I got another letter from the IRS yesterday. Nothing too interesting or exciting — just them letting me know that they’d noticed that I forgot to include a check when I sent in my tax return last month, and that they’re charging me $56.86 in interest and penalties for the bother.
Here is another case of folks in England getting bent and refusing to pay their council tax because the government isn’t doing enough to discourage “travellers” (homeless vagabonds, or something of the sort, I take it). But this time, they’ve organized:
People living on the outskirts of Paddock Wood are refusing to pay their council tax in a protest over illegal travellers’ sites. At least 20 households have signed a declaration to withhold payments, amid growing anger over what they see as the “unregulated incursion” of gypsies and travellers.
In a statement — titled Rural Community Fights Back Against Flouting Of Planning Regulations By Travellers — residents vowed to withhold council tax until “due attention” was given to the problem of travellers.
Council tax for a band D property in Paddock Wood is currently £1,451 a year. Not paying it can result in a prison sentence as well as a fine and order for back-payment.
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- How you can resist funding the government → my tax resistance → nastygrams from the IRS
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- I got a letter from the I.R.S., so it’s time to look at the interest and penalties and do some math.
- NWTRCC launches a survey to try to figure out who is resisting taxes, who used to be, and who is thinking about it. Here’s how to participate. Also: the I.R.S. sends me another nag letter about what I haven’t paid and how much interest & penalties they’re adding.
- The retirement savings tax credit — that miracle Form 8880 that I rely on to stay under the tax line — has been extended indefinitely by Congress (whew! it was due to expire this year). Also: I report back from a San Francisco spokescouncil that is planning civil disobedience at Bechtel’s headquarters tomorrow. And: another month, another notice from the I.R.S., this time with boldface.
- Another month, another notice from the I.R.S. — this time sent certified mail, with signature required upon delivery, and featuring boldface, underlining and multiple exclamation points.
- My first letter from the I.R.S. since last Fall lets me know how the interest and penalties are accumulating. Also: I conclude my review of Arne Johan Vetlesen’s “Evil and Human Agency” as he examines bystanders and third parties and I wonder why I don’t care about the people being massacred in Darfur.
- I got another letter from the I.R.S. today asking for that money I refused to give them last April. Also: another “mysterious white powder” incident shuts down an I.R.S. mailroom.
- Two certified letters from the I.R.S. arrived today, spelling out how much they want from me, so I tally up the interest and penalties.
- The I.R.S. finally sends me their “Final Notice of Intent to Levy” — for what that’s worth. Also: Happy 25th Birthday to the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.
- For the first time, I respond to one of the I.R.S.’s “so when you gonna cough up the money” letters… and in return, I get a form letter.
- Another letter from the I.R.S. breaks the previous desperation-to-information ratio record. Also: protesters from the Erie Peace Initiative are imprisoned for refusing to pay their fines. And: Abbie Coburn discusses war tax resistance as engaged Christianity.
- The I.R.S. sends me their first quasi-personal bit of mail, but it turns out to be a strange data dump that leaves me scratching my head.
- The I.R.S. sends me a “Copy of Notice of Levy” indicating that they’ve demanded that Wells Fargo hand over everything I have in my bank account. But the joke’s on them.
- I got another letter from the I.R.S. — in this one they surprise me with the news that I “overpaid” my taxes for 2005 and so they’re issuing me a refund and then snatching it back to pay my unpaid 2006 taxes. I think this just demonstrates how kludgy their software is. Also: the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirms that “the legal right of a taxpayer to decrease the amount of what otherwise would be his taxes, or altogether avoid them, by means which the law permits, cannot be doubted.”
- Another letter from the I.R.S., and it’s a weird one. For some reason, they seem to have decided that I don’t qualify for the $3,400 personal exemption that everybody else (except dependents) qualifies for. As far as I can tell this is just some arbitrary glitch and won’t end up meaning anything, but I’m having a hard time getting any answers from the agency. Also: I’m going to the NWTRCC national in Birmingham next month.
- I try to call the I.R.S. again to ask about my suspicion that someone, somewhere has invalidly claimed me as a dependent on their tax return. After 30 minutes of “please press such-and-such” and the Nutcracker Suite and reminders of how important my call is, the helpful agent doesn’t know how many exemptions I have in my current tax record, doesn’t know why their on-line service thinks someone else claims me as a dependent, and doesn’t know if my 1040x has been received and processed.
- 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.
- I get another notice of levy, and pause to try and come up with the lessons learned so far from my experience with the levy process. Also: new tax resistance rumblings from Malaysia.
- The I.R.S. tells me they’ve finally processed my amended tax return from last April to uncorrect the mistaken “correction” they made to the 1040 I originally filed.
- The Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund Act would increase taxpayer support of the military and would be a terrible blow to American conscientious objectors to military taxation — why do so many war tax resisters support it? Also: another letter from the I.R.S.
