The Picket Line — 16 December 2010

16 December 2010

The IRS’s new enforcement numbers are out, so it’s time to update my graphs:

Some bits and pieces from here and there:

Roni Deutch: The Tax Lady Blog answers Five Common Questions About Bankruptcy and Tax Debts, such as: can you eliminate your old tax debts by filing for bankrupcy?
The Citizen-Times of Asheville, North Carolina, profiles war tax resister Clare Hanrahan.

The Church of England Quarterly Review indignantly reported that “At a meeting of the farmers of Kilmacon, county of Kilkenny, on the 16^th of December, 1838, the following resolutions were adopted:”

1^st. That we, the undersigned, solemnly declare that we feel a conscientious objection to the payment of tithes, as being a remnant of our slavery; an unjust tax on our property and industry, as being injurious to our religion and insulting to God. 2^d. That we consider the man that will enforce tithes an oppressor, determined to perpetuate our slavery, to injure our property, and to insult our holy religion. 3^d. That we consider the man that pays tithes (unless he be a Protestant) an enemy to his neighbour, an enemy to his country, an enemy to his religion, and an enemy to his God. [Then follows an immense list of signatures.]

I’ve mentioned here before tax resistance in Papua New Guinea around 1921. Here’s a story of another tax strike there, this time from 1969 (from the 16 December 1969 Sydney Morning Herald). Excerpts:

Thousands expected to rally at tax hearing

Rabaul, Monday. — Mr Oscar Tammur, a member of the Territory House of Assembly, will appear in Court here tomorrow, summonsed for not paying his council tax.
Mr Tammur is patron of the Mataungan Organisation, which opposes the peninsula’s multi-racial local government council and which organised village violence last Sunday week.
There are fears that thousands of his supporters could rally around him tomorrow, and Rabaul’s 700 police are braced for a possible wave of violence.

Mr Tammur is one of about 150 people already summonsed for not paying their council-tax
The summonses are being issued at the rate of about 100 a week as authorities try to recover about $50,000 in tax outstanding.
The Mataungan Association is running a rival tax collection and has collected $29,000 which, it says, it is holding in trust until the council reverts to its old native-only status.
Mr Tammur is the first of the Mataungan leadership to be summonsed.
Although he could not be gaoled tomorrow, he could be eventually if he continued to refuse to pay.

