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How you can resist funding the government →
a survey of tactics of historical tax resistance campaigns →
destroy the apparatus of taxation →
modern roadside apparatus in particular ▶
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ Not all tax resistance is nonviolent. There are also plenty of examples in which people have taken up arms against the taxing authority, have violently destroyed the apparatus of tax collecting, or have used threats of violence to intimidate or inhibit tax collectors. Scott Frisby drops his subscription to crappy government services, the Indianapolis Baptist Temple loses a 16-year court battle defending religious tax resistance, War Resisters International releases a free handbook for nonviolent campaigns, automatic ticket-issuing red-light and speed cameras become targets for populist tax revolt, NTodd Pritsky shares some meditations on civil disobedience, and a government watchdog suspects that I.R.S. employees are issuing huge fraudulent refunds under the cover of bureaucratic confusion. Also: Aristotle looks at the “fairness” component of justice. You’re invited to the May NWTRCC national gathering in Tucson. Also: Rebecca and Her Daughters reemerge in Arizona. And: a neighborhood in Argentina opts out of the municipal tax system. Also: inmates in Florida swipe $100,000 from the I.R.S. while still behind bars. Ruth Benn explains war tax resistance on David Swanson’s show. Also: speed camera destruction, paying a traffic ticket with origami, collecting blood in Greece, tax resistance in Indonesia, council tax resister June Farrow gets a finger-wagging, and the U.S. increases its lead as the biggest global arms race dealer. The “bonnets rouges” are taking a page out of the Rebeccaite handbook and have destroyed dozens of tollgates in Brittany. Tens of thousands of “bonnets rouges” demonstrated in France today against a so-called “eco-tax”—and reveled in highway blockades and tax portal destruction. When government-run public transit fares leapt by 66% in Mexico City, commuters started to leap too in what has become a hopping mad protest movement. Also: the Bonnets Rouges continue to destroy traffic radar outposts in France—over 200 so far. International tax resistance news from Italy, England, Greece, Brazil, and Catalonia. An international overview of recent tax resistance news from Addis Ababa, Seattle, Suffolk County, Lagos, and Petroupolis. Tax Day is coming up in the U.S. Find out what’s happening near you. Also: a new option for low-income tax resisters in the U.S. And: an update on the tax resistance campaign in Zaragoza. Finally: a suspect in the destruction of a D.C. traffic-ticket camera becomes a folk hero. A compilation of stories and videos chronicling the destruction or disabling of ticket-issuing traffic cameras by fed up citizens. I’m back from vacationing in South America. While I was away: Claire Wolfe praised The Picket Line, war tax resisters in Biscay hit the streets, the Republicans tried to sneak in an I.R.S. budget increase, Google threw in the towel on not being evil, and people around the world took justice into their own hands against the traffic-ticket-issuing robots. People in Nicaragua are refusing to pay taxes and fees to the government as part of a campaign to topple the Ortega-Murillo regime. Also: more attacks on speed cameras, magical thinking about taxes and government spending, voluntary donations to the U.S. government are falling. And: a new NWTRCC newsletter is out, with news from the U.S. war tax resistance movement. Google backs off from helping to make the military’s death drones smarter, other brands try to get a P.R. boost from bucking The Man. Also: tax resistance news from Nicaragua, South Africa, France, South Korea, and Ambazonia. A call to strengthen tax resistance in Nicaragua, evading tobacco taxes in California, smashing ticket cameras, blue states fighting back against federal taxes, computer security at the I.R.S. is a mess, Catalan war tax resistance grows, a new call for tax resistance in Sri Lanka, and I get another letter from the I.R.S. Tax resistance in the Nicaraguan struggle against the Ortega-Murillo regime. Surveying Chinese business students about tax evasion. Traffic-ticket-generating cameras vandalized around the world. Kenyan petroleum transporters strike against a new tax. And a city tax strike is proposed in La Rioja, Argentina. Recent news regarding war tax resistance, tax resistance as practiced around the world, and tax administration follies in the United States. War tax resisters fight tax breaks for weapons contractors, prank calls take down a government xenophobia hotline, what might happen if you try to stare down an I.R.S. summons, how to wield the “Taxpayer Bill of Rights,” and the global grassroots campaign against traffic-ticket-generating robots continues. An interactive map of the Rebecca Riots, a new tax rebellion in France, more protest and resistance in Greece, the U.S., South Africa, and New Zealand. Also: an audit of the I.R.S. includes a new estimate of the size of the “tax gap” and shows just how much unpaid tax the agency writes off as “uncollectible” each year. The gilets jaunes movement in France, with its street protests and blockades, has been getting all the press—and has indeed forced significant and painful concessions from the government. But while the gilets jaunes were in the streets, they and their allies were also knocking traffic ticket cameras out of service—by the hundreds—at great cost to the government. A documentary about war tax resister Larry Bassett, more news of I.R.S. failures, women take over the American military-industrial complex, speed camera destruction proceeds internationally, and more recent news of interest to tax resisters. The I.R.S. says it will take at least a year to recover from the backlog, the disruption, and the devastation of employee morale caused by the government “shutdown.” Meanwhile, the epidemic of traffic ticket camera destruction continues in France, and begins to spread beyond the borders. Nicaraguan tax resistance leader Irlanda Jerez is being tortured in prison. Radar destruction continues at a slower pace in France. Julia Butterfly Hill interviewed on her war tax resistance. And: what is a tax resister to do in the face of tariffs? The I.R.S. sent me nine envelopes yesterday, one for each tax year they’re pursuing me for. Also: a U.S. anti-abortion tax resister has a court victory, Ruth Benn examines I.R.S. enforcement at a time of agency stress, California conservatives consider a tax strike, traffic ticket camera destruction continues worldwide, and more international tax resistance news. Joffre Stewart—peacemaker, poet, anarcho-pacifist war tax resister, and legendary distributor of “incomprehensible leaflets”—has died. Also: the documentary film about war tax resister Larry Bassett has been released, lax I.R.S. enforcement makes tax compliance a sucker’s game, what anti-abortion tax resister Michael Bowman’s court victories really add up to, and the latest dispatches from the ongoing epidemic of speed camera destruction. The War Resisters League’s federal budget pie chart has been updated for the proposed 2020 budget. Also: find “Tax Day” actions in the U.S. And: war tax resisters demonstrate in Spain, yellow vests continue to disrupt France, and traffic camera destruction continues worldwide. A new NWTRCC newsletter is out, with news and outreach tips for the upcoming Tax Day, among other things. Also: the New York Times takes a close look at how “sovereign citizens” use bureaucratic incantations and a curious mythology to milk the I.R.S. And: adding up how much traffic camera destruction has cost the French government in unissued traffic tickets. War tax resistance news from Canada, the United States, and Spain, and other news about the ongoing collapse of “tax morale” in the United States, cynicism about Republican tax cuts, trouble at the I.R.S., and some results of the attacks on traffic radar cameras in France. Tax resistance news from France, Catalonia, Spain, the United States, Italy, Germany, Kyrgyzstan, and Saudi Arabia. Tax season in Spain and the United States has led to increased coverage of tax resistance campaigns there in particular. Tax resistance news from all over the world, including also news from the U.S. war tax resistance movement and notes about declining taxpayer morale in the U.S. Also: some numbers have just been released about how many levies, liens, and property seizures the I.R.S. resorted to last year. Switch to bitcoin to defund the war machine? Also: tax resistance news from Nicaragua, Indonesia, New Zealand, France, and Germany. And: the I.R.S. is redesigning its W-4 form, auditing much fewer wealthy people, and sometimes finding itself frustrated by bankrupt tax scofflaws. The wealthy already pay high tax rates! (Sure, on that portion of income they aren’t hiding off-shore.) Also: a new NWTRCC newsletter is out, attacks on traffic-ticket cameras continue, and a look back at war tax redirection from this date in 1973. Nicaraguan tax resistance leader Irlanda Jerez released along with other political prisoners. An international war tax resistance conference is coming up. More international tax resistance news. The Republican tax law takes more from people, less from corporations. Also: the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. promoted war tax resistance in 1988, infuriating a U.S. congressman. I get another letter from the I.R.S. The Mennonite Church considers a new proposal on war tax redirection. Former official Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson starts a private nonprofit Center for Taxpayer Rights. And the international guerrilla uprising against traffic ticket robots continues. The Mennonite Church U.S.A. starts a redirection fund for church-members who are war tax resisters. An international conference on war tax resistance is upcoming in Edinburgh. The human war on traffic ticket robots continues. Facebook bans ads that discourage voting. Expatriate Americans consider renouncing citizenship to avoid tax burdens. Businesses in Pakistan go on strike over sales tax hike. And: mystery substance leads hazmat team to shut down Kansas City I.R.S. building. London’s “Extinction Rebellion” movement organizes a tax strike for ecological sustainability. Businesses in Pakistan shut their doors in an anti-sales-tax hartal. Human drivers assault traffic ticket robots around the world. And more news about the Mennonite Church USA decision to expand its war tax redirection fund. London’s “Extinction Rebellion” movement launches its tax strike for ecological sustainability. Speed camera radar outposts destroyed by determined drivers across Europe. Boris Johnson, prime minister, tax resister. Tax strikes threatened in Budalengi, Kenya and Beni, Democratic Republic of the Congo to protest the government’s inability to provide basic services. Cofounders of the Agape Community interviewed. Tax strikes in Pakistan, Venice, Catalonia, and North Kivu. Continuing attacks on roadside traffic ticket robots. And how Trump is both destroying taxpayer morale and making life more miserable for I.R.S. workers. A new NWTRCC newsletter is out, more details about anti-abortion tax resister Michael E. Bowman, the I.R.S. is getting more aggressive about revoking passports of tax scofflaws, and attacks on traffic ticket radar robots continue in Europe. A new videoblog introduces practical war tax resistance techniques. Anti-abortion tax resister Michael Bowman scores another courtroom triumph. Tireless activist and war tax resister Frances Crowe dies at age 100. Tax resisters in North Kivu organize. And attacks on traffic ticket cameras