Some things that were caught in my net while I was away in Boston :
- After hearing Katherine Fisher’s inspiring talk evening at the NWTRCC gathering, I did a little Googling.
Here’s a letter Fisher sent to her friends and family to explain her commencement of war tax resistance.
Excerpt:
Participation in war violates my belief in the worth and dignity of every human being (the light within, as Friends call it). I am certain that if I were being drafted into military service, I would refuse to go, because I could not participate in killing another human being. Taxes are just one step further removed: instead of the government conscripting my labor and using it for war, I voluntarily trade my labor for money, which the government then uses for war. These two situations are morally very similar in my mind.
- Ken Brown, who is best known for his educational work in peace and conflict resolution studies, but who also was one of the founders of the War Tax Resisters Penalty Fund, died earlier . Here is an obituary that talks about some of his work and achievements.
- William Powers has written a book called Twelve by Twelve: A One-Room Cabin Off the Grid & Beyond the American Dream that’s based on observations he made while housesitting at the 12-by-12-foot cabin of a simple-living tax resister.
- While charitable giving is not a very effective way of eliminating one’s federal income tax liability in the United States, Paul L. Caron and Mary O’Keeffe at TaxProf Blog remind us that the situation is different in other countries (case in point: Canada).