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How you can resist funding the government → about the IRS and U.S. tax law/policy → bankruptcy and tax debt
How you can resist funding the government → about the IRS and U.S. tax law/policy → IRS incompetence → enforcement effort/results: ▶; ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦; The I.R.S. just released some statistics on how it’s targeting its audits these days.; I.R.S. statistics show that the number of corporate audits has tumbled since 1995, more so than their overall audit rate.; As the April 15th income tax deadline approaches, the news media are full of stories about how the government takes and spends our money.; If you want to join a Tax Day protest this Thursday, here’s a list of coast-to-coast protests. Also: all that bluster about increased enforcement and audits from the I.R.S.? If you look at the numbers, you see it’s only talk.; The cold war is over, so why is the U.S. spending record amounts of our money on nuclear weapons production? Also, why are we debating the when of Iraqi “sovereignty” when we should be debating those quotation marks? And another group finds fault with the I.R.S. enforcement bluster.; Mary Kelly cast her vote early — on January 29th, 2003 she took an axe to a U.S. Navy 737 that was stopped in Ireland on the way to the war in Iraq, doing 1.5 million dollars in damage. Also: The I.R.S. is falling way behind on corporate audits. And the Chicago Tribune profiles war tax resister Kathy Kelly.; It takes a mighty fine lawyer to claim that waterboarding is “humane” — Alberto Gonzales fits the bill, and the Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee say “enough is enough.” Also: the G.A.O. says that the I.R.S. is losing its war against tax evaders.; The I.R.S. tells Congress how it plans to address the “tax gap”. Also: charitable giving may be one way that well-off folks can escape the income tax this year.; A profile of Kate Harvey, a tax resister from Britain’s women’s suffrage movement. Also: an I.R.S. audit forecast for the coming year. And: the right-wing media discover the wacky world of freegans.; The I.R.S. brags that it is auditing more people this year than before, but a look at the numbers shows that most of this increase comes from small businesses and people making under $25,000 a year — millionaires seem nigh invulnerable. Also: war tax resistance propaganda posters hit the streets of San Francisco.; The I.R.S. is doing more auditing, more liens, more levying, and bringing in more money by doing so… at least if you believe its press releases. It doesn’t like it when people want to look too closely at the underlying data. Also: one taxpayer calls the I.R.S. bluff and prevails in tax court.; I’ve written an article promoting tax resistance for the latest issue of Simple Living News. Also: the National Taxpayer Advocate releases its report to Congress. And: a new website aims to keep a close eye on the I.R.S.; The I.R.S. Data Book gives a hint at how their collections efforts are going. Also: direct action against war material shipments, construction recycling, the down side to tax efficiency, an increased I.R.S. enforcement budget, a new war tax resistance blog, Iraq War supplemental funding pork, and more leisure for the poor.; A new issue of More Than a Paycheck is out, and war tax resister Bryan Nelson gets some press for the cause. Also: increased IRS enforcement effort only looks impressive on a short time scale.; Ed and Elaine Brown gear up to martyr themselves for fatuous tax protester claptrap. Also: it costs about 26 cents for the I.R.S. enforcers to collect $1, and every year they lose $20 billion in unpaid taxes to the statute of limitations. And: Cindy Sheehan continues to beat the tax resistance drum.; A new report on I.R.S. criminal enforcement trends shows what a premium the agency puts on publicity. Also: conscientious tax objection is all well and good, but it’s by no means Constitutionally protected, says Stephen Douglas Smith.; An Oakland, California hardware store owner refuses to collect or remit sales tax in protest against the government’s failure to protect his community against violent crime. Also: a look at the I.R.S. enforcement numbers for last year. And: the “Death and Taxes” poster illustrating the 2008 U.S. Federal Budget is released.; Help blockade the I.R.S. headquarters in Washington on March 19th. Also: the IRS went for a high-profile tax season tax conviction, rolled the dice, and it came up snake-eyes. And: Wendy McElroy sees frugality as a blood sport. Also: NTodd sees tax resistance as the least we can do. And: taking a closer look at the latest U.S. military budget.; The I.R.S. releases statistics on how many taxpayers are being disobedient, and what they’ve been doing about it. Also: the I.R.S. is a bit trigger-happy in sending out “frivolous filing” warnings to conscientious objectors to military taxation. And: Abbie Hofmann’s “Steal This Book” is brought into the modern, wiki-age. Also: Caleb Johnson lays down the old-school rhetoric for anarchism.; The U.S. Department of Justice [sic] rolls out its new “National Tax Defier Initiative” (or “TAXDEF” if you’re nasty). Is there any beef amongst the bullet points? Also: a war tax resistance podcast, a look at the accounting chicanery hiding the cost of war from the taxpayers, a call for tax resistance from an anti-abortion activist, and the I.R.S. gets audited over its lien procedures (and flunks).; The People’s Life Fund redirects $10,000 of war tax resisters’ money from the federal government to local charities. Also: the I.R.S. oversight board thinks the agency should use a M.A.D.D. or M.P.A.A.