How you can resist funding the government →
about the IRS and U.S. tax law/policy →
how the government deals with tax resisters →
how they respond to inflated W-4 allowances
Some interesting news for those tax resisters who are using their W-4 forms as a way of reducing withholding:
Employers will no longer be required to send copies of potentially questionable W-4 withholding forms to the Internal Revenue Service, the IRS announced .…
Temporary and proposed regulations, issued today by the Treasury Department, eliminate the requirement that employers send copies of potentially questionable Forms W-4, Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificate, to the IRS.
The new regulations take effect on .
In the past, employers had to send to the IRS any Form W-4 claiming more than 10 allowances or claiming complete exemption from withholding if $200 or more in weekly wages was expected.
Forms W-4 are still subject to review by the IRS.
However, employers will no longer have to submit them to the tax agency, unless directed to do so in a written notice to the employer or pursuant to specified criteria set forth in future published guidance, the IRS said.…
[T]he IRS has developed a process to use information already reported on Forms W-2 to more effectively identify workers with withholding compliance problems.
In some cases where a serious under-withholding problem is found to exist for a particular employee, the IRS will notify the employer to withhold income tax from that employee at a more appropriate rate.
The new process will also enable the IRS to more effectively address situations in which employees fail to file a federal income tax return.
Interesting… To review: the W-4 is that form you typically fill out shortly after taking a job.
On this form, you tell your employer how many “allowances” you are taking — which is something like the exemptions you’re planning to take on your 1040, but the correspondence is not exact.
Your employer uses this number to calculate how much to take out of your paycheck each month to send to the IRS.
The more allowances you claim, the less gets taken out.
So tax resisters are fond of claiming a bunch of allowances.
One tax resister claimed three billion dependents on his W-4 back in .
(If you’d like to try this game, ask your boss or your Human Resources department for a fresh W-4 and file a new one.)
In the past, if you were making more than about $35,000 a year, you’d have to declare at least ten allowances in order to eliminate withholding entirely, and this would require your employer to notify the IRS. The War Resisters League book War Tax Resistance says:
If your W-4 form is sent to the IRS, it will remain in effect until the employer hears in writing from the IRS.
The IRS may instruct the employer to alter the withholding.
The employer must abide by the IRS instructions until those instructions are revoked by the IRS.
It is up to the employee to convince the IRS in writing why she or he is entitled to additional allowances.
Understandably, some war tax resisters were not eager to attract IRS attention in this way.
Now, it seems that will be less of a worry.
I don’t know quite what to make of the IRS’s declaration that they’ll be able to distinguish a genuine W-4 from a tax resister’s W-4 by looking at the W-2.
That doesn’t make much sense. I think they may be bluffing.
See The Picket Line and for an update on this.
, I noted that the IRS was changing its policy about W-4 forms. we have some more information about how this change of policy may cause problems for tax resisters who try to prevent or reduce withholding.
Your employer uses the number of allowances you declare on this form to calculate how much to withhold from your paycheck each month to send to the IRS.
The more allowances you claim, the less gets taken out.
Some tax resisters claim a bunch of allowances so that nothing gets withheld.
Formerly, if you gave your employer a W-4 with a large number of allowances (more than ten, say), your employer had to forward that form to the IRS.
Now, the IRS is going to rely on other methods of ferreting out suspicious W-4 forms — but in a way that actually puts a higher enforcement burden on employers than before.
Now we have some new information about how the IRS plans to crack down on W-4 exaggeration:
The IRS is cracking down on employees who have too little tax withheld from their paycheck and will also put employers in its sights if they try to shield underpaying workers by endorsing questionable W-4 forms.
Instead of just relying on the W-4s themselves, the IRS will start looking at individual tax returns to determine who is not having enough withheld.
If you have a balance due and you don’t pay those taxes when you file your tax return, the first thing IRS will do is to look at your W-2s to see how much total federal income tax was withheld.
If it is clearly inadequate, both you and your employer will be getting letters from IRS telling you to file a new W-4 to raise your withholding.
…If the IRS asks for the new W-4 and you don’t reply, or if IRS rejects your calculations on the form, a “lock-in” letter will be sent to you and to your employer setting and freezing your withholding at the rate IRS requires.
If you have special circumstances this year, respond to the letter immediately and let IRS know, in writing, why your situation warrants the lower deductions.
W-4 to raise your withholding.
Now here’s the really tough part.
If you don’t comply, or if you try to get around the rules by filing a new W-4 or if you quit your job and start working for a new employer who doesn’t have the IRS lock-in letter, you’ll face penalties.
The IRS will charge you $500 to start with, and $500 for every new W-4 you file, with any employer in any year until the agency releases the conditions of the lock-in letter it issued.
Employers, especially in a small businesses where owners may be closer to employees, can be tempted to try to help out by fudging the W-4s or looking the other way when an employee files for unsupported exemptions.
They may even be reluctant to enforce the lock-in letters from the IRS.
That kind of attitude will now cost them.
Employers who don’t enforce the W-4 compliance rules or who permit employees to file another W-4 with higher withholding after they receive a lock-in letter will be responsible for paying IRS all the federal income taxes that should have been withheld.
In other words, IRS is going to get their money from either you or your employee — you decide who pays.
If this isn’t just bluster on the part of the IRS, it could present a real challenge to those tax resisters who rely on interfering with withholding in order to resist the federal income tax.
