Americans Withholding Their Taxes to Fight Trump

The Guardian carried an article on Tuesday on anti-Trump tax resistance in the United States: “We will not pay: the Americans withholding their taxes to fight Trump.”

It was widely shared, and then picked up (or commented on, or paraphrased) by a number of other outlets, from the mainstream, to the leftish, to the dittohead. The usual tweets and comment-thread grunting ensued.

It includes quotes from a couple of new resisters, as well as a welcome confirmation from Gloria Steinem that she wasn’t just whistling Dixie when she recently hinted she’d be redirecting some of her income tax:

In an email to the Guardian, Steinem said: “In 1968, we refused to pay the 10% of our Federal income tax dollars that funded the war in Vietnam, and included a letter to the IRS saying so. In February before tax time on March 15, 500 or so of us listed our names in ads that we published in the New York Times, together with a quote [from] Thoreau on Civil Disobedience, and an invitation to join us.”

She added: “I’m going to do this again by sending what I think should go to Planned Parenthood, deducting it from my Federal IRS return, and including a letter saying so. Though it’s a smaller sum than Vietnam, we won’t just be keeping it or using some to pay for expensive NYT ads, and can add whatever each of us is able to in order to support Planned Parenthood.”

In other news:

• The Number Of Americans Renouncing Their U.S. Citizenship Hit All-Time High In 2016 (Up 26% From 2015).
  • And not only that, but this is after the government jacked up the cost: “Previously, there was a $450 fee to renounce, and no fee to relinquish. Now, there is a $2,350 fee either way. The State Department said raising the fee was about demand and paperwork, but the number of American expatriations still increased after the fee hike.”
• Erica Weiland, at the NWTRCC blog, notes the connection between militarization and Trump’s crazy border wall plan.
• “White Powder Scare Causes Evacuation of Philadelphia IRS Building” — this one doesn’t even look like it was a mailed-in hoax, just a case where “someone discovered a powder in some cubicles on the third floor.” Seems like a great way for IRS employees to extend their lunch breaks.