- Another “final notice of intent to levy” from the I.R.S. Also: a self-loathing tax resister grovels at veterans for Armistice Day. And: a Defense Department panel presses for big cuts in military spending (uh, wha?!). Also: with the Democrats taking over, the pro-lifers are contemplating tax resistance.
- The next NWTRCC national gathering will be in early May in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Also: time to start planning your “Tax Day” actions. And: three months ago the I.R.S. sent me a “final notice of intent to levy” letter. Since then, nothing. What gives?
- After a long period of quiet, I get another letter from the I.R.S. Also: To what extent do we need to respect common sense popular views about things in order to conduct good philosophy? Are pleasure and pain like opposing vices, with a virtuous state somewhere between? Or are the hedonists right after all?
- I got my first letter from the I.R.S. this year… and a second letter the same day. One was surprising. Also: Ralph Shinaberry said if the government thinks it can tell him what and how much to grow on his farm, they might as well be the owners, and they can pay their own damn taxes. So the government auctioned off 1/264th of it.
- I got an “Urgent!!,” certified letter from the I.R.S. today. If it’s anything like the first “Urgent!!” letter they sent me, I’ve got about 15 months to think about it before they make their next move.
- More information about how to renounce your citizenship and get out of Dodge. Also: Larry Dansinger on the Frank Donnelly case, Carl Kline on war tax resistance as an antidepressant for frustrated activists, and 1,295 prisoners got the first-time homebuyer tax credit during their stay in the big house. And: I get another letter from the I.R.S.
- I got a letter from the I.R.S. while I was away. Also: John O’Hagan went to jail indefinitely rather than pay a $1 poll tax he felt was unconstitutional, in New Jersey in 1907.
- A letter from the I.R.S. and another from imprisoned war tax resister Frank Donnelly. Also: Inland Revenue is threatening to seize assets from War Resisters International in response to that organization’s policy of tax resistance.
- I get another letter from the I.R.S. Also: the NWTRCC-produced war tax resistance documentary “Death & Taxes” is now viewable on-line.
- I got a letter from the I.R.S. yesterday… seems they noticed I forgot to enclose a check with my return. Also: An overview of some of the late-Vietnam-era war tax resisters in the United States.
- Last weekend was the Spring 2001 national gathering of the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee. The I.R.S. celebrated the occasion by sending me a couple of letters.
- Another day, another letter from the I.R.S. A new design and nicer font, but not much else has changed since my last “Notice of intent to levy” letter.
- The I.R.S. tallies up my interest and penalties for me and sends me three letters detailing the charges. Here is my summary of what they’re after me for and how well they’ve done at getting at it so far.
- I got another letter from the I.R.S. Also, Hut Tax resistance in Swaziland in 1903–7, and social security tax resistance from an English Duchess in 1912.
- After a nearly nine-month drought, I got four letters from the I.R.S. today about the taxes they still hope I’ll pay.
- I ordered my “tax account transcripts” from the I.R.S. Here is a walkthrough of one of them that shows some of the actions they have taken to try to collect my 2007 taxes. Also: Francis & Valerie Riggs were American war tax resisters in the 1940s.
- Some historical and global examples of tax resistance → Britain / Council Tax Rebels, 2003–
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- Some highlights from the coverage of the “grey martyrs” — pensioners who resisted the British council tax, some all the way to jail, in 2003–7.
- The international history of tax resistance, the price of resisting the communist rebel war tax in the Phillipines, constitutionalist tax protesters in England storm a courtroom and arrest a judge, war tax resister Lamar Williamson, and some truth in recruiting for a change. Also: a suffragist redirects her investment tax money directly to the Women’s Freedom League.
- Sign up to attend the NWTRCC National Gathering in Kansas City this November. And: Americans living and working overseas are renouncing their citizenship to get out of the grips of the I.R.S. Also: Robert Burrowes on war tax resistance in Australia. And: Anarchists and war tax resistance. Also: how the rich use government to get richer at your expense. And: contemporary council tax rebels in England… mostly just because they don’t think they’re getting their money’s worth.
- An update on Vickie Aldrich’s “frivolous filing” case. Also: council tax rebels in Britain, including a group that stormed a tax bankruptcy trial and tried to arrest the judge. And: the I.R.S. facilitates the tax fraud industry by promiscuously distributing taxpayer ID numbers. Also: another “IRS building evacuated due to suspicious package” story.
- Another way to support tax resisters as they go up against the legal system is to disrupt their trials or even to break them out of prison. Today I’ll give some examples of these tactics.
- Finishing off violence week at The Picket Line, I give some otherwise-uncategorized examples, and consider cases of when violence has helped tax resistance campaigns succeed.
- A very frequently-used tactic of tax resistance campaigns is to take public oaths or sign public pledges of resistance. This signals to potential resisters that they will not be alone, and is a show of defiance to the authorities. I’ve collected dozens of examples, which I’ll summarize today. Also: William S. Burroughs turns down Norman Mailer’s request that he join the ranks of tax resisters, on this date in 1967.
