He’s Not Avoiding Taxes, County Commissioner Says Anderson’s Payment Of Property Taxes Quiets Public Speculation

Stevens County Commissioner J.D. Anderson paid his property taxes as usual Monday, even though he recently filed documents that some people have used in an effort to avoid taxes.

“You come back in October and I’ll pay ‘em again,” Anderson said Monday, dismissing public speculation that he intended to quit paying property taxes.

Anderson and his wife, Ann, filed a “land patent,” an “allodium freeholder title deed at common law” and other documents in the county auditor’s office last month.

“That says nothing about not paying taxes,” Anderson said. “Allodial title or patent title means you don’t owe nobody nothing on it. That’s all it means: You own it free and clear.”

It’s not the first time the Andersons have confounded people with constitutionalist documents of dubious purpose.

Two years ago, the couple filed a lien against their own property that seemed designed to frustrate any lien the Internal Revenue Service might file. At the time, Anderson said he was concerned about IRS tactics, but he continued to pay his income tax.

“I know people think I’m stupid, but I don’t think I fell off of the banana boat yesterday,” Anderson said, noting a county commissioner who doesn’t pay his taxes would be crucified.

“I work every day trying to balance the budget,” he said. “I do get mad about paying more taxes to the state.”

Anderson, elected in November 1994, likened the documents he filed, including a copy of the original homestead patent on his land, to genealogy.

“It’s the same thing,” he said. “They bring forth their family trees, and I’m bringing forth my land. I moved it to my name. That’s all I’ve done.”

He said “oodles of people” have filed such documents, and “a whole bunch of people came to me and said, ‘You ought to do that.’ I said, ‘Well, I’ll do mine, too.’ I didn’t think I was breaking any laws or sending up any flags or anything.”

Anderson said he believes the documents he filed have the potential of preventing the state from borrowing money against his property.

The documents also prevent other people from filing unsupported liens against his property, he said.

“You can’t come up here and slap a lien on my property without proving in court that I owe you something,” Anderson said.

Ferry County commissioners apparently lacked that kind of protection in February 1993 when another constitutionalist, Ervin Palmer, slapped liens on their property for alleged violations of their oaths of office.

A judge quickly declared Palmer’s liens bogus, and state law now specifically prohibits liens that aren’t based on a valid debt.

, DataTimes