Tax Resistance News in Brief

There’s a new NWTRCC newsletter out, with content including:
- Erica Weiland on The Vietnam Legacy of War Tax Resistance.
- Notes about recent war tax resistance outreach and activities in Oregon, New York, Washington D.C., and California.
- Sam Koplinka-Loehr on her work as NWTRCC’s field organizer
Remember last week when I reported on how the credit reporting agency Equifax leaked identifying data about hundreds of millions of America to cybercriminals and how this was likely to cause headaches for the IRS as the criminals use this data to impersonate taxpayers and file phony tax returns? Here’s the punch line: The IRS just awarded Equifax a multimillion-dollar, no-bid fraud-prevention contract.
Erica Leigh, at NWTRCC’s blog, wonders whether the growing number of anti-Trump tax resisters will coalesce into an organized movement.

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How you can resist funding the government → about the IRS and U.S. tax law/policy → IRS incompetence → enforcement effort/results → identity theft epidemic: ▶; ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦; The I.R.S. may be near “a breaking point” at which the moribund agency budget combined with Congress’s enthusiasm for loading up the tax code with greater complexity, leads to “serious problems” with “adverse national repercussions,” says the I.R.S. Oversight Board. Also, the New York Times looks at the trouble for tax collectors in Greece. And: an update on Vickie Aldrich’s frivolous filing case.; The I.R.S. has been ramping up its use of criminal charges in tax cases. Also: a record number of people renounced their U.S. citizenship last year. And: another early account of the Rebeccaite movement.; Tax resistance news from the U.S., Greece, Italy, Ireland, and Spain, and a flashback from the tax resistance in Bermuda’s women’s suffrage movement.; Erica Weiland talks with Shane Claiborne. Irish water tax resistance. Distinguishing tax evaders, protesters, and resisters. And: eavesdropping on IRS identity theft scammers as they plot techniques to evade agency countermeasures.; The I.R.S. gets caught stealing (again and again), a boneheaded I.R.S. agent broadcasts a taxpayer phone call on Howard Stern’s show, Lois Lerner helps target the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, identity thieves lift the tax files of 100,000 taxpayers, and, go figure, only 31% of Americans trust the I.R.S. to enforce the tax laws fairly.; Today, a series of tax resistance news briefs and links about campaigns and campaigners all around the world, refusing taxes in the service of a variety of causes.; I.R.S. follies, international tax resistance news, war tax resistance bits of note, and a couple of things about Bitcoin and nonprofits and people who renounce their U.S. citizenship — more links than you can shake a stick at.; International tax resistance news from Italy, Pakistan, Ghana, India, the U.K., Spain, Mexico, and Venezuela. Also: a closer look at the new policy of withholding passports from people with tax debts in the U.S., and other American tax news. And: a dispatch from a tax riot in Portugal in 1845.; Congress temporarily lifts limits on how much you can deduct certain charitable contributions. The crackdown on refugees and immigrants is war by other means, and a legitimate target for war tax resisters, says Erica Leigh. Also: Tax resistance breaks out in India and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Equifax data leak means more nightmares ahead for the I.R.S., and increasing the salience of taxes to fuel opposition to them.
Miscellanous tax resisters → individual war tax resisters → Sam Koplinka-Loehr: ▶; ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦; War tax resisters Matthew Hoh, Sam Koplinka-Loehr, Susan Lee Barton, Paula Rogge, and Bill Ramsey make a splash on Tax Day. Also: how the Peacemakers, and resisters like Patricia & Roy Kepler, David Gale, Maurice McCrackin, and Theodore Olson did so on Tax Days past.; Private collection agencies will begin to go after languishing I.R.S. tax cases next Spring. Also: a new issue of NWTRCC’s newsletter is out.; A tax resistance news roundup, with items from Italy, the U.S., France, the U.K., and Greece.; Some upcoming war tax resistance webinars are a good opportunity for people to learn how to use the techniques perfected by war tax resisters to resist Trumpism.; As Tax Day approaches in the United States, war tax resistance activity increases. There are Tax Day protests being organized across the country, there’s a NWTRCC national gathering coming up and a new issue of that organization’s newsletter out. And: Sam Koplinka-Loehr addresses war tax resistance on the Act Out! program.; The War Tax Resistance 101 webinar I led last month has been edited into a YouTube video. Also: some war tax resistance links, more on tipping in cash to help others evade taxes, and the prospects for tax resistance to fight corruption in South Africa.
