Excerpts from Chaco [Argentina] Dia Por Dia (translation mine):
Conscientious Objection to everything, except for taxes
Although the controversial bill for Conscientious Objection, promoted by representative Elda Pértile, is broad in its range of action, it is very specific in that nobody can benefit from it in order not to pay up to the State.
Although the controversial bill for Conscientious Objection that is promoted by governmental representative Elda Pértile, is broad terms of its range of action, it is very clear with respect to one thing: nobody can invoke this privilege in order not to pay taxes. The eighth article of bill number 2667/10 that calls for “the provincial government guarantees to all the people of the province of Chaco the fundamental right not to act against their own personal conscience” says that under no circumstances may a citizen “plead Conscientious Objection as treated in the present Law, in fulfillment of their tax obligation.”
“Conscientious Objection is the opposition of a person, for moral, ethical, or religious motives, to fulfill a legal duty or an order or mandate of authority," says the second article of Pértile’s bill. And it continues in the third by saying the “when Conscientious Objection in the strict sense is asserted against the rules of the Province of Chaco, this corresponds to a protected act, so long as there is no rule that establishes a special procedure for the protection of the objector,” it declares.
In this regard it expresses that “the Judges who hear the dispute must: a) Determine if the objection is indubitably accredited and established as a substantial precept of the beliefs that are invoked; b) Undertake an analysis of the reasonableness of the objected-to rule, examining if the State established a strict public interest in its fulfillment by the objector and the possibility that there exists alternative, less-restrictive means for the conscience of the petitioner; c) Consider the existence of alternative service, if appropriate, or alternative acts that the objector can accomplish in lieu of those required by the objected-to rule; d) Consider the special protection of minors in cases in which they are affected by said objection.”
In principle, Conscientious Objection can be asserted against any sort of mandate that is derived from the legal order, like medical rules or tax requirements. In any case, and taking into account the conservative sector it comes from, the bill is clearly aimed at providing a legal escape to those Civil Registry recorders who do not want to marry people of the same sex. And also, if its decriminalization is adopted, to prevent those doctors who are against them from being obligated to perform abortions.
Tax Resistance
Although tax resistance seems a little crazy, there have been cases in various countries in which, in conscientious objection, many people refused to pay taxes. As read in the community encyclopedia Wikipedia, tax resistance is typically motivated by disagreement with the policies of the government or institution that is imposing the tax.
This may include total opposition to the state or the taxing institution, and not only specific policies (for example, the opposition of Gandhi in his time to the British Empire). Anarchists who resist taxes are opposed to anybody or any institution that exacts tribute (obligatory under threat of punishment).
Christian anarchists of the pacifist school resist taxes chiefly because they finance governmental violence. Some people suggest that the right to refuse to pay taxes is in the spirit of democracy, giving the people a right to veto and to force government spending to be made with the consent of the governed.…
Remarkable how panicky the government gets about conscience when anyone starts to consider using it to put a kink in the money hose.