-like propaganda campaign to get people to comply with taxation. And Jeff Knaebel suggests tax resistance as a way of reclaiming your right to pursue an ethical life.; The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration analyzes the I.R.S. enforcement numbers over the last ten years. Also: If you want a picture of the future, imagine an I.R.S. Behavioral Science Unit stomping on a human face forever. And: how “framing” tax issues in different ways can make the same people take opposite positions.; Go on a $3 trillion shopping spree, read another report from the NWTRCC conference, learn about tax-spawned cigarette smuggling, don’t rely on the Taxpayer Advocate Service if you’re poor, see what happens when the I.R.S. cheats in Tax Court, find out who’s really getting the windfall profits in the oil industry, welcome Mimi Copp to the tax resistance fold, join with ineffective anti-war protesters to spend untold energy planning another ineffective parade, and more about war & taxes.; The personal is political, but the devil is in the details. Also: my list of 22 ways to show solidarity with tax resisters is wikified. And: Why am I spending so much time and effort on old arguments about Quaker war tax resistance? Also: a number of American churches are planning a civil disobedience campaign to protest the fact that their tax-exempt status comes only at the cost of silencing their voice in political matters. And: a summary of those laws regulating I.R.S. seizure powers.; Some highlights from the just-released National Taxpayer Advocate’s Report to Congress that may be of interest to tax resisters.; On “The Ridley Report” Dave Ridley files a Peace Tax Return instead of a 1040. Also: a new G.A.O. report on the I.R.S. collection process contains a few bits of interest.; American Quakers didn’t stop debating war tax resistance in the 19th century. Some reports from the last New England Yearly Meeting show that the issue is still challenging Quakers today. Also, some brief notes on tax whistleblower payoffs, the authorship of “Discourse on Voluntary Servitude”, and lying Army recruiters.; Okay, so you believe me that the Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund Act is a rotten idea. But do I have any better ideas? Yes indeed; here are three. Also: highlights from the new issue of NWTRCC’s newsletter, including reviews of “We Won’t Pay” and “American Quaker War Tax Resistance.”; A war tax boycott participant tells how when their mother reacted in horror to their resistance, this became a good opportunity to teach her grandchildren about the importance of standing up for your beliefs. Also: I.R.S. enforcement numbers have dropped: less collections, fewer audits, and fewer enforcement personnel.; Some updated statistics on how many people aren’t paying their taxes and what the I.R.S. is doing about it. Also: you’re invited to free introductory workshops on war tax resistance this weekend in San Francisco.; A Tax Day round-up: penny polls and other war tax resistance actions, interviews and profiles of war tax resisters, reactions to the “Tea Party” phenomenon, gay and lesbian tax resistance, a conservative call for an anti-war/anti-tax convergence, a columnist notes how easy it is to get away with not filing your taxes, I.R.S. employees pissed off that their boss got away with the sort of tax evasion that would get them fired, contractors in the I.R.S. mail room caught stealing the government’s stolen money, and Joe the Plumber’s 1-900 fair tax trainwreck.; More tax day action reflections from the media and from participants. Also: was Jesus joking when he said “Render unto Cæsar”? And: how much does it cost the I.R.S. to pursue a criminal tax case?; Want to save the environment? Fight militarism. Also: Operation Dep 9, the latest feint towards tax resistance from American fiscal conservatives. And: a theoretical model of tax resister insurance. Also: protecting trust funds from federal tax liens. And: barter networks, alternative currencies, and the counter-economy. Also: IRS agents are slacking when it comes to tax enforcement. And: tax resisters in Nankang, China gather in the thousands, block highways, overturn police cars, and force the government to rescind its tax enforcement plan.; Thoreau marvels that we devote so much attention to foreign wars when the war within each of us rages. Also: war tax resistance in Canada, the I.R.S. plays the moustache-twiddling melodrama villain, remembering Marian Franz, an underground economy taxi service in Baltimore, the government returned half a billion dollars in incorrect education tax credits to 372,000 taxpayers, and a report on the Second Maine Militia. And: look for some changes in the comments system at The Picket Line in the coming weeks.; I.R.S. enforcement numbers, updated for fiscal year 2009. Also: an woman in Britain tries, with some success, to convince her employer that it and its employees may be legally liable if it continues to pay taxes to a government that is engaged in illegal wars of aggression and other violations of international law.; Notes from the National Taxpayer Advocate’s Annual Report about social security levies, haphazard collection processes, rampant taxpatriatism, the undermining of the offer-in-compromise program, and increasing taxpayer noncompliance.; Some updated statistics on how many people aren’t paying their taxes and what the I.R.S. is doing about it.; The latest issue of New Escapologist carries an article I wrote to introduce the practical technique of tax resistance. Also: John K. Stoner tries to get American Mennonites excited about a new war tax resistance protest campaign. And: would you be