Miscellanous tax resisters → individual war tax resisters → Erica Weiland / Leigh: ▶; ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦; I report back from the NWTRCC conference in Eugene, Oregon. Lots of news about frivolous filing penalties, the Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund Act debate, the aftermath of the recent election, the future of the War Tax Boycott, and much more.; I report back from the Spring NWTRCC national gathering in Virginia.; The most contentious item on the agenda at the NWTRCC Spring national gathering was our organization’s relationship with the Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund Act and with the National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund, a long-time affiliate of NWTRCC, which promotes the act.; Some notes and photos from the first full day of the NWTRCC National Gathering in Cleveland, Ohio. Also: Aristotle continues to try to understand self-control and its absence, and contrasts his view with that of Socrates. Does this have anything to do with hypocrisy?; Reports and photos from the opening days of the Spring 2010 NWTRCC national gathering in Tucson, Arizona.; More than fifty war tax resisters from across the country (and a few WTR-curious from the Boston area and elsewhere) gathered at the Cambridge Friends Meeting house last night at the opening session of the joint National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Meeting Fall gathering / 25th annual New England Gathering of War Tax Resisters and Supporters.; Brief notes from the business meeting of the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee. Also: another data point on the mystery of how American Quaker war tax resistance died out in the late 19th century.; NWTRCC announces this year’s crop of “tax day” war tax resistance actions. Also: “tax day” newspaper articles from years past cover the war tax resistance of Max Sandin, Joan Baez, Irwin Hogenauer, Raymond Hunthausen, Clare Hanrahan, Susan Quinlan, Larry Harper, Bill Ramsey, Ruth Benn, Mary Ann C. Holtz, and Karl Meyer.; NWTRCC has posted some more notes from last month’s National Gathering in Oakland/Berkeley.; Last Tuesday, Steven Short aired a piece about Northern California War Tax Resistance on KALW News’s “Crosscurrents” program that featured brief interviews with Susan Quinlan, Kathy Labriola, and Erica Weiland.; Several war tax resisters were arrested in a symbolic civil disobedience action targeting the nation’s first new nuclear weapons manufacturing plant in decades, in Kansas City, where NWTRCC was holding its Fall 2011 national gathering. Also: the underground economy, a.k.a. System D, is growing in size and importance internationally.; A new issue of NWTRCC’s newsletter is out, with news about war tax resistance and the community of resisters in the United States.; The Internal Revenue Service Advisory Council released its annual report today, confirming that recent I.R.S. budget slashing “undermines the voluntary tax system, reduces government revenues, and promotes the underground economy.” Also: some news starts to trickle out from the NWTRCC national gathering earlier this month.; The 100th anniversary of the Turra Coo. Ruth Benn looks back on the life of New York war tax resister Sallie Marx. Erica Weiland gives some practical year-end war tax resistance advice. The I.R.S. struggles to bring its computer systems out of the punch-card era. And cable operators in India band together and go dark to protest a new entertainment tax.; Tax resistance news from Mexico, France, Tunisia, and Greece. Also: how do tax resisters interact with the I.R.S.? And: are citizens of countries that commit war crimes legally obligated to stop paying taxes?; War tax resistance news from the U.S., American tax law news, tax resistance news from Spain, France, Greece, the Dominican Republic, Argentina, and the Isle of Man, and a couple of looks back at the poll tax resistance campaign in Britain.; Friends Journal reviews “American Quaker War Tax Resistance.” Also: current war tax resistance news, including mentions of American war tax resisters Susan Cundiff, Peg Morton, Joseph Olejak, and Erica Weiland.; Erica Weiland summarizes her keynote address on Economic Disobedience and War Tax Resistance. Also: some more information from the Spanish economic disobedience movement. And: exploring the theory that the Rebeccaite tollbooth attacks were synchronized with moon phases.; American war tax resisters ride the Tax Day media wave, including Erica Weiland, Jack Payden-Travers, William Ruhaak, David Hartsough, Susan Quinlan, and Ruth Benn.; A report back from the Spring 2014 NWTRCC National Gathering which was held in San Diego, California, last weekend.; A