continue around Europe. A tax resistance manual gets an on-line release. The war on traffic ticket cameras continues. War tax resisters profiled. Tax strikes in Venezuela and the D.R.C. Graphics promote and educate about a consumer strike and tax resistance campaign in Nicaragua. A new NWTRCC newsletter is out. The I.R.S. tries to put some teeth in the government’s new power to revoke passports from tax scofflaws. Local governments battle I.R.S. over lien-filing fees. And more news about tax resistance and tax resisters. NWTRCC national gathering next weekend in Oregon. Nathan Goodman on the costs of American empire. A suspicious new tax resistance campaign. The war on traffic ticket cameras continues. I.R.S. liens and deceptive junk mail. Ed & Elaine “show me the law” Brown may get out of prison after all. And the government of Ontario battles Canada’s federal government over carbon taxes. Peter Bagge draws a delightful Lysander Spooner. Tax resistance is one of the tactics of an Economic Hurricane designed to boost Catalan independence. The I.R.S. blinks in its standoff with county recorders. And the human war on traffic-ticket generating robot camera hordes continue to keep hope alive in the hearts of the rebellion. A Catalan restaurant whose owners have been resisting and redirecting Spanish taxes for years has been forced to close. Also: Coordination with environmental activism discussed at NWTRCC national meeting. And: American war tax resisters at the School of the Americas Watch gathering and the Kings Bay Plowshares 7 trial. Also: attacks on traffic-ticket-generating radar cameras continue. The Arumeru tax revolt of 1998 was a rare show of determined people-power in Tanzania (or was it just political elites manipulating popular discontent for their own purposes?). Also: depot blockades in France over fuel tax hike, another call for a tax strike in North Kivu, 17,886 traffic-ticket-generating robots in France attacked by angry drivers, half the cigarettes smoked in New York are brought there by smugglers, and a hazmat scare at an I.R.S. office. Hong Kong protesters use clever software to gum up the tax agency. Aristotle’s guide to anarchism. A new NWTRCC newsletter. I.R.S. ramps up surprise in-person visits to tax scofflaws. Paula Rogge on how to defang I.R.S. reprisals against resisters. Lebanese business-owners threaten a tax strike. And the human war on traffic-ticket-generating cameras continues to take robot casualties. Pete Brace, climate activist from the U.K., shares the correspondence from his tax refusal battle. More details from the ongoing Lebanon tax strike. How the I.R.S. face-to-face visits may play out. “Sovereign citizens” swindle millions of dollars from the I.R.S. but don’t know when to quit. The human war on traffic ticket robots continues. And, the Greek government tries to force its tax evading population away from cash to more trackable forms of money. War tax resisters in Canada, paying your taxes in a wagonload of nickles, speed camera vandals strike again, 50 years later a war tax redirection is still paying off, and the latest on the tax strike in Lebanon. The I.R.S. filed another tax lien against me. The last two didn’t seem to make any difference, so I don’t expect much from this one. Also: videos from the recent international conference on war tax resistance and peace tax campaigns. And: more dispatches from the human war on traffic ticket generating camera robots. Albertan politician David Swann has launched a tax strike to protest the government’s unwillingness to pursue corporate tax dodgers from the fossil fuel industry. Also: how financial fraudsters peeled tens of billions of dollars from European governments; the human war on speed camera radars continues; the I.R.S. blinks in its stand-off with county governments; and a tax strike in Goma, North Kivu. A speed radar replaced by a “rat d’art”, American politicians are perhaps starting to come together on restoring funding for the I.R.S., a men’s magazine calls for a nonpartisan U.S. tax strike, more tax resistance in Kivu, the latest figures on the cost of the war on Iraq, and what you’ll find in the latest NWTRCC newsletter. If the I.R.S. files a tax lien against you, prepare for a flood of junk mail. Also: another tax strike in South Kivu, attacks on traffic ticket robots in Italy and France, a hazmat team called to an Alabama I.R.S. office over a leaky international letter, a steadfast council tax rebel in Cornwall, and Crispin Sartwell on the foolishness of trying to tax our way to economic equality. I got nine separate letters from the I.R.S. today, in a vivid demonstration of government waste. Also: tax strikers on the march in South Kivu, a varied arsenal attacks traffic ticket radars across Europe, and a new tax redirection campaign for Catalan independence. Looking back at the Women’s Tax Resistance League and at the Poll Tax riots thirty years ago. A recap of the last international war tax resistance conference. Another American taxpayer reaches the limit and moves on to resistance. And attacks on traffic ticket radar cameras continue in Europe. Much of the I.R.S. workforce is twiddling their thumbs at home while collecting a paycheck. There’s a new tax strike in Argentina. The 30th anniversary of the British poll tax rebellion is celebrated. American war tax resisters adjust to protest in a time of epidemic. And the war on traffic ticket cameras continues in Europe. Everything is a little different this mid-April, but there’s still some tax resistance news of note, from the U.S., Catalonia, Austria, Mexico, and the U.K. Tax resistance news from the United States, Italy, Argentina, Catalonia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, France, and Germany. Extinction Rebellion plans to launch a tax strike in Britain (or maybe that’s just a right-wing fantasy). Are the property tax strikes of the Great Depression due for a revival? The number of Americans renouncing their U.S. citizenship reached an all-time high in the first quarter of this year. And: attacks on traffic ticket robots continue in Europe. A tax strike in support of #BlackLivesMatter. Ed Agro, co-founder of New England War Tax Resistance, has died. Boosting the Mennonite Church’s war tax alternative fund. Tax resistance against the war on the home front. The human war on robot traffic fine blasters continues. And: a Quaker petition defying the militia exemption tax to the Confederate legislature in Virginia. Without any legal authorization, the I.R.S. is threatening prisoners in order to claw back the stimulus checks they are entitled to by law. Also: a self-employed musician launches a tax strike in Israel, war tax resistance news from the United States, and reports from around the world on the human war against traffic ticket robots. David & Jan Hartsough share their war tax resistance letter to the I.R.S., a taxpayer uses the law to fight back against the I.R.S.’s private debt collector deputies, neighbors of a Vancouver homeless encampment threaten tax resistance to pressure the government to help, a new NWTRCC newsletter is out, and the international human war on traffic ticket robots continues. A Beirut business owner has decided to redirect his taxes from the corrupt and inept government to charitable organizations who are effectively responding to the port explosion disaster. Also: local governments in Catalonia are refusing to remit taxes to the Spanish federal government. Resistance to the U.K. television license fee. Payroll taxes deferred to the end of the year in the U.S. And more successful attacks against the traffic ticket robots. An introductory war tax resistance workshop is coming up in about a month. Also: anti-abortion tax resister Michael Bowman back in court, a new history of the Agape Community is out, war tax resister Alan Barnett has died, tax resistance rumblings get louder in South Africa, and the human war on traffic ticket robots continues. Even “socially responsible” investment funds that say they screen out investments in warfare often loan money to the Pentagon by investing in treasury bonds. What is a conscientious investor to do? Also: updates on tax resistance in Strathcona and South Kivu, a hazmat team called out to the I.R.S. office, and the human rebellion against traffic ticket robots continues. Lindsey Britt on war tax resistance, charitable donations, relationships, and ethical decision-making. The U.S. federal budget is a mess and getting worse (or better, if you’re eager to see it go bankrupt). The human battle against traffic ticket robots continues in Europe. And more tax resistance news from Galmudug, Veneto, and Catalonia. A trove of artifacts from the poll tax rebellion in the U.K. have been scanned in and made available via The Sparrows’s Nest Library and Archive. Also: a property tax strike is brewing in Boston, more traffic ticket robots disabled in France, and Donald Trump contributes to the collapse of taxpayer compliance in the United States. The I.R.S.’s extra-legal attempt to withhold stimulus payments from prisoners gets slapped down by a federal judge. There’s a new NWTRCC newsletter out. The human war on traffic ticket robots continues. And more recent tax resistance links of note. My limerick commentary on current events. Profiles of war tax resisters Don Timmerman, John Woolman, and Ammon Hennacy. Creative ways to exploit I.R.S. paperwork chaos. Traffic ticket robots under attack in Europe. How tax evasion may suddenly balloon. How the “All or Nothing Syndrome” discourages war tax resistance. Americans renounce their citizenship in record numbers. And peace activists who attacked U.S. military planes in Ireland are found not guilty by a sympathetic jury. Rob Greenfield announces he’s through paying federal taxes. Also: fifty thousand businesses in Tuscany launch a coordinated tax strike. And: the human war on traffic ticket robots continues. Also: prohibitive American cigarette taxes inexorably lead to a boom in smuggling. There’s a new NWTRCC newsletter out with updates for American war tax resisters. Also: another tax strike is brewing in South Kivu. And: the human war on traffic ticket robots continues around the world. The human rebellion against the traffic ticket robots continues to rage. Here is a collection of recent reports from Italy, France, England, Germany, Belgium, Canada, Saudi Arabia, and Guadeloupe. Also: reading the tea leaves and trying to divine whether or not an I.R.S. budget increase is in our future. An upcoming Mennonite webinar will cover war tax resistance. War tax resisters in Spain issue an annual movement census. Peter J. Reilly shakes his head and concludes that not paying your taxes is a workable strategy. More attacks on speed cameras in France. And more hints the Democrats are planning to boost the I.R.S. An Extiction Rebellion tax resister speaks out on The Earth Tax Strike group’s plans. The South Kivu tax strike heats up. Ruth Benn on John-Ed Croft, and Bob Bady on Juanita & Wally Nelson. And the human battle against the traffic ticket robots continues. The I.R.S. sends me another eight letters (yawn). Also: boycotts target the military coup in Myanmar. And the human battle against the traffic ticket robots continues. Tax resistance against the military coup in Myanmar heats up. #MoneyRebellion’s Earth Tax Strike prepares to launch. Don’t be intimidated into silence by frivolous filing penalties. The human war on traffic ticket robots continues. The I.R.S. says it will give you your stimulus money even if you owe taxes, and you now have until May 17 to file your return. War tax resister Lindsey Britt on how our taxes form our legacy. America’s wealthy are tax dodging with impunity. A regional Catalan government stops paying taxes to