I was on KPFA’s Sunday with Peter Laufer with Susan Quinlan of Northern California War Tax Resistance to discuss the War Tax Boycott:
I felt like we had a harder time staying on-message with this show than with others, but we still got a lot of good information out, and judging from the number of callers and the boost in hits to the Northern California War Tax Resistance web site, we helped generate some interest.
Welcome to the war tax resistance movement, Carolyn K. Ziffer of Bangor, Maine.
After a lifetime of willingly paying taxes, thinking positively about our country’s benevolence, in I felt morally obligated to withhold a portion of my taxes, in protest of the occupation of Iraq and the rumors of an attack on Iran. I sent letters to that effect to our president, vice president, Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, and to Rep. Mike Michaud.
I have received monthly reminders from the Internal Revenue Service to pay promptly to avoid more penalties and interest. came a certified letter announcing IRS’s intention to levy on certain assets if I do not pay within 10 days.
This information about my being a war tax resister is known to my friends and family. Reactions are generally positive: “Your 15 grandchildren will be so proud of you” and “That’s very brave.”
My action is a decision of conscience; the funds withheld were immediately donated to charitable institutions, both local and global.
All through school, one lesson gets taught again and again: obey the voice of authority. And though children can be rebellious, eventually we all get used to picking fewer and fewer battles, and mostly just going along to get along, no matter how arbitrary, degrading, or senseless the commands become.
We desperately need to teach people how to unlearn these lessons, and how to question the voice of authority or, now that they’re grown up, to be their own authority.
This fascinating article by Andrew Wolfson of the Louisville Courier-Journal shows how one power-mad pervert impersonated the voice of authority over the phone and got dozens of restaurant managers to sexually humiliate their employees. This article vividly shows how obedient and dangerous many of us have become.
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