photo from a 1914 tax auction protested by the Women’s Tax Resistance League. Also: Erica Weiland recaps the recent NWTRCC national gathering. And: a look back at the energetic war tax resister and anti-war activist Robert Anthony… and his nemesis.; I contributed an article on the American war tax resistance movement to “RADI.MS” — a new, internationally-oriented media platform organized by the “comprehensive disobedience” movement in Spain.; Fewest IRS enforcement officers since 1970s. Cost of renouncing U.S. citizenship goes up more than 500%. War tax resisters to gather in New England. ⅓ of filers will owe Obamacare overpayments in April. Banks liable if they fail to freeze levied accounts quickly. War tax resister at Seattle Anarchist Bookfair. New Handbook for Nonviolent Campaigns released on-line.; A new edition of NWTRCC’s newsletter gives news, updates, and other useful information from the American war tax resistance movement. Also: Rebecca still seems undeterred.; Reports from the workshops and the keynote speech at the National Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee’s national gathering in Richmond, Indiana.; Notes from war tax resisters Erica Weiland, Peg Morton, John Lindsay-Poland, Frances Crowe, Joseph Olejak, and Henry Braun. Also: some news briefs of interest to tax resisters.; The latest NWTRCC newsletter is out with reports from the recent national gathering and other news of interest to war tax resisters. Also: there seems to be more than the usual buzz about tax resistance on-line these days.; News briefs of interest to tax resisters, from the U.S., Hong Kong, Ireland, Spain, and France. Did you know the I.R.S. accesses the Department of Homeland Security’s database of everywhere you travel? They won’t admit it, but it’s true.; Practical end-of-year war tax resistance tips, another nail in the French “ecotaxe” coffin, remembering the “Christmas Truce,” and tax resistance during the Russian Revolution of 1905.; A pacifist who refused to buy ostensibly voluntary war bonds got a 28-month prison stint in Montana during World War Ⅰ. What would you tell the government about your war tax resistance? Can U.S. war tax resisters be organized? 2015 shaping up to be a banner year for tax evasion. And: a tax strike in Indonesia.; Is war tax resistance elitist? Got any protest plans for Tax Day? Congress denounces black I.R.S. kettle. Colombia court protects conscientious objectors. New Mexico sheriff stands down I.R.S. and federal marshals attempting property seizure. Al Sharpton tries for tax evader hall-of-fame. And: a record number of Americans renounced their citizenship last year.; Erica Weiland talks with Shane Claiborne. Irish water tax resistance. Distinguishing tax evaders, protesters, and resisters. And: eavesdropping on IRS identity theft scammers as they plot techniques to evade agency countermeasures.; News about American war tax resisters, troubles in the U.S. tax bureaucracy, and tax resistance campaigns in Spain, Israel, England, Hong Kong, and India.; The latest news from the U.S. war tax resistance movement, including a new issue of NWTRCC’s newsletter.; The latest on I.R.S. blundering, and some news from the U.S. war tax resistance movement. Also: looking in on a property tax strike in Denver in 1896.; Details from the case of a war tax resister whose tax debt passed beyond the statute of limitations and forever out of the grasp of the I.R.S. Also: notes about war tax resisters Eldon Comfort and Maurice McCracken. And: might a guilty taxpayer try to pay compensation to those hurt by taxpayer dollars? Also: Quaker organizations that ask the government to redirect military spending to good causes are missing the point. And: a note about the huge property tax strike in Chicago during the Great Depression.; War tax resisters reflect on the anniversary of the atomic bombings of Japanese cities. Also: what if conscientious objectors’ taxes could play for something good, like the U.S. Institute of Peace? And: a 1966 declaration supporting war tax resistance from the New York Yearly Meeting of the Society of Friends.; Private debt collectors may go after federal tax debts again and people behind on their taxes may have their passports revoked — two surprises tucked into the new Highway Bill. Also: Erica Weiland on the latest NWTRCC national gathering, a profile of tax resisting superlawyer Tony Serra, and another look at the Hobby Lobby decision and conscientious objection to military taxation.; Remembering war tax resister Peg Morton. Also: a closer look at the Boston Tea Party, new restrictions on the freedom to travel, socially responsible companies and taxes, and I.R.S. follies of various sorts. And: an undertaker strike in