News from the Women’s Tax Resistance League

The Vote

From the issue of The Vote:

Women’s Tax Resistance League.

On old silver was sold at the house of Miss Wratislaw, Bath, because of her refusal to pay Inhabited House Duty. The articles were sold under similar circumstances. Prior to the sale there was a procession, and immediately afterwards a protest meeting, when Mrs. [Margaret] Kineton Parkes moved the following resolution:— “That this meeting protests against the seizure and sale of Miss Wratislaw’s goods, and considers that women are justified in refusing to pay the Imperial taxes until they have the same control over national expenditure as male tax-payers possess.” A successful drawing-room meeting was held the next afternoon which aroused considerable interest. New members were enrolled.

On Romford was shaken out of its sleepy calm by the tax-resistance sale of goods belonging to Mrs. Colquhoun, of Gidea Park, and Mrs. Bacon, of Hornchurch. A big crowd collected for the protest meeting and listened attentively while Mrs. Kineton Parkes, of the Women’s Tax Resistance League, and Miss C. Nina Boyle, of the Women’s Freedom League, explained the reason for the refusal to pay King’s taxes, and answered the questions which were put after the speeches were over. The usual resolution was passed.

Medical Women Refuse to Pay Unjust Taxes.

On , a gold watch and chain were sold under distraint for King’s taxes at Messrs Hawkings’ Auction Rooms, Lisson-grove, the property of Drs. Frances Ede and Amy Sheppard, practising at Upper Berkeley-street. A procession with banners marched from Marble Arch to the Auction Rooms, via Edgware-road. As soon as Lot 1 was announced, Dr. Ede protested against the sale, and her brief speech was listened to with grave attention. The watch and chain were knocked down at £8 18s. 6d. After three cheers had been given to the tax resisters, the procession continued to Mary-le-bone Baths, where an open-air meeting was held. Dr. Ede presided; the speakers were Mrs. [Anne] Cobden Sanderson and Mrs. Kineton Parkes. At the close of the meeting, the following resolution was carried: “That this meeting protests against the seizure and sale of goods belonging to Drs. Ede and Sheppard, and is of opinion that women tax-payers are justified in refusing to pay all Imperial taxes till they have the same control over national expenditure as male tax-payers possess.”


From the Palm Beach Post:

Continues Tax Fight

Folk singer Joan Baez filed her income tax return hours before the deadline and again applied some withholding of her own to the taxes she owes Uncle Sam.

For the third straight year the 24-year-old singer has sent in only 40 per cent of the taxes due.

“I shall again refuse to pay that 60 per cent of my income tax which goes for armaments,” she wrote the Internal Revenue Service.

Miss Baez’s current return showed she owed the government $57,330. Her check was written for $22,920.

The Post was too timid to quote further from Baez’s letter, but Jet magazine was not:

Singer Refuses Again To Pay Tax “For War”

In San Francisco, singer Joan Baez, 24, as she had for the past two years, paid 40 per cent of her income tax by check, but hotly refused to pay the other 60 per cent due by declaring in a customary letter: “I shall again refuse to pay that 60 per cent of my income tax which goes for armaments. This country has gone mad. But I will not go mad with it. I will not pay for organized murder. I will not pay for the war in Vietnam.