Spain, while Spanish war tax resisters ramp up for tax season. Traffic ticket robots succumb to attacks around the globe. A look back at the anti-poll-tax movement. Upcoming Tax Day actions. And a new tax strike in the D.R. Congo. Long-time war tax resisters Arcadi Oliveres and David Zarembka have died. More Catalan municipalities begin withholding their taxes from Spain. A new NWTRCC newsletter, press release, and upcoming national gathering. A tax strike in North Kivu is boosted by a hartal and sit-ins. A new War Resisters League federal spending pie chart is out. Constitutional challenges to revocations of passports from tax scofflaws look unlikely to succeed, says tax prof. Biden plans to boost the I.R.S. enforcement budget. And: more traffic ticket camera destruction in Europe. A climate emergency tax strike begins in the U.K., and a seminar about the history of tax objection there. The Biden administration wants banks to report details about everyone’s bank accounts to the I.R.S. A separatist group in Catalonia launches a tax resistance campaign. An upcoming seminar about the legal prospects for conscientious objection to military taxation in the U.S.A. And some other tax resistance activity around the globe. War tax resisters celebrate International Conscientious Objection Day. Anti-coup tax strikers in Myanmar are also refusing to pay government monopoly electricity bills. U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren wants to double the I.R.S. budget. And more tax resistance news from around the world. South Kivu tax strikers force the government to meet their demands, the Global Days of Action on Military Spending conclude on Tax Day in the U.S., restaurants and gyms in Rosario, Argentina launch a tax strike, remembering war tax refuser Eroseanna Robinson, roadblocks in Democratic plans to beef up I.R.S. enforcement powers, NWTRCC holds an on-line national gathering, human attacks on traffic ticket robots continue, and new tax resistance rumblings in South Africa. Extinction Rebellion U.K. puts out a video to announce the launch of its Earth Tax Strike. Also: Peter Goldberger on the legal prospects for conscientious objection to military taxation in the U.S., an interesting hack of California’s tax system, a history of how the I.R.S. got into its current sorry state, prospects for the Biden Administration’s plans to turn that around, a letter from a Basque war tax resister, and more tales from the human war on traffic ticket robots. Newly-released statistics from the I.R.S. confirm that the number of tax enforcement liens, levies, and seizures plummeted last year to twenty-year lows. Also: hotels in Argentina launch a tax strike, connecting the dots between war tax resisters and the Pentagon Papers whistleblower, unintuitive tax resistance in Ivory Coast, another war tax resistance season peaks in Spain, and the human war on traffic ticket robots continues. An estimated 61% of U.S. households paid no federal income tax last year. The I.R.S. says it will avoid seizing money from bank accounts that received Advanced Child Tax Credit deposits. A “Council Tax Strike” hits the U.K. The human war on traffic-ticket-issuing robot cameras continues. And: looks back at the tax resistance of Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen and of Henry David Thoreau. The Biden administration would like the I.R.S. to have more visibility into your bank accounts, but the legislative proposal to force banks to report this information may not survive the reconciliation process. Also: a recap of the activism of war tax resisters Eroseana Robinson and Juanita & Wally Nelson. And: the human war on traffic ticket robots continues. The I.R.S. pulls a fast one to evade the statute of limitations. International tax resisters to speak at upcoming NWTRCC conference. New regional war tax resistance group starts in New England. Recap of Women’s Tax Resistance League published. London environmentalists launch tax strike against new incinerator. Biafra Nations League issues tax strike ultimatum. Conscientious objectors to abortion introduce peace-tax-fund-like legislation in Argentina. And more of the latest tax resistance news. Plans to let the I.R.S. snoop on your bank accounts get more modest. A new guide to healthy eating on a frugal budget. Federal tax revenues are way up this year, thanks to booming fortunes of corporations and the wealthy. And the global human ragtag guerrilla defense against the traffic ticket robot hordes continues. Congressional Democrats were unable to coalesce around a plan to let the I.R.S. snoop on your bank accounts, so that looks to be off the table for now. But the I.R.S. budget is getting a boost that will erase the cuts from the past decade. Meanwhile the global human ragtag guerrilla defense against traffic ticket robots continues, as shown in this dramatic video. European tax resisters speak at NWTRCC’s national gathering. Myanmar democracy advocates call on international companies to hold taxes back from the military junta. More tax enforcement money in the proposed infrastructure bill in the U.S. And: the global human ragtag guerrilla defense against traffic ticket robots continues. NWTRCC launches a “Refuse to Pay for War Sign-On Statement.” The Mennonite Church U.S.A. calls for war tax resistance in its Statement on the value and morality of the 2022 U.S. defense budget. The number of Americans who formally renounce their citizenship hit new highs last year. José Luis Espert, a member of parliament, called for mass tax resistance in Argentina. And: The ragtag human guerrilla war against the robot traffic ticket camera hordes continues. War tax resister Randy Kehler profiled. An interview with war tax resister Kathy Kelly and an article about war tax resistance by Lincoln Rice and Glen Milner. Richard M. Schickel, a former I.R.S. Revenue Officer, has put out a new book about why the I.R.S. doesn’t work anymore. The I.R.S. customer service phone line is so bad, a business is making a profit by sitting on hold for you. And: Santa Claus converts a traffic ticket camera into a pose-with-santa photo booth. A North London Incinerator Council Tax Strike Handbook published. The anticipated I.R.S. funding boost runs into snags in Congress. Highlights from the Taxpayer Advocate’s annual report. New levies, liens, and seizures annual totals released. And: the human war against the robot traffic ticket camera hordes continues. Catalan separatists double down on tax redirection campaign. Resisters in Myanmar threatened by regime soldiers. I.R.S. revamps its on-line authentication process in an unsurprisingly awful way. Only about half of the income of pass-through businesses in the U.S. is subject to tax. The human war against the robot traffic ticket camera hordes continues. And: clever children hack the heck out of the schools that institutionalize them. I.R.S. getting desperate as tax season begins with millions of last year’s forms still unprocessed. Meanwhile identity thieves rob the government through I.R.S. back doors and the agency’s attempt to close those doors is becoming a fiasco. Meanwhile: NWTRCC chief interviewed for a podcast, and the group puts out a new newsletter. And: thousands of people are being forbidden from renouncing their U.S. citizenships because embassies won’t process their paperwork. And: the human war against the robot traffic ticket camera hordes continues. The bad news gets worse for the I.R.S. as the agency is forced to scrap its new identity verification system, and to stop sending notices to taxpayers and tax resisters as it keeps discovering millions more unanswered letters in its ever-growing pile. Oh, and its mail-sorting and -opening machines are broken. Meanwhile: more news from the Edmonton Incinerator tax strike, a utility bill strike in Turkey, and the ongoing human battle against traffic ticket robots. How tax resisters popularized bitcoin. “Symbolic” tax resisters explain themselves. The I.R.S. continues to take damage, sometimes self-inflicted. And: The international human war against the robot traffic ticket camera hordes continues. War tax resistance in the U.S. and Spain, a new federal budget pie chart, woes aplenty at the I.R.S., the ongoing human battle against the traffic ticket robots, tax resistance for an independent Catalonia, and dispatches from the tax protester fringe. Tax Day protest on Wall Street unites environmental and anti-war resisters. Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu keeps up his strike from the dark. Robert McGee releases summary report of cross-cultural studies on tax evasion attitudes. A “failed” tax resister looks back at what went wrong. Comparing W2 and 1099 earnings. And the scrappy human underdogs continue to demolish robot traffic ticket cameras. Tax resistance in Teen Vogue, redirection ceremonies mark Tax Day in the U.S., an overwhelmed I.R.S. destroys paperwork it is too overwhelmed to process, a new tax strike hits Ituri in the wake of massacres in Djugu, and the human struggle against the robot traffic ticket cameras continues. Around the world, fed up drivers are attacking and disabling roadside automated traffic-ticket radar cameras, using a variety of creative methods. The $80 billion budget boost for the I.R.S. has now been signed into law. What can we expect the agency to do with all this new funding? Also: a new NWTRCC newsletter, “Don’t Pay U.K.” urges Britons to stop paying energy bills, and the ragtag human guerrilla war against the traffic ticket robot hordes continues. Merchants in San Francisco’s Castro district threaten to stop paying taxes and fees to a city that fails to protect their businesses from crime. War tax resisters Betsy Corner & Randy Kehler interviewed. Catholic Worker war tax resister Tom Cornell remembered. Russian anarchists sabotage Putin’s war machine. More traffic ticket radar cameras disabled in Germany. A scholarly take on the tax resistance of Dorothy Day. An upcoming seminar on war tax resistance for beginners. The I.R.S. has its hands full trying to boost its workforce. The founder of Patagonia gives away his business to a non-profit (and avoids a lot of taxes thereby). Huge surge of tax revenue for the U.S. government this year. An I.R.S. building in Memphis appears to have been “swatted.” The human war on roadside traffic ticket robots continues. And, tax strikes as political business-as-usual in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. A new NWTRCC newsletter celebrates the group’s 40th birthday. Republicans vow to rescind I.R.S. funding in what I assume to be insincere campaign bluster. Market vendors in Marimanti, Kenya, organize a tax strike. And the human war on roadside traffic ticket robots continues. “Let them march all they want, as long as they pay their taxes.” Did Alexander Haig really say that? Nobody seems to know for sure, but it seems to be one of those quotes that’s “too good to check.” Also: NWTRCC’s national gathering is coming up soon. The threat of “taxpayer-funded abortion” motivates pro-life voters. The numbers of American tax-filers who pay no income tax predicted to fall back to pre-pandemic levels. And the human war on roadside traffic ticket robots continues. The I.R.S. has put out a new estimate of the “tax gap”—roughly half a trillion dollars. But they’d be more honest to but big error bars around their figure. The “Don’t Pay” U.K. campaign pulls a switcheroo on its pledge and plans to begin its utility bill strike on December first. The scrappy human rebellion against the traffic ticket robots continues. And, a profile of Women’s Tax Resistance League pioneer Octavia Lewin. I.R.S. continues to struggle to build capability, as Congress claws back some of the money it granted. NWTRCC has a new newsletter out. A nuclear weapons protester goes to jail rather than pay a fine. War tax resister Karl Meyer interviewed. Human rebels continue to take it to the roadside traffic ticket camera robots. A “Tax Strike for Climate” in the Netherlands is protesting government subsidies for the fossil fuel industry. “Don’t Pay U.K.” ramps up its protests. American war tax resisters Robert Randall and Marjorie Nelson have died. The U.S. government backs down from its coercively prohibitive fee for renouncing American citizenship. And more attacks on automated traffic-ticket speed cameras in Europe. How to lie with statistics (about the U.S. military budget). Palestinians in East Jerusalem launch a tax strike. Republicans solicit whistleblowers from within the I.R.S. Traffic ticket robots under attack around the world. A new NWTRCC newsletter. A suspicious package shuts down an I.R.S. building. And a new publication outlines the history of attempts to enshrine conscientious objection to military taxation as a legally-respected right. Caleb Shenk’s prize-winning speech on “Protesting Taxation as a Peace-Seeking Accountant,” the “Don’t Pay” movement spreads to Lebanon, U.S. Ambassador says compliant Russian taxpayers share blame for Ukraine invasion, thousands strike in Sri Lanka to protest tax hikes, Catalan separatists encourage tax redirection, thousands of U.S. federal employees fail to pay their taxes, and more attacks on automated traffic-ticket speed cameras in Europe. How you can resist funding the government →