The threatened fines are the already existing $500 civil penalty for filing a W-4 claiming excessive allowances.
The IRS’ ability to assess this penalty has been there all along; the question is whether or not this represents a change in the likelihood that they will actually assess it.
Or is this just another tax season… scare story of the type which the media runs every year to assist with IRS compliance efforts?…
The so-called “lock-in letter” is also not new.
The IRS has always had the right to direct one’s employer to withhold at a higher rate once it has decided that your W-4 is inaccurate or inadequate.
And NWTRCC has always informed people of that.…
Even the part about employer liability for the taxes is not new.… Once an employer has knowledge that a W-4 is claiming allowances not permitted under IRS rules, the employer who fails to act on that knowledge is liable for civil and criminal penalties, and, I’m almost certain, that liability includes the unwithheld tax amounts.
This is why we’ve always counseled wtr’s not to tell their employers why they are filing a new W-4.
I looked into some other sites about this W-4 policy business, including questions and answers on the IRS site: http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=139412,00.html.
Robert may be right that it’s not a “big” change, partly in the sense that most salaried wtr’s hit the roadblock when a levy comes — are they going to stay or go?
If the IRS asks that the allowances be changed before a salary is garnished, the wtr employee again has to decide whether to stay or go or how to deal with it.
What seems different to me is that the IRS used to ask employers to send in a W-4 with more than 10 allowances or “exempt” if the person didn’t seem to qualify.
The bar was kind of high for enforcement.
We knew that policy was dropped, but with the new emphasis by the IRS on under-withholding, the enforcement — IRS telling the employer to change the allowances to withhold more — could hit more people who just take one or two extra allowances so as to have something to resist at the end of the year.
The IRS is not relying on hearing about high numbers of allowances so much as (supposedly) enhancing their tracking of income reported on W-2’s with salaried people who owe the IRS money at the end of the year.
The other part of that article… that I was thinking sounded more problematic was this “lock-in” letter following people to new jobs.
Will the IRS institute these fines faster on people they think are quitting jobs to avoid the change in their W-4?
On this topic I did not find references in the IRS site specifically.
I did see some other articles from payroll associations, who are not particularly happy about all of this.
They see it as more paperwork than the previous process of just sending in questionable W-4’s (despite the IRS promoting that as paperwork reduction), plus they are asking the question, how long do they have to keep the “lock-in” info in their computers if an employee has left the job or quits.
If that person is rehired a year later and the “lock in” info has been purged from their system, is the employer liable for the taxes if the IRS notices that employee again?
That seemed to be an open question.
As we’ve said, the main thing to watch is how this is being carried out and enforced by the IRS and whether it appears to be a significant change.…
If you get a salary and you want to try confrontational tax resistance (not paying what the IRS says you owe), you first need to stop or reduce the withholding from your paycheck by filing an appropriate W-4 form with your employer.
Here is a PDF of the latest W-4 form.
I wrote up some of my impressions of of ’s NWTRCC meeting in Las Vegas.
I took notes on-and-off through and I’ll write up those things I remember that might be of interest.
The New Pamphlet I’ve Been Working On
I was at the meeting in part to present a first draft of a new edition of NWTRCC’s “Practical War Tax Resistance” pamphlet #5 on low-income / simple-living as a war tax resistance technique.
On night we distributed a few copies of this draft and over the course of I had a chance to sit down with a number of people and listen to their suggestions for improvement.
(If you would like to review the document, send me email and I’ll send you a copy of the draft.)
I’m aiming to have a final draft ready in , and with any luck we’ll have our new edition back from the press .
Not Much Evidence of a Tax Resistance Groundswell
Despite the growing anti-war sentiment in the country, there has been no evidence of a corresponding groundswell of interest in war tax resistance.
For the most part, people reported that their local groups were treading water in terms of membership and outreach.
There was more resignation than frustration expressed on this point, as most of us have become used to being, as we’d characterize it anyway, well ahead of the curve on this.
Many people also expressed that they often hear about lone-wolf tax resisters who for whatever reason never feel the need to align themselves with tax resistance organizations, so that the actual number of tax resisters is hard to gauge.
Survey in Progress
, NWTRCC started conducting a survey, informally, often at rallies, protests, and other activist events, to get a feel for what makes people choose or avoid tax resistance, and to do some concept testing of a possible large-scale one-year tax resistance campaign.
Of the few hundred people who have responded to the survey thus far, 47% are not doing any tax resistance now, and of that group, 61% would “consider participating in a one-year commitment to refuse a portion of your federal income taxes and redirect your taxes to a humanitarian cause if thousands joined you publicly” on a particular date.
All this sounds pretty good, and we plan to continue the survey , but even if we find a potential for this sort of tax resistance avalanche, NWTRCC alone doesn’t really have the resources to organize and launch it.
My hope is that we can package these persuasive survey results along with offers of our own specialized expertise and sell the idea of such a campaign to one of the larger national anti-war groups who could launch a campaign like this in a heartbeat if they cared to.
My own feeling is that this sort of thing is exactly the sort of sustained nationwide civil disobedience campaign the peace movement has been looking for; they just don’t know it yet.
Phone Tax Resistance Going Out of Style
Phone tax resistance has been a useful way of getting potential resisters to take the first step.
It’s pretty easy to do, and the risks are very low, and so many tax resisters have gotten their feet wet in this way.
