In New York City’s Indypendent, Eric Volpe explains “Why I’m a War Tax Resister”:
Although I first started considering tax resistance in , I didn’t take any immediate action. I’m basically a law-abiding person who doesn’t want a lot of headaches — and tax resistance sounded like a major headache. But I also kept reading about the war. Finally, in , instead of sending a check to the IRS, I sent a note explaining that I cannot send them money knowing what the money would be used for.
I send the amounts I owe to groups involved in more constructive pursuits. I have found that most war tax resisters that I have spoken with do the same, as they do not object to paying taxes as their share of the expenses in running society — it is paying for war we object to. Thus it’s not that we’re not paying taxes — what we are doing is diverting our taxes.
Now I’ll be the first to admit that my resistance is pretty token. Most of the taxes I “owe” are paid through withholding. I just refuse to send the balance (about $100–$200/year). But, token or not, being a war tax resister is stressful. I get letters on a fairly regular basis from the IRS demanding payment, which really takes the fun out of checking my mail.
When I started this I figured the IRS would levy the amount they said I “owed,” including penalties and interest, out of my bank account; this is what happened to other resisters I had consulted on this matter. So far, after , this hasn’t happened yet, which means that small amount of money hasn’t gone toward buying more bombs and bullets.