surprised to learn the I.R.S. issues more press releases about tax-related prosecutions in the weeks leading up to April 15?; War tax resisters George Monk and Molly Schaffnit went off-the-grid and back-to-the-land to stop funding the military. Also: Patrick O’Neill on the sentencing of war tax resister Frank Donnelly. And: Murry Rothbard on the 17th century French tax rebellion of the Croquants. Also: the latest news on I.R.S. enforcement efforts. And: The “contumacious” Kate Harvey refuses to pay her taxes or her fines, and other suffragists refuse to license their dogs, in 1913.; A new issue of “More Than a Paycheck,” NWTRCC’s newsletter, is on-line, including news about penny polls, “settle with the IRS for pennies on the dollar” companies, “frivolous filing” overreach from the IRS, Karl Meyer on what makes war tax resisters more vulnerable to criminal prosecution, Ed Hedemann on the history of the U.S. government’s use of property seizures and criminal cases as tools against war tax resisters in the post-World War II era, and more.; The National Taxpayer Advocate again chides the I.R.S. for abusing its power to file liens. Also: witches in Romania resist their taxes as only they know how. And: I try to volunteer to be a neighborhood disaster responder, but am told I have to sign a loyalty oath and pledge not to join subversive organizations first.; Homegrown tobacco? In Brooklyn? Taxes will make you do strange things. Also: the I.R.S. announces that it plans to ease up liens against people behind on their taxes. And: an early mention of women’s suffrage tax resistance workshops from The Vote.; Some updated statistics on how many people aren’t paying their taxes and what the I.R.S. is (and often, isn’t) doing about it.; The I.R.S. releases the results of its first new estimate of the “tax gap” in years. Not much has changed, and the data is still of poor quality. The government really has no idea where the leaks are in its boat.; Some updated statistics on how many liens, levies, and seizures the I.R.S. used last year to try to get taxes people couldn’t or wouldn’t pay.; The new I.R.S. Data Book is out, giving us a look at how their enforcement efforts (and taxpayer compliance) have changed over the past several years.; The Department of Justice loses 30% of its tax prosecutors. The federal government is bigger than you might think. Ed Agro on war tax resistance. And: a Mother Jones article from April 1989 on war tax resisters.; The I.R.S. may be near “a breaking point” at which the moribund agency budget combined with Congress’s enthusiasm for loading up the tax code with greater complexity, leads to “serious problems” with “adverse national repercussions,” says the I.R.S. Oversight Board. Also, the New York Times looks at the trouble for tax collectors in Greece. And: an update on Vickie Aldrich’s frivolous filing case.; Graphs that show how U.S. taxpayer noncompliance and I.R.S. enforcement efforts are changing over time. Also: Darian Worden on the political philosophy of Thoreau, David Hartsough on war tax resistance, and a look at the I.R.S.-produced Star Trek parody video.; Budget cut woes for the IRS. Also: the agency plans to use consumer-tracking databases, and to link those up to government databases, as a way of pinpointing tax evaders and finding their assets. And: a fed up farmer in Argentina fires 23 bullets into a car carrying tax inspectors, and the local prosecutor decides to let it slide. Also: a note about a planned tax strike in India in 1921.
Some historical and global examples of tax resistance → Papua New Guinea / Mataungan resistance in 1969: ▶; ♦; Some tax resistance campaigns have encouraged people to pay their taxes into escrow accounts that they will surrender to the government only if the government meets their demands.
Some historical and global examples of tax resistance → religious groups and the religious perspective → British Nonconformists → 19^th Century Irish Tithe War and other Catholic tax resistance: ▶; ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦; Having criticized some ideas about pleasure, Aristotle settles in and tries to define what it is. Also: two brief news reports about tax resistance by a Catholic priest in Ireland in 1855.; Aristotle concludes his examination of pleasure. is. Also: the victorious resistance campaign against mandatory tithing to the establishment church (or to whomever the church had sold the privilege to) by Irish Catholics in the 1830s.; A successful, massive, country-wide, multi-year tax strike in Ireland in the 1830s led bishop James Warren Doyle to develop aspects of the theory of nonviolent resistance that would later be used by Gandhi and King.; More reports from the Tithe War in 1830s Ireland show just how successful the tax resistance campaign was and just how frightened it made the government.; Two reports of the tollbooth-destroying Jack-a-Lents from 1735, who, like the Rebeccaites a century later, donned women’s clothing and blackface. Also: a political cartoon compares the Rebeccaites with Irish independence advocates.; People are less reluctant to risk tax resistance if they know other people are willing to share those risks by forming a mutual insurance arrangement. Today I’ll review some examples of how a variety of tax resistance campaigns have created mutual insurance plans to protect resisters.; It’s violence week at The Picket Line. Today: some examples of humiliation attacks aimed at individual tax collectors, such as the classic “tar and feather” attacks by American revolutionaries.; It’s violence week at The Picket Line. Today: some of the many examples of violent assaults and intimidation directed at individual