However the proliferation of phone companies and phone plans, and the recent abolition of the phone tax on long-distance, have muddied the waters a bit.
There’s a pretty good chance that the excise tax on local service is on the way to the trash heap as well, so NWTRCC has begun to deemphasize phone tax resistance and the Hang Up On War campaign.
We’re still looking for the next “gateway” resistance tactic — any ideas?
Dan Jenkins Tries to Get the Courts to Recognize COMT
Some folks are trying to improve NWTRCC’s multimedia educational and persuasive offerings.
This is a good thing (our local tax resistance group still uses a slide show made during the Reagan administration, complete with a tape recording that goes “beep” when you’re supposed to flip to the next slide).
Alas, I was in a different workshop when this was being discussed, so I didn’t learn as much about this as I could have, but the project also includes a video contest — anyone can enter by producing a short video on the topic of war tax resistance — with cash prizes for the winning entries.
I’ll post more details on The Picket Line when the contest officially launches .
A New Flyer on W-4 Resistance
NWTRCC’s produced a new flyer on W-4 resistance (adjusting the withholding allowances on your W-4 form so that your employer sends less of your paycheck to the IRS) that may be helpful to folks who would like to resist their income tax but who find themselves with nothing but a refund to resist when April 15th comes around.
Tax Resisters and Student Financial Aid
A preliminary fact sheet was distributed that covers the implications for war tax resisters who are participating in student financial aid programs, or whose children are.
It’s not ready for publication just yet, but looks like it will be a useful resource when the time comes.
A Report from the International Conference on War Tax Resistance and Peace Tax Campaigns
We also got to read Larry Rosenwald’s report back from the International Conference on War Tax Resistance and Peace Tax Campaigns which was held in Woltersdorf, Germany .
He was struck by the differences between the tax resistance movement in the United States and its counterparts in the rest of the world (Europe in particular).
In Europe, the movement is focused more on using the law and the courts (national and international) to legalize some form of conscientious objection to military taxation, and less focused on civil disobedience and forms of extralegal conscientious objection.
They find it confusing that in the United States there’s both a Peace Tax Fund campaignand an organized war tax resistance movement.
Those of you who are doing “W-4 resistance” — adjusting the allowances you claim on your W-4 form so that less income tax is withheld from your paychecks — may note that the IRS has been making some changes to its W-4 policies in recent years (see The Picket Line , , & ).
The final regulations do not require the routine submission of Forms W-4, but permit the IRS to require submission of Forms W-4 under specific criteria either by written notice or by future published guidance.
The final regulations do not change an employee’s obligation to provide an accurate Form W-4 to an employer and to satisfy his or her tax liability on a timely basis.
Employees may be subject to penalties if they claim excessive withholding exemptions on Forms W-4 or fail to file their tax returns and pay their full tax liabilities on a timely basis.
Notice on maximum exemptions
The IRS may issue a notice to an employer specifying the maximum number of withholding exemptions permitted for a specific employee.
The IRS will send the notice both to the employer (with a copy for the employee) and to the employee directly.
The final regulations provide that the earliest the notice may be effective is 45 calendar days after the date of the notice.…
The notice to an employer specifying the maximum withholding exemptions permitted for a specific employee will also specify the marital status for purposes of calculating the required withholding under the notice.
The employer must use the maximum number of withholding exemptions permitted and marital status specified in the notice for calculating income tax withholding, unless a new withholding exemption certificate is submitted by the employee that must be honored under these final regulations.
If, at any time, the employee furnishes a withholding exemption certificate that claims a marital status, a number of withholding exemptions, and any additional withholding that results in more withholding than would result from applying the marital status and number of withholding exemptions permitted in the notice, the employer must withhold tax based on that certificate.
…
Employers may not accept a substitute form developed by an employee, and the employee submitting such form will be treated as failing to furnish a withholding exemption certificate.
The phrase “withholding exemption certificate” is a new one to me, and I wasn’t able to find much in the way of clarification on-line.
It may just be another name for the W-4 form (the IRS titles its version of this form “Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificate”), or perhaps it is some additional piece of paperwork.
Let’s say you adjust your W-4 so that you have less income tax withheld from your paychecks (or none at all).
Then when April rolls around, you file your 1040 and it says that you owe a ton.
Is the IRS going to let you get away with that?
Wasn’t the reason why withholding was instituted in the first place to prevent you from owing your income tax in one, in-your-face, anger-inspiring, lump sum at the end of the year?
The IRS has a couple of deterrents:
If you owe $1,000 or more in taxes when you file your 1040 and you owe more than 10% of the total tax you owe for the whole year (or if you’re self-employed and you neglected to file quarterly returns), the IRS may hit you with an “Estimated Tax Penalty.”
(But there are lots of valid excuses, exceptions, and caveats.
See this article for instance.)
The penalty isn’t that bad as these things go — some people are even willing to swallow it because they think they can beat the penalty with the rate of return on the investments they’re buying with the money they’re not sending to Washington.
If you want to see how the penalty is calculated, take a look at the following PDFs:
Form 2210 &
Form 2210 Instructions.
The IRS may decide to stop allowing you to file your own W-4 form.
More accurately: they may demand that your employer ignore any W-4 forms you file and accept a W-4 form the IRS files on your behalf instead.