a survey of tactics of historical tax resistance campaigns →
reach out to potential resisters at the time and place of payment →
Tax Day actions →
2021 ▶
♦ ♦ ♦ War tax resister Lindsey Britt on how our taxes form our legacy. America’s wealthy are tax dodging with impunity. A regional Catalan government stops paying taxes to Spain, while Spanish war tax resisters ramp up for tax season. Traffic ticket robots succumb to attacks around the globe. A look back at the anti-poll-tax movement. Upcoming Tax Day actions. And a new tax strike in the D.R. Congo. South Kivu tax strikers force the government to meet their demands, the Global Days of Action on Military Spending conclude on Tax Day in the U.S., restaurants and gyms in Rosario, Argentina launch a tax strike, remembering war tax refuser Eroseanna Robinson, roadblocks in Democratic plans to beef up I.R.S. enforcement powers, NWTRCC holds an on-line national gathering, human attacks on traffic ticket robots continue, and new tax resistance rumblings in South Africa. 37 businesses in the Fells Point neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland signed a letter threatening to stop paying municipal taxes and fees until the city meets its demands. Also: The tax returns of America’s richest people have been leaked, and sure enough they pay paltry income tax rates. And: a new NWTRCC newsletter is out. How you can resist funding the government →
about the IRS and U.S. tax law/policy →
IRS incompetence →
enforcement effort/results →
enforcement budget ▶
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ The Picket Line Tax Day Special, featuring a digest of tax day news. Every year around this time, the I.R.S. puffs up its chest and says that this year it’s really going to crack down on tax cheats. A citizen oversight board says that this year, they’re talking smack again. Also: The Picket Line has comments enabled now! I was worried that Abu Ghraib would fall off the radar like so many other stories have—I’m pleasantly surprised to see so many people taking it so seriously. But I’m also still working on synthesizing a tightly-focused and useful integration of what we know about the abuse and about the American response to it. Tom DeLay wants to demolish the I.R.S. Unlike me, he can put a little political power behind his whims. What does this amount to? Well, in the short term, just a sluggish I.R.S. budget. Everything you needed to know about HSAs, and more. Plus: a new report on global wages makes living under the U.S. tax line look like a luxury holiday. And: the I.R.S. still isn’t getting the funding it thinks it needs, and is “leaving billions of dollars on the table” as a result. It takes a mighty fine lawyer to claim that waterboarding is “humane”—Alberto Gonzales fits the bill, and the Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee say “enough is enough.” Also: the G.A.O. says that the I.R.S. is losing its war against tax evaders. Dubya has put a big boost in funding for the I.R.S. in his upcoming budget. And the C.I.A. may have to cough up the documents about its torture practices after all. Prisoners are taking their revenge by ripping off the I.R.S. for millions. And Congress won’t give the I.R.S. enough money to go after them. Also: the U.S. anti-war movement continues to look for someone else to solve their problem. A bipartisan consensus builds to squeeze a few more drops from the tax gap. Also: Claire Wolfe begins a new fiction series about the antics of a guerrilla trickster. The I.R.S. Data Book gives a hint at how their collections efforts are going. Also: direct action against war material shipments, construction recycling, the down side to tax efficiency, an increased I.R.S. enforcement budget, a new war tax resistance blog, Iraq War supplemental funding pork, and more leisure for the poor. The English peasant’s revolt, increased I.R.S. enforcement budget, a crackdown on “hobby losses,” denying business licenses to people behind on their taxes, a visualization of world military expenditures, and more about John Patric a.k.a. Hugo N. Frye. Also: voodoo dolls as a tax resistance tactic. The new health-care industry legislation has a number of provisions that may be of interest to tax resisters. Tax Day actions across the country; a new tax resistance campaign for D.C. statehood; attempting to make the coercion of taxation more explicit; the government considers refusing to issue passports to people unless they’ve paid all their taxes; the I.R.S. doesn’t get that budget boost they’d been hoping for; war tax resister Don Schrader profiled; and eleven tax resistance tactics for the rich. The Marine Corps sells servility by calling it pride; tough economic times everywhere but D.C.; budget cuts at the I.R.S. are good news for us; and the million Americans who might be alive today if we’d spent the money on our wars-of-choice differently. Find out where federal government revenues come from. Also: Staughton Lynd gives the Occupy movement his two cents. And: anti-tax activism in Greece & Ireland. Also: Tim Huber on conscience and taxes. And: the I.R.S. offers early retirement packages to agents in its enforcement division. The I.R.S. takes war tax resister Cindy Sheehan to court. Also: notes from war tax resisters Ed Agro and Paul Leatherman. And: the I.R.S. shed 5,000 employees over the last year, mostly from their tax enforcement division. The latest I.R.S. statistics show how many million income tax filers were “lucky duckies” who paid no income tax in 2011. Also: do I really have to write something about this “sequester”? And, Jack Payden-Travers leads a war tax resistance workshop at the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker. The federal tax angle to legal marijuana sales in America. The trouble with tax-exempt politicized churches. How federal budget cuts are putting the squeeze on I.R.S. employees. And: Vivien Kellems gathered a posse to challenge the self-employment tax in 1952. Reading between the statistical lines to infer a growing underground economy; Congress continues to demonize the I.R.S. for us; that agency is so afraid of bomb threats that it looks suspiciously even on boxes of tax forms; Cypriots are the latest to resist austerity taxes; and A.J. Muste loses a court case asserting constitutional protection for conscientious objection to military taxation in 1961. Budget cut woes for the I.R.S. Also: the agency plans to use consumer-tracking databases, and to link those up to government databases, as a way of pinpointing tax evaders and finding their assets. And: a fed up farmer in Argentina fires 23 bullets into a car carrying tax inspectors, and the local prosecutor decides to let it slide. Also: a note about a planned tax strike in India in 1921. Tax day aftermath, I.R.S. heavy-handedness & blundering & budget cuts, Gambling on the Rapture, tax resistance in Argentina, and a long-term look at public opinion about taxes in the United States. War tax resisters David Waters and Juanita Nelson make the news. More on tax resistance in Catalonia. I.R.S. employee furloughs ahead. And: the movers and shakers at Google are ominously pitching their view of the future of the internet to the lords of war, international intrigue, and government intervention, who sound delighted by what they are hearing. Bookmark roundup: the law of barter, swaps, gifts, and alternative currencies; a Twitter feed about tax resistance tactics; the I.R.S. floundering under budget cuts; the I.R.S. scandal that didn’t make the papers; Dublin water charge strikers fight back by pouring a little concrete; and war tax resister Ed Hedemann appears on the Breaking The Set show. 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 National Taxpayer Advocate released its annual report today, pleading with Congress to stop cutting the I.R.S. budget. The I.R.S. budget gets another shave. also: The president of the Ivory Coast ungratefully turns on the tax resisters who helped him get into office. I just got another letter from the I.R.S. (ho hum). Meanwhile, the agency tells Congress that budget cuts mean will prevent it from collecting $3 billion that it would otherwise be able to bring in through its enforcement mechanisms. A 28-year I.R.S. veteran has written a strange book saying that the agency is falling apart and is on the cusp of being so broken that the U.S. tax system may never recover from the disaster. The I.R.S. Budget got slashed again. The agency has promised that disaster looms and I’m on the edge of my seat. Parts of the new tax extenders legislation are of potential interest to tax resisters, the I.R.S. is in a world of hurt from budget cuts, and Rebecca refuses to give up the ghost in Wales. 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. Add the I.R.S. Advisory Council to the list of oversight bodies who have issued reports warning that the U.S. tax system is imploding under slashed I.R.S. budgets and decaying taxpayer morale. 