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Tax Strike Tactics

Appeal to a More Powerful Government to Take Your Side

Another way to win a tax resistance campaign against a government is to appeal to a more powerful government to take your side.

It can be difficult, daunting, and delicate to play off one government against another to further your tax resistance campaign, but in some circumstances it is a tactic worth investigating.

Example Bolivia vs. the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights

In 2000 in Bolivia, a Jehovah’s Witness named Alfredo Díaz Bustos was drafted into the military. He claimed conscientious objector status, but the authorities, who did not recognize a conscientious objector exemption, instead granted him an exemption certificate that classified him as unqualified for service—but they demanded that Díaz pay a “military tax” in exchange for the exemption. Díaz then appealed to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, claiming that he should not have to pay a fee in order to exercise an internationally-recognized human right (codified in the American Convention on Human Rights, to which Bolivia was a signatory). Incredibly, it worked! The government of Bolivia backed down and released Díaz from any obligation either to serve in the military or to pay the exemption tax.

Example Massachusetts vs. the King of Great Britain

In 1723 some Quaker and Baptist officials in Massachusetts refused to collect tithes for the support of Puritan ministers. As a result, they were imprisoned. They appealed to the King of Great Britain (under whose charter the Massachusetts government ruled in that colony) on freedom of religion grounds. The King rescinded the tax and instructed the Massachusetts Assembly to free the resisting nonconformists.

Example The Mafia vs. the Italian Government

The Addiopizzo movement, which resists the payment of mafia protection money in Italy, cooperates with the above-ground government there. The police in Palermo “agreed to discreetly look after the member shops” that refuse to pay the pizzo mafia tax. The police have also arrested some mafia leaders, and they sometimes offer to guard people who have been threatened by mafia reprisals.

Example New York Police vs. New York City

In 1902, saloon keepers in New York City enlisted the cooperation of the local government in their attempts to resist the payment of police shakedown money. In the shakedowns, the police would threaten to have the saloon keepers prosecuted on real or fanciful charges if they didn’t cough up the cash. To resist this, the New York County Liquor Dealers Association teamed up with the local District Attorney, the Police Commissioner, and the Society for the Prevention of Crime. The city agreed to waive fines against saloon owners who were prosecuted after failing to pay police protection money, thus making ineffective that common and effective police threat.

Notes and Citations
  • Alfredo Díaz Bustos v. Bolivia, Case 14/04, Report No. 97/05, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, (2005)
  • Backus, Isaac A History of New-England with Particular Reference to the Denomination of Christians called Baptists, 2nd ed. (1871) p. 534
  • American Consul, Naples “Sicilian Mafia Reeling from Police and Business Actions” 6 December 2007 (cable “07Naples129” released in the WikiLeaks dump)
  • “To End Police Blackmail” New York Times 8 March 1902