At this point, in order to keep taxes from being withheld from your paycheck you either need to get another job, or you need to convince your employer to risk civil disobedience.
Not much of a stick.
The carrot, for you as an employee, is mostly that if you have your withholding set to pretty much match what you owe, you don’t have to think about it much, and there’s no big tax bill in April.
If you’re feeling a little sick inside when you see part of every paycheck being sucked into the Pentagon, though, that’s not likely to be sufficient comfort.
If you are an American wage earner, you probably see your federal income taxes
withheld automatically by your employer from each paycheck. If you want to
become a tax resister, you have to get your employer to withhold less or to
withhold nothing at all.
This is easily done. All you have to do is to file a new W-4 form with your
employer that indicates a greater number of allowances (or you can file one
that indicates that you are exempt from withholding).
But what happens at the end of the year when you file your tax return and the
IRS
notices that you owe them a lot of money? They may determine that your
withholding is incorrect and they may send your employer what’s called a
“lock-in letter.” What this amounts to is the
IRS
filing a new W-4 form for you and instructing your employer not to let you
mess with it without the agency’s permission.
But a new TIGTA report
found that in many cases, employers have ignored the lock-in letters,
resulting in millions of dollars in underwithheld taxes. This takes some
gumption. The way the law works, if an employer doesn’t comply with the
lock-in letter, the employer can become liable for the taxes that the
employee isn’t paying.
“In addition,” says the report, “taxpayers are generally not penalized for
making false statements that result in the underwithholding of taxes.… In
the Internal Revenue Manual was
revised… As a result, during , only 29 Form W-4 civil penalties were assessed… and none
were assessed in .”
On , Nat Hentoff’s column in The Village Voice carried a story of a post office employee and union organizer who was interrogated at length by postal inspectors in the wake of a strike threat.
Excerpts:
“…one of the gentlemen pulled a file out of his briefcase.
It looked like it contained about 200 or 300 pages.
They went through it.
Nat, I was shocked!
There didn’t seem to be one thing — personal, private, or otherwise — that they didn’t know.
“The file went back 13 years when I led a strike at the … Country Club at the age of 14!
… They spoke about my personal life.
My wife recently had a miscarriage.
They inferred that I was responsible because she was so worried and upset due to my political and union involvement.
“This was the only time I got mad.
I told them, and I quote, ‘Why don’t you shut the fuck up?’
“They spoke about my sister, who is retarded, and asked who would take care of her if I proceed with my actions.
At this point I should interject that at certain intervals I would answer a question with things like, ‘That’s a nice tie you’ve got on.’
‘I think it’s going to rain.’
All irrelevant comments which really infuriated them.
“They spoke about private things which they could only have known by tapping my phone.
They talked about my in-laws, my neighbors, the fact that I moved from … County because I couldn’t arouse the migrant workers enough.
I did inter-act with migrant workers there.
Their facts were very accurate.
“They also spoke about my political activism.
I am involved with and support in varying degrees: ACLU (they said it was Communist), Black Panther Party, Young Lords Party, Inmates Liberation Party … the Committee for a Fair Trial (Berrigans), People’s Coalition, Clergy and Laymen Concerned, War Tax Resistance.
“I have been very involved with War Tax Resistance.
I have not paid any excise phone tax for two years.
In , I filed a new W-4, claiming 17 dependents.
In letters to the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, President Nixon, and our two Senators, I explained that I could no longer abide by their narrow interpretation of what constitutes a dependent and that because I was so concerned with the senseless slaughter of Asians and Americans in Southeast Asia; economic repression of Blacks, Puerto Ricans, Chicanos, and Indians here; and the complete absence of humanism in the distribution of our tax dollars, I was claiming 17 of these people and would use the money to support them and groups which seek to liberate them.
“The men who had identified themselves as postal inspectors spoke on the subject for about 40 minutes, indicating … I was the only federal employee in the country who has filed what they called a fraudulent W-4 form.
They said they would be correcting that situation shortly.”
This comes from the
Schenectady Gazette and highlights the Vietnam
War-era war tax resistance technique of claiming extra dependents on your
tax return. Interestingly, the newspaper printed what looks to be an
IRS
press release nearly verbatim as a sort of rebuttal/warning sidebar.
An Altamont man who filed for a complete tax refund with the Internal Revenue
Service because he objects to American policies, has received a refund check
from the
IRS for
over $250.
Mark Brockley of Berne-Altamont Road, Altamont, claimed his niece,
five-month-old Sequoyah Kirchen, as his dependent although she does not live
with him, on the basis that she represents “all children… who depend on each
of us to create a livable world for them to grow up in and inherit.”
Brockley depostited his refund check in the Capital Area Life Giving Fund, an
account set up in the SEAL Credit Union, Albany, for tax resistance money. A
release from the Capital Area War Tax Resistance said the money will be used
for donations to the Lwanga House of Arbor Hill, a shelter for alcoholics and
the unemployed, and the Bach Mai Hospital Fund, to rebuild the Hanoi hospital
destroyed by American bombs last December.
The Altamont resident wrote the
IRS
that to continue supporting American policies with his tax money would be
“aiding and condoning that violation of Christian morality” as he understands
it.
Brockley is reportedly the first member of the Capital Area War Tax
Resistance; 727 Madison Ave., Albany, to receive
such a tax refund since Richard and Melanie Evans, formerly of Albany,
received a $231 refund in after claiming a
Vietnamese mother and child as dependents.