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. Register to participate in a free introductory webinar about war tax resistance that I’m conducting tomorrow. Also: the New Republic looks back fondly on the war tax resisters of Colrain, Massachusetts. The I.R.S. budget looks like it’s due for another slashing. Swedes screw their government by overpaying their taxes. And a peek back at Winifred Patch’s tax resistance for women’s suffrage a century ago. Tax resistance news from the U.S., the D.R. Congo, Tunisia, Greece, and Catalonia. Also: another reason why American democracy is harmful to American people. Recent news regarding war tax resistance, tax resistance as practiced around the world, and tax administration follies in the United States. How does a culture’s idea of moral behavior shift (and how might your social media habits play a part)? Trump’s tax cheating. International links of interest from France, Argentina, and Spain. Also: If you have a reasonably-arrived-at constitution, does that confer justice on the decisions arrived at legally? Or is justice something that still must be evaluated on a case-by-case basis? Aristotle argues that justice means more than just obedience to the law. Five redundant I.R.S. oversight bodies have reached the same conclusion: the tax agency is grievously underfunded, tax evaders are getting away with it, and compliant taxpayers are unlikely to remain compliant for long if they keep getting played for suckers by an increasingly dysfunctional bureaucracy. The I.R.S. continues to lose personnel, and as a result your chances of being audited are lower than they’ve been all decade. And new tax dodges like “syndicated conservation easements” are leaving the agency flummoxed and tax scofflaws feeling empowered. A speed radar replaced by a “rat d’art”, American politicians are perhaps starting to come together on restoring funding for the I.R.S., a men’s magazine calls for a nonpartisan U.S. tax strike, more tax resistance in Kivu, the latest figures on the cost of the war on Iraq, and what you’ll find in the latest NWTRCC newsletter. The human rebellion against the traffic ticket robots continues to rage. Here is a collection of recent reports from Italy, France, England, Germany, Belgium, Canada, Saudi Arabia, and Guadeloupe. Also: reading the tea leaves and trying to divine whether or not an I.R.S. budget increase is in our future. An upcoming Mennonite webinar will cover war tax resistance. War tax resisters in Spain issue an annual movement census. Peter J. Reilly shakes his head and concludes that not paying your taxes is a workable strategy. More attacks on speed cameras in France. And more hints the Democrats are planning to boost the I.R.S. Long-time war tax resisters Arcadi Oliveres and David Zarembka have died. More Catalan municipalities begin withholding their taxes from Spain. A new NWTRCC newsletter, press release, and upcoming national gathering. A tax strike in North Kivu is boosted by a hartal and sit-ins. A new War Resisters League federal spending pie chart is out. Constitutional challenges to revocations of passports from tax scofflaws look unlikely to succeed, says tax prof. Biden plans to boost the I.R.S. enforcement budget. And: more traffic ticket camera destruction in Europe. The I.R.S. has admitted that the tax gap is enormous—$1 trillion in taxes every year that Americans owe but don’t pay. But can they realistically do much about it? Also: war tax resisters in Biscay chain themselves to a military building, in medical scrubs, to protest government spending priorities and to advertise their “tax resistance offices.” War tax resisters celebrate International Conscientious Objection Day. Anti-coup tax strikers in Myanmar are also refusing to pay government monopoly electricity bills. U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren wants to double the I.R.S. budget. And more tax resistance news from around the world. South Kivu tax strikers force the government to meet their demands, the Global Days of Action on Military Spending conclude on Tax Day in the U.S., restaurants and gyms in Rosario, Argentina launch a tax strike, remembering war tax refuser Eroseanna Robinson, roadblocks in Democratic plans to beef up I.R.S. enforcement powers, NWTRCC holds an on-line national gathering, human attacks on traffic ticket robots continue, and new tax resistance rumblings in South Africa. Extinction Rebellion U.K. puts out a video to announce the launch of its Earth Tax Strike. Also: Peter Goldberger on the legal prospects for conscientious objection to military taxation in the U.S., an interesting hack of California’s tax system, a history of how the I.R.S. got into its current sorry state, prospects for the Biden Administration’s plans to turn that around, a letter from a Basque war tax resister, and more tales from the human war on traffic ticket robots. Congressional Democrats were unable to coalesce around a plan to let the I.R.S. snoop on your bank accounts, so that looks to be off the table for now. But the I.R.S. budget is getting a boost that will erase the cuts from the past decade. Meanwhile the global human ragtag guerrilla defense against traffic ticket robots continues, as shown in this dramatic video. European tax resisters speak at NWTRCC’s national gathering. Myanmar democracy advocates call on international companies to hold taxes back from the military junta. More tax enforcement money in the proposed infrastructure bill in the U.S. And: the global human ragtag guerrilla defense against traffic ticket robots continues. A North London Incinerator Council Tax Strike Handbook published. The anticipated I.R.S. funding boost runs into snags in Congress. Highlights from the Taxpayer Advocate’s annual report. New levies, liens, and seizures annual totals released. And: the human war against the robot traffic ticket camera hordes continues. How tax resisters popularized bitcoin. “Symbolic” tax resisters explain themselves. The I.R.S. continues to take damage, sometimes self-inflicted. And: The international human war against the robot traffic ticket camera hordes continues. The log jam has broken in the Senate, and now Democrats are advancing a bill that would dramatically increase the I.R.S. budget, particularly its enforcement budget. The $80 billion budget boost for the I.R.S. has now been signed into law. What can we expect the agency to do with all this new funding? Also: a new NWTRCC newsletter, “Don’t Pay U.K.” urges Britons to stop paying energy bills, and the ragtag human guerrilla war against the traffic ticket robot hordes continues. I.R.S. continues to struggle to build capability, as Congress claws back some of the money it granted. NWTRCC has a new newsletter out. A nuclear weapons protester goes to jail rather than pay a fine. War tax resister Karl Meyer interviewed. Human rebels continue to take it to the roadside traffic ticket camera robots. How you can resist funding the government →
about the IRS and U.S. tax law/policy →
IRS incompetence →
enforcement effort/results →
statute of limitations on collections ▶
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ Ed and Elaine Brown gear up to martyr themselves for fatuous tax protester claptrap. Also: it costs about 26 cents for the I.R.S. enforcers to collect $1, and every year they lose $20 billion in unpaid taxes to the statute of limitations. And: Cindy Sheehan continues to beat the tax resistance drum. On “The Ridley Report” Dave Ridley files a Peace Tax Return instead of a 1040. Also: a new G.A.O. report on the I.R.S. collection process contains a few bits of interest. A new issue of NWTRCC’s newsletter, including articles on tax day actions, the recent national gathering, legal updates, and a close look at the ramifications of the Affordable Care Act for war tax resisters. Also: Rebeccaites tear up a turnpike gate and throw it into the Tivy, on this date in 1843. 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. A collection of links to news and notes about war tax resistance and other tax resistance campaigns around the world. I got away with it. My 2008 federal tax debt has officially fallen off of the ten-year statute of limitations and the I.R.S. can no longer pursue me for it. Here’s how I plan to celebrate. Tax resistance news from Samoa, Greece, the United States, Brittany, Saudi Arabia, France, Italy, Zambia, India, Nicaragua, Uganda, and Valencia. I got nine separate letters from the I.R.S. today, in a vivid demonstration of government waste. Also: tax strikers on the march in South Kivu, a varied arsenal attacks traffic ticket radars across Europe, and a new tax redirection campaign for Catalan independence. While the I.R.S. tries to chase me down for $73,350, and lets $2,165 drop off the statute of limitations ledge, they also are racing to send me a $1,200 “stimulus” check, and the Small Business Administration just gave me $8,100 in free government money. It doesn’t make much sense, but there you have it. I got a peculiar letter from the I.R.S. yesterday. It confirms that my unpaid taxes for tax year 2010 have passed their collection deadline and are permanently out of the agency’s reach, and it also suggests they haven’t gotten around to processing the returns I filed more than a year ago. In other news: Truthout interviewed war tax resister Howard Waitzkin. The I.R.S. pulls a fast one to evade the statute of limitations. International tax resisters to speak at upcoming NWTRCC conference. New regional war tax resistance group starts in New England. Recap of Women’s Tax Resistance League published. London environmentalists launch tax strike against new incinerator. Biafra Nations League issues tax strike ultimatum. Conscientious objectors to abortion introduce peace-tax-fund-like legislation in Argentina. And more of the latest tax resistance news. How you can resist funding the government →
about the IRS and U.S. tax law/policy →
IRS incompetence →
enforcement effort/results →
the “tax gap” ▶
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ The I.R.S. tells Congress how it plans to address the “tax gap”. Also: charitable giving may be one way that well-off folks can escape the income tax this year. Go on a $3 trillion shopping spree, read another report from the NWTRCC conference, learn about tax-spawned cigarette smuggling, don’t rely on the Taxpayer Advocate Service if you’re poor, see what happens when the I.R.S. cheats in Tax Court, find out who’s really getting the windfall profits in the oil industry, welcome Mimi Copp to the tax resistance fold, join with ineffective anti-war protesters to spend untold energy planning another ineffective parade, and more about war & taxes. The I.R.S. releases the results of its first new estimate of the “tax gap” in years. Not much has changed, and the data is still of poor quality. The government really has no idea where the leaks are in its boat. Do tax resisters ironically end up paying the government more money than other people because the government adds penalties and interest to the refused amount? Let’s run the numbers. The I.R.S. has again tried to estimate the “Tax Gap,” which is the difference between what the agency thinks we owe and what we actually cough up. It is higher than at the last estimate, but they are hoping this is because their measurements are more accurate and not because the subjects are getting ornery. Tax resistance news from all over the world, including also news from the U.S. war tax resistance movement and notes about declining taxpayer morale in the U.S. Also: some numbers have just been released about how many levies, liens, and property seizures the I.R.S. resorted to last year. The I.R.S. has admitted that the tax gap is enormous—$1 trillion in taxes every year that Americans owe but don’t pay. But can they realistically do much about it? Also: war tax resisters in Biscay chain themselves to a military building, in medical scrubs, to protest government spending priorities and to advertise their “tax resistance offices.” The I.R.S. has put out a new estimate of the “tax gap”—roughly half a trillion dollars. But they’d be more honest to but big error bars around their figure. The “Don’t Pay” U.K. campaign pulls a switcheroo on its pledge and plans to begin its utility bill strike on December first. The scrappy human rebellion against the traffic ticket robots continues. And, a profile of Women’s Tax Resistance League pioneer Octavia Lewin. How you can resist funding the government →
about the IRS and U.S. tax law/policy →
IRS incompetence →
miscellaneous blundering ▶