tax collectors.; It’s violence week at The Picket Line. Today: some examples of violent assaults and intimidation directed at collaborators with the tax system.; It’s violence week at The Picket Line. Today: some examples of violent attacks on police or soldiers who come to the assistance of tax collectors or who take reprisals against tax resisters.; If you don’t have any seizable property in your name, the government can’t seize it for back taxes. So holding resisters’ property in your name is a way non-resisters can help resisters resist. Here are some examples.; A tax resistance campaign can increase participation by means of a social boycott practiced against non-resisting by-standers. Here are some examples of social boycotts of this sort.; Some tax resistance campaigns have used violent threats and other such forms of intimidation to try to force reluctant taxpayers to join the campaign. Here are some examples.; A tactic that I’ve encountered on many occasions in my research into tax resistance campaigns is that of disrupting government auctions, particularly those of goods seized from tax resisters. Here are several examples that show the variety of ways campaigns have accomplished this.; Pickets and other such public demonstrations commonly accompany tax resistance campaigns. Here are some examples that caught my eye.
Miscellanous tax resisters → individual war tax resisters → Clare Hanrahan: ▶; ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦; Redirection — it’s about more than tax dollars. Clare Hanrahan writes, “I redirect each time I give my time and energy in support of good work within my community.”; If you couldn’t make it to the NWTRCC conference in Birmingham, you can find the next best thing on-line. Also: Another notice from the I.R.S. (ho hum). And: James Bowden and Isaac Zane complained that during the American Revolution, Quakers got it from both sides — the British and the rebels — due to their refusal to support the militaries. Also: the story of John Cowgill, who was paraded through town with a sign on his back and subjected to other reprisals after he refused to use the Continental currency.; The new NWTRCC newsletter is out. Also: In 1815, Ephraim Wood spied hypocrisy in Quaker war tax resistance, but, as with so many of the old criticisms and reductiones ad absurdum, this one seems to me to be making some good arguments in favor of tax resistance while trying to invent and discredit bad ones.; Okay, so you believe me that the Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund Act is a rotten idea. But do I have any better ideas? Yes indeed; here are three. Also: highlights from the new issue of NWTRCC’s newsletter, including reviews of “We Won’t Pay” and “American Quaker War Tax Resistance.”; Clare Hanrahan, who has been resisting taxes for nearly thirty years as part of a life of activism for peace and justice, has just released a new book of speeches she has delivered over the course of her activist career.; I report back from the Spring NWTRCC national gathering in Virginia.; Learn about “The Power of the Purse: Women and War Tax Resistance” at the 2009 Gandhi-King Conference on Peacemaking this October in Memphis, Tennessee. Also: Aristotle comes to the conclusion that “eudaimonia” is the ultimate goal of human striving.; War tax resisters Pam Beziat, Kathy Kelly, Clare Hanrahan, and Judy Scheckel held a panel discussion about “The Power of the Purse: Women and War Tax Resistance” at the 2009 Gandhi-King Conference on Peacemaking last Saturday. Also: how do people make choices? Aristotle says these originate when desire and reason combine.; Tax Day actions around the country this year, Clare Hanrahan addresses the crowd in a video from the C-SPAN archives, and another look at the “Render Unto Caesar” koan.; Reports and photos from the opening days of the Spring 2010 NWTRCC national gathering in Tucson, Arizona.; We wrap up our Mexico vacation today, NWTRCC’s website gets a facelift, and Clare Hanrahan reminds us of our responsibilities in the face of the ongoing U.S. torture policy. Also: Winifred Patch has her silver seized and sold to pay her resisted taxes, and protesters outside the auction address the crowd on women’s suffrage.; NWTRCC announces this year’s crop of “tax day” war tax resistance actions. Also: “tax day” newspaper articles from years past cover the war tax resistance of Max Sandin, Joan Baez, Irwin Hogenauer, Raymond Hunthausen, Clare Hanrahan, Susan Quinlan, Larry Harper, Bill Ramsey, Ruth Benn, Mary Ann C. Holtz, and Karl Meyer.; The other night I was in the kitchen, alone in the house, when a large rat tripped the trap in the laundry room. The trap seized around the rat’s neck without snapping it, and the rat thrashed around in agonized panic. So did I, in a manner of speaking. Also: a new issue of More Than a Paycheck is out.; The first reports from “tax day” actions are starting to trickle in. Here are some notes from Oakland, California; Asheville, North Carolina; and Portsmouth, New Hampshire.; The Mennonite publication “PeaceSigns” focuses on war tax resistance. Also: the text of war tax resister Clare Hanrahan’s tax day speech that cast out the MoveOn liberal vampires.; The new issue of NWTRCC’s newsletter is out, full of news about the Chicago conference, tax day actions, legal updates, international tax resistance news, and more.; When trying to bring new tax resisters into a movement, sometimes there is no substitute for addressing potential resisters individually: whether that be through letters, petitions, face-to-face meetings, or cleverly creative modes of engagement.

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