Born: 1920
Died: June 14, 1983

A member of a right-wing fringe group, militant tax protestor Gordon W Kahl vowed he would never be taken alive—and he was right.

A man who would not pay taxes

Kahl, a retired North Dakota farmer, joined an extremely conservative survivalist group—an organization of militant individuals who do not recognize the government’s authority. The group was known as the Posse Comitatus (Latin for “power of the county”). As a member of the organization, he was opposed to income taxes and most forms of government authority above the county level. To protest government taxation, Kahl refused to report his income to the federal government. In 1977, he was convicted of failing to file federal income tax returns, for which he was placed on probation. Like the other members of the Posse Comitatus, Kahl insisted on his right...