Mennonite Church to Operate a War Tax Redirection Fund

When the Mennonite Church USA met in its biennial conference earlier this month, one of the items on the agenda was a proposal by Mennonite war tax resisters Harold Penner and John Stoner to revitalize and extend a war tax resisters’ alternative fund operated by the Church.

That proposal was approved. The new “Church Peace Tax Fund” will enable Mennonite war tax resisters to redirect their taxes into a fund that will support conscientious objectors, peace education and action, and programs that work for the common good.

In other news…

• An international conference on war tax resistance is planned for later this year in Edinburgh, Scotland. It will also be the occasion for the general assembly of Conscience & Peace Tax International.
• The war on traffic-ticket-generating radar cameras continues, with several destroyed by rebels in France using fire and spraypaint, and another destroyed by an accident it contributed to in Germany.
• Facebook has decided it will ban advertising that discourages people from voting. This should go to show that censorship is of course going to be practiced on behalf of the already powerful (who have the power to censor) and against unpopular heresies. But, you know, polite liberal golf claps is about all I hear.
• A poll of expatriate U.S. citizens showed that many are contemplating renouncing their U.S. citizenship, largely because of the tax (and onerous tax reporting) burden.
• Businesses in Pakistan are on strike to protest a sales tax increase.
• An IRS building in Kansas City, Missouri was shut down by a hazmat team because of “a brown substance on a package” discovered by an employee.