And here is the voice of officialdom, dutifuly transcribed by the
Gazette:
IRS
Advises War Protestors Of Tax Law
It has come to the attention of the Albany District Internal Revenue Service
that an area taxpayer may have knowingly and incorrectly claimed a dependent
on his Federal Income tax return. The
action is in the form of a protest against American policy here and in
Indochina.
According to Donald T. Hartley, district director of the
IRS for
Northeastern New York, the usual procedure is that a questionable tax return
is processed; the refund is issued; and the document is set aside for later
examination. The document would be forwarded to the Albany District Office by
the Andover Service Center for audit. The taxpayer would then be contacted
for verification of his claimed deductions and dependents.
Hartley reminded all taxpayers that the United States tax system is based on
voluntary compliance and that taxpayers have a responsibility as citizens to
file correct returns.
The Internal Revenue Service will collect any additional monies if due and
they do not anticipate any difficulties in closing any account. With respect
to other war protesters, the
IRS
will similarly enforce the tax laws and collect the tax and penalties due.
Ken Knudson was ahead of the curve as a young American war tax resister in
, and he invented the clever
tactic of highlighting the similarities between military conscription and
taxation by publicly burning a check to the
IRS in
the same way that some potential draftees were burning their draft cards.
The article below highlights how his protest successfully got the attention of
the authorities. (A similar protest today, alas, would probably mostly be
ignored.)
A United Press International dispatch from
:
U.W.
Employe Refuses to Pay
Tax Rebel to Face Federal Prosecution
Madison (UPI) — Tax
records of a man who burned a $500 check in front of the local Internal
Revenue Service have been turned
over to federal authorities, officials at the University of Wisconsin said
.
Kenneth Knudson, 25, an employe of the university’s physics department, said
the check he burned represented the amount he owed on his
taxes. He said he refused to pay the taxes
because they were being used, in part, to finance the war in Viet Nam.
Madison Campus Chancellor R.W. Fleming said Knudson, who is married and has
one child, claimed 12 exemptions on a dependent exemption form filed with the
university. Fleming noted Knudson acknowledged
this was a false statement
“designed to prevent the withholding of any of his salary for income tax
purposes.”
“The Internal Revenue Law provides, and it is so stated on the back of the W‒4
form, that it is a violation of the law to overstate the number of exemptions
claimed by the taxpayer,” Fleming said. “Mr. Knudson has therefore publicly
advised the university that he is in violation of the law.”
Prosecution in Prospect
Fleming said the form was turned over to federal authorities at the request of
the IRS.
He said Knudson has also been advised that “the university cannot be party to
violating the law, and he has indicated that he is filing an amended form.”
Fleming also said Knudson is “neither a student nor a member of the university
faculty. He is an employe supervising scanners and measures in an elementary
particle physics project.”
Knudson, who also tore up his 1040 form
, said he has not paid income taxes
for four years because the money was going for the war. Tax officials said at
that time he would be “treated the same as any other taxpayer” if he hadn’t
paid his back taxes.
Knudson said he was a member of the “No Tax for Viet Nam” committee, which he
said has 200 members across the country who have pledged not to pay taxes
because of the war.
After the death of Ammon Hennacy in 1970, Karl Meyer took up the torch of promoting war tax resistance in the Catholic Worker.
Meyer’s approach was less exhortational and more practical: he pioneered the method of inflating deductions to prevent income tax withholding and wrote an influential early how-to guide on that method. (An embryonic version of what is now NWTRCC’s Practical War Tax Resistance pamphlet #1: “Controlling Federal Income Tax Withholding”.)
Below are some excerpts from the Catholic Worker from the period, starting with an essay by Karl Meyer from the edition:
New Resistance to War Taxes
By Karl Meyer
“Under penalties of perjury, I certify that I incurred no liability for Federal income tax for and that I anticipate that I will incur no liability for Federal income tax for .”
If you can sign that statement, you can stop the withholding of war taxes from your wages.
The statement is the Employee Certification for Form W-4E Withholding Exemption Certificate, which was first published in by the Internal Revenue Service as an alternative to the standard W-4 form.
If your employer doesn’t have it on hand, get it from the local IRS office.
Signing this statement alone provides complete exemption from prior withholding of Federal Income tax, without enumerating dependents or any other specific basis for the exemption.
Who is eligible to claim this exemption?
I say, “everybody.” It is morally impossible to incur a liability to support evil purposes and actions.
Since at least 70% of Federal taxes is spent for military or war-related purposes, and much of the balance for useless or harmful purposes, it is impossible to incur a liability to pay Federal income tax.
Who is eligible to claim exemption according to IRS?
On the back of the W-4E it says, “You may be entitled to claim exemption from withholding of Federal income tax if you incurred no liability for income tax for and you anticipate that you will incur no liability for income tax for .
For this purpose, you incur tax liability if your joint or separate return shows tax before allowance of any credit for income tax withheld.
If you claim this exemption, your employer will not withhold Federal Income tax for your wages.”
According to this definition, you would technically satisfy the requirements for exemption if you file a return for showing no tax due because of the immorality and illegality of U.S. military expenditures, even if IRS subsequently rejects your reasoning and assesses tax against you.
Likewise, if you file no return at all, your non-existent return can not show any tax due.