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ Lawrence Rosenwald has written a fantastic study of the historical, political, biographical and philosophical context of Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” and how it came to influence an unlikely array of activists. Also: The I.R.S. is issuing its annual bluff about catching tax cheats. Claire Wolfe attempts to rescue us from the disaster for freedom that is the Job Culture. Also: Dave Barry counsels tax resistance, and 30,000 tax payments are dumped off the San Mateo bridge into San Francisco Bay. The collected works of Gandhi—98 volumes worth—are now available free-of-charge on-line. Also: two peeks behind the curtain at the I.R.S. bureaucracy, one amusing, the other giving us some hints of how much “token” tax resistance hurts the government in enforcement-related costs. Tax-advantaged retirement plans for the self-employed, driving a stake through the heart of Slobodan Milosevic’s corpse (literally), the I.R.S. substitutes racial profiling for terrorist hunting, kickbacks and bribes connect the neocon war profiteers and the Saudi royal family, U.S. aerial bombardment of Iraq kicks into high gear, and leading Democrats pledge to further bloat the gigantic blood-filled tick that is the U.S. military. A graceful, strange, dream-worldish play about war tax resistance that, unfortunately, was written by a crackpot Holocaust denier. Also: the I.R.S. flunks a computer security audit (next time your “identity” is stolen, you’ll know who to thank). A Tax Day round-up: penny polls and other war tax resistance actions, interviews and profiles of war tax resisters, reactions to the “Tea Party” phenomenon, gay and lesbian tax resistance, a conservative call for an anti-war/anti-tax convergence, a columnist notes how easy it is to get away with not filing your taxes, I.R.S. employees pissed off that their boss got away with the sort of tax evasion that would get them fired, contractors in the I.R.S. mail room caught stealing the government’s stolen money, and Joe the Plumber’s 1-900 fair tax trainwreck. Tomorrow I leave for the Spring NWTRCC national gathering in Virginia. Also: a new war tax resistance movement in Spain’s Basque country. And: a new I.R.S. strategy booklet full of bureaucratisms and silly pictures. Scott Frisby drops his subscription to crappy government services, the Indianapolis Baptist Temple loses a 16-year court battle defending religious tax resistance, War Resisters International releases a free handbook for nonviolent campaigns, automatic ticket-issuing red-light and speed cameras become targets for populist tax revolt, NTodd Pritsky shares some meditations on civil disobedience, and a government watchdog suspects that I.R.S. employees are issuing huge fraudulent refunds under the cover of bureaucratic confusion. Also: Aristotle looks at the “fairness” component of justice. War tax resisters Frank Donnelly, Larry Dansinger, and Dan Jenkins on the radio (here’s a podcast). Also: Villa Nueva, Argentina is blanketed with tax resistance pamphlets, and everyone is dodging blame. And: the I.R.S. begs Congress for more money so it can answer its tax assistance phone line 71% of the time after an average 698-second hold (seriously, those are the agency’s goals for this year if it gets more funding). So the I.R.S. got audited the other day… Also: Suffragists in Britain prepare to rally to support a tax resisting comrade whose goods are to be seized and sold at auction. The I.R.S. is at its meanest, least competent, and worst when it deals with victims of identity theft. Also: tax resistance in Spain against a new constitution that was designed less for Spaniards and more for international creditors. And: Matt Yglesias speculates that rather than learning how to keep prisoners of war in a less medievally barbaric fashion, the U.S. has decided on a take-no-prisoners assassination policy. Catholic bishops get all bent about being forced to pay for contraceptive-coverage in the health insurance of their employees, and war tax resisters ask “hey, what about us?” Also: resistance to the “Household Tax” in Ireland, and to the many fee hikes in Greece. And: the I.R.S. is getting overwhelmed by a cottage industry of tax fraud via identity theft. Graphs that show how U.S. taxpayer noncompliance and I.R.S. enforcement efforts are changing over time. Also: Darian Worden on the political philosophy of Thoreau, David Hartsough on war tax resistance, and a look at the I.R.S.-produced Star Trek parody video. Tax day aftermath, I.R.S. heavy-handedness & blundering & budget cuts, Gambling on the Rapture, tax resistance in Argentina, and a long-term look at public opinion about taxes in the United States. The I.R.S. has been caught extra-legally harassing TEA Party groups in the run-up to the last presidential election, and the agency has been forced to walk back its earlier denial that it had done this. The TEA Party tempest takes down the acting I.R.S. chief, launches a criminal probe of I.R.S. employees, and accelerates the agency’s death spiral. Robin Hoods taunt parking ticket personnel in Keene. The I.R.S. tea party scandal hits agency morale. How war tax resisters are taking the scandal news. That other I.R.S. scandal about reading our email without a warrant. A look at the inflation of the charges against the Transform Now Plowshares. And: the crackdown on tax evasion in Greece turns out to be all for show. The tax resistance movement for Catalan independence grows. Also: The I.R.S. is becoming increasingly loathed. And: Learn about Offices of Economic Disobedience (if you understand Spanish). Also: I get another letter from the I.R.S. War tax resister Vickie Aldrich wins her “frivolous filing penalty” battle with the I.R.S. Also: more juicy bits of schadenfreude about the I.R.S. scandal. Some updates on tax resistance by Catalan separatists, and on the I.R.S. scandals. A rundown of recent tax resistance news: war tax resistance in the Friends Journal is all in the obituaries column these days; tax resistance news from Spain, Thailand, France, and Greece; I.R.S. ineptitude makes the news again; the impact of the shutdown on government revenue; and the rising trend of taxpatriatism in the (that is to say, out of the) U.S. Here’s the plan on how to take money from the government by gaming Obamacare. Also: a dispatch from the war tax resistance campaign in Nicaragua in 1909. And: I have some personal experience with today’s more-glacial-than-usual I.R.S. “customer” service. Porkins Policy Radio interviews me about how war tax resistance works. Also: a thoughtful look at a war tax resistance workshop, more on the I.R.S.-fueled and lucrative pastime of identity theft, and the I.R.S. gets caught cheating on its own taxes. Ready for a heaping helping of I.R.S. schadenfreude? All the news is bad news for the agency lately, which is good news for us. Notes on the Beit Sahour tax strike, tax noncompliant I.R.S employees, virtue ethics for children, war tax resistance as a Christian shibboleth, whether war tax resistance is legally compulsory, how to force the U.S. tax system to the tipping point, cigarette smuggling, early feminist tax resisters Abby & Julia Smith and Abby Kelley Foster, revocation of passports from U.S. tax resisters, the massive ongoing I.R.S.-impersonating phone shakedown scam, and updated numbers on how the I.R.S.’s use of liens, levies, and seizures has changed over the years. A new website to help the distributed DIY solidarity economy, tax resister barricades in Ireland, a profile of war tax resister Jon Klein, more vermin at the I.R.S., and another toll gate destroyed by Rebecca. The I.R.S. has rehired hundreds of workers with serious documented conduct and performance issues. Meanwhile it is trying to run a modern tax system on CoBOL software developed in the punch-card era. Also: a profile of war tax resister Bonnie Urfer. The I.R.S. sent me six letters the other day to remind me that I’ve neglected to write them a check. 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. I get a letter from the I.R.S. about my recent unpaid tax bill… what’s that −$12 all about? Also: the for-novelty-use-only I.R.S. “Taxpayer Bill of Rights.” And: BBC Radio 4 looks at tax avoiders in English history. 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. 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. Tax collectors hounded out of town in Greece. Pakistan businesses shuttered in tax protest. U.S. conservatives threaten tax defiance over Planned Parenthood funding. And the I.R.S. flat out hung up on 8.8 million people calling with tax questions this year. 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. 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. News from Catalonia, Mexico, India, and the United States highlight the variety of ways people are pushing back against tax collectors. The War Tax Resisters Penalty Fund has issued a new appeal, for funds to help reimburse long-time war tax resister David Zarembka for penalties and interest seized by the I.R.S. Also: the I.R.S. gets caught letting some of its employees get the black-car and five-star travel treatment on the taxpayer dime. Two would-be saboteurs of fighter jets acquitted by using the necessity defense in Britain, and meanwhile prosecutors in the U.S. are also running into resistance. Also: I.R.S. continues to rehire problem employees. Should the U.S. war tax resistance movement widen its focus to include prison divestment? And when Jesus said to render unto Caesar, he didn’t stop there. A call to strengthen tax resistance in Nicaragua, evading tobacco taxes in California, smashing ticket cameras, blue states fighting back against federal taxes, computer security at the I.R.S. is a mess, Catalan war tax resistance grows, a new call for tax resistance in Sri Lanka, and I get another letter from the I.R.S. The latest tax evasion scoops, more about the continuing collapse of the U.S. government, I.R.S follies, and other miscellaneous news of interest to tax resisters. There’s a new NWTRCC newsletter out, just in time for the tax filing season, with information about the implications of inheritances for war tax resisters, and a look at war tax redirection as a form of slavery reparations. In other news: the fallout from the government “shutdown” continues at the already-stricken I.R.S. Tax resistance against the military coup in Myanmar heats up. #MoneyRebellion’s Earth Tax Strike prepares to launch. Don’t be intimidated into silence by frivolous filing penalties. The human war on traffic ticket robots continues. The I.R.S. says it will give you your stimulus money even if you owe taxes, and you now have until May 17 to file your return. War tax resisters celebrate International Conscientious Objection Day. Anti-coup tax strikers in Myanmar are also refusing to pay government monopoly electricity bills. U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren wants to double the I.R.S. budget. And more tax resistance news from around the world. War tax resister Randy Kehler profiled. An interview with war tax resister Kathy Kelly and an article about war tax resistance by Lincoln Rice and Glen Milner. Richard M. Schickel, a former I.R.S. Revenue Officer, has put out a new book about why the I.R.S. doesn’t work anymore. The I.R.S. customer service phone line is so bad, a business is making a profit by sitting on hold for you. And: Santa Claus converts a traffic ticket camera into a pose-with-santa photo booth. Catalan separatists double down on tax redirection campaign. Resisters in Myanmar threatened by regime soldiers. I.R.S. revamps its on-line authentication process in an unsurprisingly awful way. Only about half of the income of pass-through businesses in the U.S. is subject to tax. The human war against the robot traffic ticket camera hordes continues. And: clever children hack the heck out of the schools that institutionalize them. I.R.S. getting desperate as tax season begins with millions of last year’s forms still unprocessed. Meanwhile identity thieves rob the government through I.R.S. back doors and the agency’s attempt to close those doors is becoming a fiasco. Meanwhile: NWTRCC chief interviewed for a podcast, and the group puts out a new newsletter. And: thousands of people are being forbidden from renouncing their U.S. citizenships because embassies won’t process their paperwork. And: the human war against the robot traffic ticket camera hordes continues. The bad news gets worse for the I.R.S. as the agency is forced to scrap its new identity verification system, and to stop sending notices to taxpayers and tax resisters as it keeps discovering millions more unanswered letters in its ever-growing pile. Oh, and its mail-sorting and -opening machines are broken. Meanwhile: more news from the Edmonton Incinerator tax strike, a utility bill strike in Turkey, and the ongoing human battle against traffic ticket robots. How tax resisters popularized bitcoin. “Symbolic” tax resisters explain themselves. The I.R.S. continues to take damage, sometimes self-inflicted. And: The international human war against the robot traffic ticket camera hordes continues. I.R.S. continues to struggle to build capability, as Congress claws back some of the money it granted. NWTRCC has a new newsletter out. A nuclear weapons protester goes to jail rather than pay a fine. War tax resister Karl Meyer interviewed. Human rebels continue to take it to the roadside traffic ticket camera robots. Henry David Thoreau ▶
