In this presentation he gives an overview of the history of war tax resistance, both in its global roots and in its recent manifestations in the United States.
Using audience participation, the session looks at the place of war tax resistance as a tool within larger struggles, looks at a variety of resistance strategies, and explores common myths.
Vodnick also looks at war tax resistance from an anarchist perspective.
This workshop is aimed at bringing some of the wisdom and experience of the war tax resistance movement to those of us involved in struggles such as the anti-corporate-globalization movement.
Some of the results may be of interest to the tax resistance movement as it tries to refine its message or gauge how receptive people are to resistance.
For instance, the survey asked people what steps they had taken in the past year to avoid taxes.
“28 percent said they had bought something over the Internet rather than from a local store, 25 percent said they gave more to charity, and 14 percent said they crossed a border to shop in a neighboring area with lower taxes…
Another 8 percent said they had worked fewer hours or overtime to avoid higher tax bills.”
A majority of those surveyed believe their federal tax burden is too high, and two-thirds rate the value of the services they received from the government in return as only fair or poor.
People seem to be cynical about the alleged progressivity of the tax system.
When asked “all things considered, who do you think pays more in federal income taxes each year as a percentage of income, you or millionaire Donald Trump?” 59% of those surveyed thought they probably paid a higher percentage than The Donald.