Now, it has always been a puzzle to me how a person who believes in conscience that taxes should not be paid could file a return showing taxes as a “balance due.”
That is self-contradictory.
If the tax is acknowledged to be due, it ought to be paid.
If it ought not to be paid, it shouldn’t be shown as “due.”
The IRS calls the income tax a “self-assessed tax.” When you file showing tax due, they are empowered to accept your assessment and proceed to collect immediately.
If you show no tax due, even if they disagree with you, they must first reassess the tax themselves and give you extensive opportunities for legal appeals, before they may proceed to collect on their claim.
Therefore, it is foolish and self-defeating to show tax as due, if you sincerely believe that it ought not to be paid.
There are several ways to assert your claim that no tax is due:
you may claim extra exemptions on line 11, on the ground of obligations to all mankind as brothers and members of one family;
you may claim an adjustment of your income on line 17, based on your principled opposition to militarism;
you may itemize a deduction on line 16 of Schedule A, claiming deduction of your whole taxable income on similar grounds.
Perhaps the soundest approach is to file no return at all. (The main disadvantage of this, besides its being illegal, is that IRS agents sometimes file distorted returns in your name, claiming excessive amounts of tax.) I didn’t file for ten years, but IRS agents have filed seven returns in my name showing more than $2000 in tax and penalties due.
On , I filed a return for in a personal interview with E.P. Trainor, the District Director at the Chicago office of IRS.
On the 1040 Form I filled in my name and address.
Under SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER, I wrote “Peace;” under OCCUPATION, I wrote “Love;” across the face of the return I wrote in bold letters, “WE WONT PAY—STOP THE WAR—STOP THE DRAFT—STOP MILITARISM,” for FIRST NAMES OF DEPENDENT CHILDREN, I wrote “All Men Are Brothers;” under OTHER DEPENDENTS, I claimed “A Vietnamese child killed at Song My, an American soldier killed In Vietnam;” and I filled in a total of three and a half billion exemptions for the whole population of Earth; under BALANCE DUE, PAY IN FULL WITH RETURN, I put “$0.00;” then I signed with my name and the date.
Mr. Trainor and his henchmen haven’t figured that year out yet, but they can’t say I didn’t file.
Before you follow my advice and my example, I wish to speak a word of caution: Everything here is my interpretation.
Don’t expect the IRS, U.S. Attorneys, Federal Juries, or Courts of Appeal to buy a word of it.
In the and issues of the Catholic Worker, I published landmark articles on how to claim sufficient exemptions on the W-4 Form to prevent the withholding of war taxes.
Many people all over the country tried out these ideas effectively, but several last their jobs for persisting, and three were tried and convicted in Federal courts for claiming illegal exemptions.
If you can’t stand heat, stay out of the kitchen.
If you can’t do time, don’t commit crime.
If you have a concern of conscience about paying war taxes, but feel unready to face the possible consequences of the methods of resistance outlined above, the present tax rate provisions give ample opportunity to stop paying war taxes, without violating any provisions of the tax laws, if you are willing to live in reasonable simplicity and voluntary poverty in the spirit of the Catholic Worker movement.
Under the present law an individual may earn up to $1700 a year without any obligation to file a return or pay Federal income tax.
A married person with three dependent children could earn up to $4300 a year without having any tax withheld or due.
Form W-4E was actually introduced by IRS so that such persons, earning less than the minimum yearly taxable incomes by working for only a few months out of the year, would not have taxes withheld and would not have to apply for refunds months after they earned the money.
You can find the complete tables of tax withholding rates and other information in Circular E, Employer’s Tax Guide, available for the asking at your local IRS office.
I do believe that we should all strive to live in a simpler way.
If we work part time for wages and live on less than taxable incomes, we will have extra time to grow, create and do more things for ourselves, or to offer our work as a gift to people in need of it.
Even if we work full time for taxable wages, but successfully resist collection of the taxes, we should still live simply in order to share our surplus money with others who are in need.
I have done this all my adult life and intend to go on with it.
One hundred and eighty years ago, our brother rebel Tom Paine wrote:
…were an estimation to be made of the charges of Aristocracy to a Nation, it will be found nearly equal to that of supporting the poor.
The Duke of Richmond alone (and there are cases similar to his) takes away as much for himself as would maintain two thousand poor and aged persons.
Is it then any wonder that under such a system of Government, taxes and rates have multiplied to their present extent?
In stating these matters, I speak an open and disengaged language dictated by no passion but that of humanity.
To me who have not only refused offers because I thought them improper, but have declined rewards I might with reputation have accepted, it is no wonder that meanness and imposition appear disgustful.
Independence is my happiness, and I view things as they are, without regard to place or person; my country is the world, and my religion is to do good.
(The Rights of Man, Modern Library edition, page 241)
If we do not live by these principles, how are we different from the warfare state we condemn?
The budget and accounting methods of the Federal administration are confusing.
They have recently been modified to deliberately de-emphasize the role of military expenditures as a proportion of the Federal budget, enabling Nixon to claim that they count for less than 50%.
This has been done by counting all separately raised and earmarked revenues, such as Social Security revenues and payments, as part of one budgetary total.
Then the large Social Security payments can be thrown in the pot and counted at part of domestic expenditures for health and welfare.
