps state Sen. Don Rogers had just shared a Dais with some guy who on other evenings likes to run around in a white robe with a white hood. Maybe Rogers had just finished warning this militia crowd about the New World Order.

Then maybe the senator, heady with popularity among these so-called patriots, was driving through the Mojave Desert listening to talk radio. Like a character in “The Twilight Zone,” he heard a voice that only he could hear.

Hello, Don. This is Henry Crock with Reason No. 14 why you should let H&R; Crock prepare your tax returns. It’s the 14th Amendment, Don, the one that guaranteed citizenship for Negroes after the war of Northern aggression. Here at H&R; Crock we’ve detected a loophole in the 14th Amendment that has reduced your taxes to zero. That’s right, zero!

All you have to do, Don, is tell the IRS that you are “not a citizen of the United States as contemplated by the 14th Amendment.” Tell those jack-booted auditors that because “a white man’s citizenship was not restricted by the 14th Amendment,” you owe “no obedience to anyone.” Tell them that, as a nonresidential-alien-white-male-non-American, you are above the law.

Keep in mind, Don, that H&R; Crock makes no guarantee that Reason No. 14 will prevail in a court of law. We both know how corrupt the courts are. But H&R; Crock does guarantee that Reason No. 14 will convince the IRS that you are some kind of nut. They won’t try to throw you in jail. They’ll just take pity and keep pestering you--at extra cost to all those suckers who actually pay their taxes. Ha!

Or maybe it didn’t happen like that. Maybe Rogers, a Bakersfield native whose vast, 32,000-square-mile district stretches south from his hometown to include Santa Clarita and the Antelope Valley, just bumped into some “freemen” at those militia meetings, or maybe he attended one of those strange tax seminars in Palmdale. At any rate, now that we all know more about his mind-boggling (and unsuccessful) attempt to dodge about $150,000 in back taxes, penalties and fines in 1992, the Republican lawmaker seems a bit regretful.

“I got some bad advice and since then I changed my mind,” Rogers told the Sacramento Bee. “. . . It was back at a time when I was going through a problem with the IRS and I looked at this and thought it was maybe something that had some merit. But since then I’ve decided it does not.”

Why, that’s mighty white of you, senator, admitting you were wrong. And it’s heartening to hear that you still deny suggestions that you are, well, something of a racist. Goodness knows how people get such notions.

Still, it’s hard not to feel for Rogers’ constituents. Imagine how embarrassing it would be to elect someone who apparently would rather renounce his U.S. citizenship than pay taxes.

Here’s how Rogers’ loopy affidavit, filed in October 1992, begins:

“I, Donald A. Rogers, being of sound mind and lawful age, do solemnly declare: I was born in Louisiana State of parents who were white, who were Citizen-Principals and whose parents time out of mind were and always had been white.”

That “out of mind” part may be telling. He later describes himself as a “nonresidential alien” and states: “I am not a citizen of the United States as contemplated by the 14th Amendment.”

Now, it would have been honorable of Rogers, in filing this declaration, to have also submitted his resignation from the state Legislature. The California Constitution is very clear in requiring that legislators be U.S. citizens. Even Rogers couldn’t get confused on this point.

Or maybe he could. Elsewhere the senator refers to his “white man’s citizenship.” So maybe Rogers wasn’t trying to renounce his citizenship so much as upgrade it; some Americans are more equal than others.

He explains: “Notwithstanding the fact that I may have in past years filed Form 1040 U.S. Individual Tax Returns, such filings were done under mistake by me not knowing that such filings were and are mandated only on citizens and residents of the United States as contemplated by the 14th Amendment.”

Got that? It seems that Rogers believed that citizens “contemplated” by the 14th Amendment--the descendants of freed slaves, apparently--are required to pay taxes, but white folks aren’t.

This may sound suspiciously like something that might be called the Klan Tax Plan. But please remember, we’ve always had Rogers’ word that he is not now, nor has he ever been, a racist. And we’ve all done foolish things that we’ve lived to regret. Rogers was a mere lad of 65 when he filed these documents back in ’92. And don’t forget that Rogers says he’s thought it over and figures he really is an American, after all, no more or less than other Americans. And, finally, don’t crackpots deserve representation, too?

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Besides, even the most honest people get tempted at tax time. We all want the deductions we’re entitled to and perhaps some we’re not. That’s the American way. And although militia types rail about those jack-booted feds, the truth is those tassel-loafered auditors miss a lot more tax cheats than they catch. You’ve got to run up a huge bill, as Rogers did, to get noticed.

And the senator wasn’t entirely wrong to look for constitutional exemptions. The 14th Amendment didn’t help him, but the 1st Amendment, in guaranteeing freedom of religion, does an excellent job of shielding houses of worship at tax time. Just ask the Church of Scientology.

Come to think of it, the 1st Amendment also guarantees freedom of the press.

Hmmm. . . .

Scott Harris’ column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Readers may write to Harris at the Times Valley Edition, 20000 Prairie St., Chatsworth, Calif. 91311. Please include a phone number.

Imagine how embarrassing it would be to elect someone who apparently would rather renounce his U.S. citizenship than pay taxes.