Your tax resistance news round-up
- The third war tax resistance podcast, sponsored by the War Tax Talk blog, features war tax resisters Shirley Whiteside, Juanita Nelson, Randy Kehler, Betty Winkler, and Beth Seberger sharing the fruits of their experience.
- “Tax evasion” has a bad reputation because governments have successfully convinced people that paying taxes is of public benefit, and that those who dodge their share reap these benefits while pushing the burden off on others. But there are a lot of assumptions packaged in with that story that don’t hold up under scrutiny. Under a more realistic set of assumptions about the nature of public spending and taxation, tax dodging is an important public service that benefits all of us by limiting the invasiveness of government.
- The scam in which callers impersonating IRS agents trick people into sending them money to settle spurious tax debts continues to grow.
According to the latest news:
When the law enforcement agency that oversees the Internal Revenue Service warned in of the “largest-ever phone fraud scam targeting taxpayers,” it did not realize the 20,000 victims would be just the tip of a growing iceberg.
As of , close to 300,000 consumers have reported to the Treasury Inspector General for Taxpayer Administration, or TIGTA for short, that they’ve been contacted by callers claiming to be from the IRS. As we head into tax season in 2015, 12,000 people are complaining to TIGTA about the IRS impersonation scam every single week. At least $14 million have been reported to be extorted by criminals, and the actual number may be twice that high.
- The tax resistance movement that’s sprouting from the Occupy Central / Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong continues to seek guidance from tax resistance campaigns around the world. In the latest example, they look to Julia “Butterfly” Hill’s enormous war tax redirection action for inspiration.
- In Greece, a left-wing coalition loosely aligned with the “won’t pay” movement, and pledging to abolish the hated “ENFIA” tax, is leading in the polls. In response, many Greek taxpayers are keeping their money in their pockets, refusing to pay taxes until they see how the election turns out.
- The Italian tax resistance movement growing under the hashtag “#IoNonMiAmmazzo” now has a rap video to dramatize its campaign:
