Tax Resistance News from Greece, Pakistan, and the U.S.

Your tax resistance news round-up:

International News

U.S. News

  • The right-wing of the domestic internet has lately been outraged about Planned Parenthood, over the issue of abortion in particular. I’ve lost track of how many tweets I’ve seen that are variations on “I’m going to stop paying taxes if the government doesn’t stop funding Planned Parenthood!” Easier tweeted than done, of course, and today’s American right-wingers have a pretty poor record of follow-through on threats like these. But then there’s Ann Barnhardt. She’s a Catholic counter-reformist who burned a Koran on camera (“bookmarked with raw bacon”) and who shut down her financial services business in to “Go Galt” and stop paying taxes. In a post on her blog, Barnhardt explains why the Bible’s “Render Unto Caesar…” verse doesn’t discourage her from refusing to pay federal taxes. Her conclusion:

    Enough is enough. You cannot subsidize this government and still claim that God is “first” in your life. It is mathematically, metaphysically and morally impossible. You must choose your allegiances now. You must now choose who or what it is that you truly worship. Do you worship God or do you worship your wealth? Here’s a simple litmus test for you: are you or are you not willing to give up all of your wealth in bearing witness to God in His Truth? If the answer is no, then stop calling yourself a Christian, because you very simply are not.

  • The IRS hung up on 8.8 million callers who tried to contact the agency during this year’s tax filing season. Only 37% of those who called actually managed to hear a non-recorded voice. The IRS calls these hang-ups “courtesy disconnects.”