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ Tax resister Richard Groff also wrote an essay on Thoreau’s place in the prophetic tradition. (Includes links to and excerpts from the essay.) Also: living your way to freedom. I expand The Picket Line’s collection of Thoreau’s writing on political philosophy with excerpts from his journals and from “A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers”. Also: a tax resister looks forward to filing his return. I add Thoreau’s writings on John Brown to The Picket Line’s collection of Thoreau’s political philosophy. I’ve published two collections of Thoreau’s political philosophy as good, old-fashioned, dead tree style books. You can order “The Price of Freedom” and “My Thoughts are Murder to the State” on-line. Tax resisters take over the airwaves during the “Tax Day in July” media blitz. Also: If the I.R.S. takes additional penalties and interest from tax resisters, don’t the resisters end up supporting the government even more in the end? What would Gandhi say? The virtuous person is “a law unto himself,” at least when there’s no other law around to rely on (says Aristotle, and the apostle Paul too). Which reminds me of several things Thoreau had to say about the tension between law and conscience, law and freedom, and even conscience and freedom. When you’ve taken over a country and are imposing arbitrary taxes on its unfortunate native population, do you have the right to bombard them from airplanes if they refuse to pay? Another episode from the Difficult Questions in International Law series here at The Picket Line. Also: Lucy Stone addresses the Woman’s Rights Convention in Syracuse on this date in 1852. In which I save John Brown Smith, “a harmless fanatic on the subject of self-sovereignty” and an eccentric, utopianist, voluntaryist tax resister from the 19th century, from being completely buried by the sands of time. Topianism is an anarchist philosophy, but not because it preaches that The State should be abolished, but because it asserts that The State, as an independent moral agent capable of making decisions and shouldering responsibility, does not exist. The attitude of a topian to The State is not like the attitude of an assassin to the Emperor but like the attitude of an atheist to God. Also: Lech Walesa calls for Poles to resist their taxes… in 1995. My Shareable article about my tax resistance is topic #1 on the Porc Therapy podcast. Mayors in Italy’s Northern League launch a tax strike. A Mennonite responds to the Lettermanesque 10 reasons Mennonites don’t resist taxes any more. A government-funded video game based on Thoreau’s “Walden” pegs the irony meters in the red. And: a photo of Ken Knudson burning his tax payment check in 1966. The revolution starts now, and you are the revolutionary. You don’t need an organization, a movement, or a majority. Join the “one man revolution—the only revolution that is coming.” Some back-and-forth about my “one man revolution” post from last week, and some bits of interest that didn’t make the final cut. Graphs that show how U.S. taxpayer noncompliance and I.R.S. enforcement efforts are changing over time. Also: Darian Worden on the political philosophy of Thoreau, David Hartsough on war tax resistance, and a look at the I.R.S.-produced Star Trek parody video. Philip Cafaro’s “Thoreau’s Living Ethics: Walden and the Pursuit of Virtue” claims we’ve been misunderstanding the importance of Thoreau’s great book. 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. 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. See the scripts the I.R.S.’s new private debt collectors will be using. View your I.R.S. account on-line. A look at how Thoreau has aged. A note about a suffragette tax auction. Suspicious packages shut down I.R.S. buildings in Austin and Philadelphia. And the I.R.S. is forced to return hundreds of millions of dollars in ill-gotten gains. More Thoreau bicentennial notes, including a surprising number in the German press. Also: forty businesses in Italy unite in a tax strike. Another report from the C.P.T.I. gathering. And some advice on keeping your fingers out of I.R.S. bomb threat plots. James C. Scott’s “Seeing Like a State” shows how centralized schemes to remake society or nature with modern, streamlined, efficient plans become awful failures, and why this might be. Also: more good essays to mark the Thoreau bicentennial. An international overview of recent tax resistance news from Addis Ababa, Seattle, Suffolk County, Lagos, and Petroupolis. The Pentagon budget will undergo its very first audit after trillions of dollars in unapproved spending are discovered. How much of a tax gap remains in Europe’s VAT? A new Thoreau biography. Greeks fight back against the government utility monopoly. War tax resistance continues to decay in Britain’s Society of Friends. Spanish war tax resisters redirect to help refugees. And: implications of the new American tax law. Allen Ginsberg: “I find myself more & more indebted to Thoreau—particularly for his manner & remarks on being in jail”. Also, the war tax resistance of the “Sojourners” magazine and ministry. Some historical and global examples of tax resistance →
Spain →
war tax resistance movement ▶
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ War tax resistance in Spain, and excerpts from an interview with pioneering Spanish conscientious objector Pepe Beúnza. Sometimes you see tax resistance from someone who just gets fed up with paying too much for too little. There’s no grand ideological or conscientious stand involved, just a tax payer getting sick and tired of it. Also: notes on the underground economy in San Antonio and war tax resistance in Spain. Eight ways you can personally help to smash the state, from Francois Tremblay. Also: a grand jury subpoenas a newspaper for identifying information about everyone who left comments on their web site about a recent tax protester trial. And: the war tax resistance movement in Spain is very familiar, with arguments on both sides of the issue seeming to be Spanish translations of the same arguments you hear in the U.S. An update on the number of “lucky duckies” who pay no federal income tax—this year it’s projected to be fully 46.9% of American households. Also: Pablo San José publishes a rejoinder to Ricardo Rodríguez’s critique of tax resistance in Rebelión. Randall Terry says that Catholics should feel they have the Pope’s permission to refuse to pay taxes that might pay for abortions. Also: Carlos S. Olmo Bau on tax resistance as civil disobedience or conscientious objection. Arcadi Oliveres promotes war tax resistance in an interview with La Voz de Galicia. Also: there are three things in the soul, and virtue is one of them (did you guess which one?) I’ve got an article in this month’s Simple Living News on your favorite topic and mine. Also: two articles in the latest Rojo y Negro on war tax resistance in Spain. News from a war tax resistance and redirection campaign in Spain. Also: American progressives show that they can play the dissent=treason game too. El País covers the Spanish war tax resistance movement and the philosophy of tax resistance. Also: a tax strike among Puerto Rican merchants in 1932. An analysis of the strategy of war tax resistance in Spain, ideas for making it more successful, and some answers to criticisms of the tactic. Kathy Kelly on discerning ourselves from the drones. War Resisters International on war tax resistance in Spain, and an opportunity for resistance-through-over-compliance in the new health care law. Also: supporters of war tax resister Frank Donnelly plan to rally at his sentencing on June 14. A new issue of NWTRCC’s newsletter is out, with an update from Julia Butterfly Hill on her resistance, and reports from the Arizona national gathering and from this year’s tax day actions, among other things. Also, a member of the Women’s Tax Resistance League wrote a history of that movement shortly after it succeeded in winning the vote for women. Unfortunately the only copy I’ve been able to locate is one continent and one ocean away. Some news from the war tax resistance movement in Spain. Also, the former president of Catalonia says legal channels for improving the political status of Catalonia are a waste of time, so it’s time for a mass tax resistance campaign. Want to renounce your citizenship? The government taxes that too. And: the war tax resistance movement in the Canary Islands, Joan Baez sings of whiskey rebels and moonshiners, and announcing the November NWTRCC national in Boston in conjunction with the 25th Annual New England Gathering of War Tax Resisters and Supporters this November. Also: see you in August—we’re off to Mexico! An article from Insumissia last April discussed the war tax resistance movement in Spain and the debate over the war tax resistance campaign there. NYC anarchists writing letters of support for Carlos Steward. And: Has filing for fraudulent U.S. tax refunds become an overseas growth industry? Also: war tax resisters Michael & Kristine Sonnleitner look at the new year. And: Ecologists in Action promotes war tax resistance in Spain. Also: Isaac Sharpless on Quaker war tax resistance during the American Revolution. The Xornal de Galicia reports on the current state of the Spanish tax resistance movements. Also: when police kickbacks got out of control in New York City in 1902, the government encouraged businesses to organize to resist the extortion. News from today’s war tax resistance action by a coalition of Spanish activist groups. Also: a young Karl Meyer goes to jail for handing out leaflets urging war tax resistance in 1960. Environmental activists and anti-militarists are teaming up for a war tax resistance campaign in Spain. Larry Rosenwald thinks that American war tax resistance could become a real movement, if only resisters would sign on to a more coherent program. His idea of which program that should be bears some resemblance to one published by some Spanish war tax resisters several years back. The Spanish poet and essayist Antonio Gala recounted his encounter with a war tax resister in 1992. “What a marvelous power of persuasion the truth has when it is expressed with conviction,” he concluded. More news from the war tax resistance movement in Spain, which is pointing out that the government’s response to the economic crisis has been austerity for the citizenry and warbucks for the military. Also: a picture of a goat. The blog “Shareable” publishes some