Rejecting this ruse, it is possible without detailed analysis to estimate that between 70% and 80% of all Federal income and excise tax revenues is spent for military programs and purposes that are intimately related to the cost of past and present military activities.
Acceding to individual judgment this estimate might include veterans benefits, space research and technology, various “international affairs” programs, certain “Justice Department” activities, a percentage of the general administrative expenditures, and the interest and principal payments on the national debt, incurred primarily as a cost of World War Ⅱ and the Cold War.
Awareness of these facts, plus the explanation of new methods of resistance, contributed to a tremendous growth in the movement of war tax resistance in .
In late a national coordinating center called War Tax Resistance was established in New York.
Its periodical bulletin, Tax Talk, lists 181 local centers of contact people all over the country.
Simple nonpayment of the federal excise tax itemised on telephone bills is the easiest and most common form of principled tax resistance.
War Tax Resistance estimates that more than 100,000 people are now participating in this action. IRS agents expend great effort in collecting very small amounts of this tax, and they are hopelessly behind in their efforts to collect.
I have paid no excise tax on telephone service and IRS has succeeded in collecting only $8.00 so far.
War Tax Resistance has a basic leaflet on phone tax resistance.
War Tax Resistance estimates that 15,000 people participate in some form of income tax nonpayment, as a principled protest against militarism.
We speak of those who consciously and explicitly relate to the war tax resistance movement, because we know that millions of our countrymen, from the highest to the lowliest, participate in tax resistance or evasion, largely because of unarticulated opposition to the basic policies of government.
They will be our allies if their protest can become articulate and organized.
The most promising development in was the significant number of people who began to successfully resist payment of all or most of the income tax amounts that would be claimed under Federal law and regulations.
Until the number of such total tax resisters was small and almost exclusively limited to self-employed persons or others who derived most of their income from sources not subject to withholding tax.
In articles for the Catholic Worker ( and ) I explained how to beat the withholding tax by claiming enough exemptions on the W-4 Form that no tax could be withheld from one’s wages.
Widely reprinted and circulated in leaflet form, these articles offered an effective tax resistance method to almost any wage earner who had the courage to try it and risk the possibility of prosecution or harassment sometime in the future.
In his last letter to me before his death, Ammon Hennacy, a pioneer influence in our war tax resistance movement, glumly predicted that from fear of going to jail, there wouldn’t be more than a handful in the country that would take up my idea.
But Ammon was wrong in this case.
I know that many have taken it up, and they are growing in numbers, because I keep hearing from them, particularly those in the Chicago area.
Thousands of dollars have been held back from the military machine and donated to alternative uses that meet the real needs of people.
This movement will continue to grow from roots that are deep in the American tradition.
The ideas of Thoreau’s Essay on Civil Disobedience, fruit of his brief imprisonment for war tax resistance, are well-known today.
But a century before Thoreau our forefathers made their stand for independence in resistance to unjust taxes.
Both the American Revolution and the French Revolution were organized around the issue of resistance to taxation.
Tom Paine understood this well because he was active in both.
In he published in England a powerful polemical tract on The Rights of Man to stir the people of England to a similar revolt.
His most persistent theme of grievance is the criminal burden of war taxes imposed on the people by power hungry men in government.
He vividly describes the genesis of the French Revolution, including the refusal of the Parliament of Paris, in , to register the edicts of the King and Government seeking to enforce new taxes:
While the Parliament were sitting in debate on this subject, the Ministry ordered a regiment of soldiers to surround the House and form a blockade.
The members sent out for beds and provisions, and lived as in a besieged citadel; and as this had no effect, the commanding officer was ordered to enter the Parliament House and seize them, which he did, and some of the principal members were shut up in different prisons…
But the spirit of the Nation was not to be overcome, and it was so sensible of the strong ground it had taken, that of withholding taxes, that it contented itself with keeping up a sort of quiet resistance, which effectively overthrew all the plans at that time formed against it.
(Rights of Man, Modern Library edition, page 149)
On this strong ground let us also take our stand for a quiet battle, more effective against wrong, more productive for good purposes than any other I can think of.
Yours for a gentle revolution
Karl Meyer
Permission is granted to anyone interested to reproduce this article in whole or in part.
If it is reproduced in part, please indicate editing and deletions.
List of sources for information and communication:
War Tax Resistance
839 Lafayette Street
New York. N.Y. 10012
Phone (212) 477‒2970
Send $1 and ask for
WTR Handbook
Hang Up On War telephone tax refusal leaflet.
reprint of Karl Meyer’s Fund For Mankind article from CW
or send more to help with their crucial work of coordinating the communication and work of the movement.
The Peacemaker
10208 Sylvan Avenue
Cincinnati, Ohio 45241
A valuable periodical for all who are interested in draft resistance, tax resistance, and radical life styles.
Send $4 for a subscription, plus their Handbook on Nonpayment Of War Taxes, which includes many informative case histories.
I further recommend that all tax resisters contribute a substantial percentage of the money not paid to the Peacemakers Sharing Fund at the same address.
The Fund is a valuable channel of mutual aid for war resisters and their families, when they suffer from imprisonment or financial hardship as a result of their stand.
Karl Meyer
1209 West Farwell Street
Chicago, Illinois 60628
Phone (312) 764‒3620
Call me or write to me for personal counseling and encouragement.
If you write, send two six cent stamps for my reply and any leaflets I may send you.