Valladolid in response to a hearse tax.; Announcing the next NWTRCC national gathering, news from a war tax resistance teach-in in San Diego, a look back at the pioneers of the modern American war tax resistance movement and how war tax resistance featured in the anti-Vietnam War movement, and more news and links of interest to war tax resisters.; It’s “Tax Day” in the United States, and American war tax resisters are pressing their cases in the media. Appearances by Barbara & Harold Penner, Linda & Titus Peachey, Berry & Sharon Friesen, Janet & John Stoner, Erica Weiland, Ruth Benn, David Zarembka, Ed Hedemann, and Sue Barnhart, among others.; I get another letter from the I.R.S. Also: the number of Americans renouncing their citizenship or residency continues to rise. And: tax day reflections from Bryan Caplan, war tax resistance news from Spain & Catalonia, a war tax redirection ceremony in San Diego, Raul Perez is making a documentary film about his attempt to get U.S. courts to recognize a right to conscientious objection to military spending, and more…; War tax resistance news from the new NWTRCC newsletter. Also: tax resistance played a role in the Mahdist uprising in Egypt, as shown by thie 1884 Daily News dispatch.; War tax resisters to meet in Massachusetts in October. 27% of Americans pay no income or payroll tax. Separatists in Trieste launch a tax strike. An Argentine priest leads a road toll rebellion. A college student invents a chatbot that overturns $4 million in parking tickets. The I.R.S. continues to get spanked for civil forfeiture abuse. Bitcoins may be the next super tax haven. Another irate taxpayer pays his bill with bags of low-denomination money. And more news besides.; A collection of links to news and notes about war tax resistance and other tax resistance campaigns around the world.; Gloria Steinem says if the government defunds Planned Parenthood, she’ll divert her taxes to the group. Also: a new edition of NWTRCC’s newsletter is out, with news from the American war tax resistance movement. And: a proposal for a toothless threat for Democrats to refuse to pay taxes if they get Trumped again.; Rising tax resistance sentiment in the anti-Trump movement, behavioral science lessons to help erode tax compliance, the tactic of paying taxes in pennies, and more news of tax resistance from around the world.; Some upcoming war tax resistance webinars are a good opportunity for people to learn how to use the techniques perfected by war tax resisters to resist Trumpism.; The Guardian gives anti-Trump tax resisters some publicity. Americans are giving up their citizenship in record numbers. Trump’s border wall is just the latest step in the militarization of the border. Another mysterious-white-powder scare shuts an I.R.S. office. And: say, isn’t there a general strike today?; Eight letters from the I.R.S. today as my tax resistance approaches two important milestones. Also: a war tax resistance concert in Maine, Gloria Steinem doubles down on tax resistance as a tactic for overturning Republican budget priorities, war tax resisters who have successfully used the Fifth Amendment in their battles with the government, and U.S. drone resisters convince a jury they were acting lawfully.; My local newsweekly covers my tax resistance. Also: a new source of data on government taxing and spending; NWTRCC recaps tax resistance season; the Satyagraha Foundation continues its tax resistance series; Susan Lee Barton, Mary & Peter Sprunger-Froese, and Erica Weiland opine on war tax resistance; a majority of Americans feel the federal tax system is unfair; new techniques in paying-under-protest and facilitating the tax evasion of others; and the Peace Tax Fund Act makes another quixotic run at Congress.; A new NWTRCC newsletter is out. Plus: Thoreau is trending. And: how you can help Greeks drink untaxed coffee, how Quakers organized a transatlantic boycott of slave-labor products, Gloria Steinem opens up about her renewed interest in tax resistance, and the I.R.S. gets audited.; The I.R.S. sent me a new sort of letter today telling me that my account “has been assigned for enforcement action.” Precedent suggests that they may now ramp up their attempts to find assets to seize.; Congress temporarily lifts limits on how much you can deduct certain charitable contributions. The crackdown on refugees and immigrants is war by other means, and a legitimate target for war tax resisters, says Erica Leigh. Also: Tax resistance breaks out in India and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Equifax data leak means more nightmares ahead for the I.R.S., and increasing the salience of taxes to fuel opposition to them.

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