of my thoughts on tax resistance and the advantages of a lower-income lifestyle. Also: Spanish tax resisters hold a weekend conference. And: a clever new idea to take some of the money out of political campaigns. Catching up on what the war tax resistance movement in Spain is up to lately. When tax resisters give away their resisted taxes to charitable causes, this defuses critics who claim they are selfish tax evaders, and also forms links between tax resisters and other activist groups. Ten things I think are probably true concerning ethics. Also: a round-up of recent international tax resistance news. Updates on the various tax resistance campaigns in Spain. Also: some archival bits about American war tax resistance in the 1980s and 1990s. While I was busy going through Friends Journal back issues, I didn’t attend much to tax resistance news in the here-and-now, so I’ll try to give a recap today of some of the news about international tax resisters that caught my notice, from the U.K., Spain, Catalonia, Madagascar, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Italy, Greece, and Portugal War tax resisters in Britain protest the investment of their local taxes in the military industrial complex. And: A chronologically confusing article on the Rebecca Riots from the Monmouthshire Merlin. Also: a student in Spain redirects a cash reward from the government back into the war tax resistance movement. The latest tax resistance news from Austria, France, Italy, Jordan, and Spain… and another dispatch from the days of the Rebeccaite rebellion. Another international tax resistance round-up, with news from France, Italy, Ireland, and Spain. The war tax resistance movement in Spain has been ramping up lately and I have been impressed by the quantity of and the creativity shown in the graphics being used in the campaigns. Here are some examples. A European tax resistance news round-up with the latest from France, Italy, Greece, Spain, and Austria, (and some late news from Germany). Tax resistance news from Venice, Catalonia, and the Canary Islands. Also: to what extent were the Rebeccaites encouraged by nonestablishment Christian church leadership? An international tax resistance news round-up, with notes from Italy, France, Ireland, Spain, and Greece. Also: Rebecca copycat vandals muddy the waters in Wales. Tax resistance news from Spain, Italy, and the U.S. Also: a look back at past tax resistance campaigns in India and Switzerland. 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. The Greek crisis may be rooted in corrupt military spending profiting the creditor nations. Also: Venezuela cracks down on tax resistance campaigning. And: tax resistance in Puerto Rico, Spain, and Belarus. Also: Rebeccaites on trial at the Pembrokeshire Spring Assizes. An international tax resistance roundup, with news from Wales, Greece, and Spain, and a flashback to the run on the banks that was part of the revenue denial strategy of the activists pushing for the Reform Act of 1832. American conservative author Charles Murray calls for mass civil disobedience and mutual insurance against government reprisals. Also: the latest tax resistance news from Spain. And: a mysterious tax resistance campaign in the Dutch East Indies a century ago. An international tax resistance news roundup, from Lamezia Terme, the Canary Islands, Catalonia, Brittany, Honduras, and Asturias. Also, a flashback to the Poujadist movement in France. War tax resisters and conscientious objectors in the U.S. are featured in a new book. A Spanish group explains war tax resistance in comic book form. Peter Goldberger discerns hope for conscientious objectors to military taxation in the Supreme Court’s “Hobby Lobby” ruling. NWTRCC comes out with guidance on health care and income security for war tax resisters. And there’s a new NWTRCC newsletter out to boot. Tax resistance news from Catalonia, the U.K., the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Spain, Greece, and elsewhere. An international round-up of tax resistance news, from Catalonia, France, Greece, Honduras, Ireland, Spain, and Wales. The inside scoop on the Spanish war tax resistance movement. Also: did Mark Zuckerberg just screw the military-industrial complex out of billions? And: a new appeal from the War Tax Resisters Penalty Fund. Also: divest from the Pentagon to strike at the world’s biggest fossil fuel burner. And: the war tax boycott wants you to sign on. 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. War tax resistance news from the new NWTRCC newsletter, and from war tax resisters in Spain, Canada, and the U.K. A “Golden Rule Tax Disobedience” campaign launches in the U.K. with some similarities to Spain’s “comprehensive disobedience” movement. Also: news and links about tax resistance from Senegal, Spain, Scotland, Romania, France, Washington D.C., Belgium, Germany, Catalonia, and Quebec. 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… 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. Recent links concerning tax resistance in the Onondaga Nation, Spain, southwest Oregon, Greece, Italy, and the American gig economy. A tax pro recommends you just hang up on the I.R.S.’s new private debt collectors. U.S. prisoners discuss the American war tax resistance movement. An upcoming documentary about war tax resister Larry Bassett. And: a spurious #NoTaxForBlacks movement rises out of the 4chan muck. In 1963 the I.R.S. froze the bank account of a pacifist group because two of its employees would not pay war taxes. Also: modern American war tax resisters Don Schrader and Michael McCarthy speak out. And: war tax resisters in Ciudad Real, Spain, hold a rally. The Pentagon budget will undergo its very first audit after trillions of dollars in unapproved spending are discovered. How much of a tax gap remains in Europe’s VAT? A new Thoreau biography. Greeks fight back against the government utility monopoly. War tax resistance continues to decay in Britain’s Society of Friends. Spanish war tax resisters redirect to help refugees. And: implications of the new American tax law. War tax resisters demonstrate on Tax Day. Author Alice Walker encourages people to stop paying for war. War tax resisters Daniel Woodham and Aaron Falbel interviewed. A video introduction to Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience.” A rundown of some of the sillier uses of our taxes. A fourth century Christian tax resisting martyr. Addiopizzo brings pizzo-free shopping on-line. And: Spanish war tax resisters redirect their taxes to a school and food pantry. A call to strengthen tax resistance in Nicaragua, evading tobacco taxes in California, smashing ticket cameras, blue states fighting back against federal taxes, computer security at the I.R.S. is a mess, Catalan war tax resistance grows, a new call for tax resistance in Sri Lanka, and I get another letter from the I.R.S. Tax resistance news from Samoa, Greece, the United States, Brittany, Saudi Arabia, France, Italy, Zambia, India, Nicaragua, Uganda, and Valencia. How does a culture’s idea of moral behavior shift (and how might your social media habits play a part)? Trump’s tax cheating. International links of interest from France, Argentina, and Spain. Also: If you have a reasonably-arrived-at constitution, does that confer justice on the decisions arrived at legally? Or is justice something that still must be evaluated on a case-by-case basis? Aristotle argues that justice means more than just obedience to the law. The War Resisters League’s federal budget pie chart has been updated for the proposed 2020 budget. Also: find “Tax Day” actions in the U.S. And: war tax resisters demonstrate in Spain, yellow vests continue to disrupt France, and traffic camera destruction continues worldwide. War tax resistance news from Canada, the United States, and Spain, and other news about the ongoing collapse of “tax morale” in the United States, cynicism about Republican tax cuts, trouble at the I.R.S., and some results of the attacks on traffic radar cameras in France. Tax resistance news from France, Catalonia, Spain, the United States, Italy, Germany, Kyrgyzstan, and Saudi Arabia. Tax season in Spain and the United States has led to increased coverage of tax resistance campaigns there in particular. Everything is a little different this mid-April, but there’s still some tax resistance news of note, from the U.S., Catalonia, Austria, Mexico, and the U.K. An upcoming Mennonite webinar will cover war tax resistance. War tax resisters in Spain issue an annual movement census. Peter J. Reilly shakes his head and concludes that not paying your taxes is a workable strategy. More attacks on speed cameras in France. And more hints the Democrats are planning to boost the I.R.S. War tax resister Lindsey Britt on how our taxes form our legacy. America’s wealthy are tax dodging with impunity. A regional Catalan government stops paying taxes to Spain, while Spanish war tax resisters ramp up for tax season. Traffic ticket robots succumb to attacks around the globe. A look back at the anti-poll-tax movement. Upcoming Tax Day actions. And a new tax strike in the D.R. Congo. A climate emergency tax strike begins in the U.K., and a seminar about the history of tax objection there. The Biden administration wants banks to report details about everyone’s bank accounts to the I.R.S. A separatist group in Catalonia launches a tax resistance campaign. An upcoming seminar about the legal prospects for conscientious objection to military taxation in the U.S.A. And some other tax resistance activity around the globe. South Kivu tax strikers force the government to meet their demands, the Global Days of Action on Military Spending conclude on Tax Day in the U.S., restaurants and gyms in Rosario, Argentina launch a tax strike, remembering war tax refuser Eroseanna Robinson, roadblocks in Democratic plans to beef up I.R.S. enforcement powers, NWTRCC holds an on-line national gathering, human attacks on traffic ticket robots continue, and new tax resistance rumblings in South Africa. Newly-released statistics from the I.R.S. confirm that the number of tax enforcement liens, levies, and seizures plummeted last year to twenty-year lows. Also: hotels in Argentina launch a tax strike, connecting the dots between war tax resisters and the Pentagon Papers whistleblower, unintuitive tax resistance in Ivory Coast, another war tax resistance season peaks in Spain, and the human war on traffic ticket robots continues. European tax resisters speak at NWTRCC’s national gathering. Myanmar democracy advocates call on international companies to hold taxes back from the military junta. More tax enforcement money in the proposed infrastructure bill in the U.S. And: the global human ragtag guerrilla defense against traffic ticket robots continues. Eleven council tax resisters fight the Edmonton Incinerator. The fate of I.R.S. provisions in the Build Back Better Act. War tax resisters in Spain redirect €25K in war taxes to good causes. Tax strike launched in Ituri. A new NWTRCC newsletter is out. And more tax resistance news. War tax resistance in the U.S. and Spain, a new federal budget pie chart, woes aplenty at the I.R.S., the ongoing human battle against the traffic ticket robots, tax resistance for an independent Catalonia, and dispatches from the tax protester fringe. Tax Day protest on Wall Street unites environmental and anti-war resisters. Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu keeps up his strike from the dark. Robert McGee releases summary report of cross-cultural studies on tax evasion attitudes. A “failed” tax resister looks back at what went wrong. Comparing W2 and 1099 earnings. And the scrappy human underdogs continue to demolish robot traffic ticket cameras.