Dorothy Day visited war tax resister Art Harvey and brought back this story ( issue):
I visited Art Harvey of South Ackworth, New Hampshire who has a mall order book shop handling a great number of books by and about Gandhi.
Art and Ammon Hennacy served six-month-terms in Sandstone Prison in Minnesota for trespassing on a missile base some years ago.
He carries on a practical application of Karl Meyer’s tax refusal (see article in this issue) by having teams of workers in orchards where they prune trees, harvest apples and later blueberries and work seven months of the work and live in a style which frees them from the payment of taxes for war.
Perhaps about a hundred are engaged in this way of life, which results usually in some settling in communities of the moshavim variety, each having some small acreage and a house built by themselves Considering the New England climate, no small achievement!
It certainly means an emphasis on the ascetic, on sacrifice.
The Karl Meyer article she mentioned follows:
War Tax Resistance
by Karl Meyer
On , charges were filed in federal district court in Chicago against Bill Himmelbauer, Mike Fowler and myself.
In separate cases, we are accused of falsely claiming exemptions from federal tax, to which we were not legally entitled.
Mike Fowler, a student at the University of Chicago, is charged on two counts of filing false W-4 forms with his employer.
The maximum penalty for each count is one year in jail.
Bill Himmelbauer is charged on one count.
He and Sue Himmelbauer joined with us in late in starting the Chicago Area Alternative Fund for tax resistance money, and then moved to Pittsburgh where they became ringleaders in War Tax Resistance activities.
I am charged on five counts for W-4s executed in .
Through eleven years of “one man revolution” I had successfully resisted payment of almost all federal income taxes claimed from me, mainly by claiming enough exemptions on W-4 Withholding Exemption Certificates that no tax was withheld from my wages.
The tax man did nothing beyond ineffectual attempts to collect.
Then suddenly in the one man revolution exploded into a growing movement of effective war tax resistance by the withholding exemption method.
Suddenly the tax man got worried.
Suddenly he started prosecuting withholding tax resisters around the country: , Jim Shea, Alexandria.
Virginia; , Sally Buckley and Dennis Richter, Minneapolis, Minnesota; , Paul Malinowski, and Donald Callahan, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; , James Smith, Springfield, Missouri; and now, three more in Chicago.
On , IRS Intelligence Agents Sam Miele and Alan Leksander visited me at home.
They confronted me with copies of five W-4 forms for , and two articles from the Catholic Worker for and , “A Fund For Mankind Through Effective Tax Resistance” and “Clarification On Tax Withholding.”
These are the articles which launched the wave of withholding tax resistance action in .
I acknowledged authorship of the five W-4s and the two CW articles.
On , I received a letter from the Chief of the Intelligence Division of IRS:
“The current investigation by the Intelligence Division is nearing completion… consideration is being given to recommending that criminal proceedings be instituted against you…”
I was invited to a hearing with Group Supervisor Ralph A. Weber.
At the hearing I presented a statement of my position and various other relevant literature and documents to Internal Revenue Service.
Statement to Internal Revenue Service, Intelligence Division Hearing:
My name is Karl Meyer.
My immediate family includes my wife Jean and three children, William, 7 years old, Kristin, 3 years old, and Eric, 2 months old.
In South Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos there are many families like ours.
I gladly accept a responsibility toward them, like that which I bear toward my own children.
These other families, these other children are the ones who were machine-gunned in a trench at My Lai, and are being killed in many other ways every day that the war continues In Indo-China.
There are also the soldiers of both sides, Americans and Aslans, who are also the victims of the war, who are dying by the thousands as it continues.
Upwards of 80% of all federal income tax revenues are devoted to purposes intimately related to American wars and military activities, past and present.
In the name of my family, of the families of Indo-China, of the soldiers of both sides and all other victims of International militarism, I claim a complete exemption from all federal taxes that finance military activities.
Yes, I have claimed ten or more exemptions on several W-4 exemption certificates. I have claimed exemption from tax for myself and my family, for several others who have lived in our household and received their primary financial support from me, and for these others, the families of Indo-China, and all the victims of war.
In a peaceful and nonviolent society the job of collecting assessments for social purposes might be a useful occupation.
But the man who collects taxes for the United States government today makes himself a direct accomplice in some of the most horrible crimes of our age.
You have already told me that you are considering compounding these crimes by beginning a criminal prosecution against me.
I and my family have already made some sacrifices in the struggle against war, but they have been as nothing compared to the suffering of our brothers and sisters who are in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.
We ask you today to recognize just one basic human right, our right not to participate in acts of war against them.
Even if you refuse to recognize that right, we will still refuse to pay federal taxes that continue the war in Indo-China and the militarization of our society.
This is all that I have to say.
Karl Meyer
After I received the letter from IRS, I went in to talk with my supervisor in the huge hospital bureaucracy in which I was employed.
I expected her to be unsympathetic, and even hostile to me as a source of trouble for her.
After thirty years of working her way toward the top of the bureaucracy, it had seemed to me she lived and breathed the system and its rules, though I respected her even so for the great strength of her character.
But now when I told her directly of my long struggle against the war and of the imminent threat of criminal prosecution, she smiled at me from deep within, and expressed her own strong opposition to the war and her respect and support for me.
“Mr. Meyer” she said, taut with emotion, “I am black.
From all of my experience I know that when you fight the system in this ‘democratic’ country they are going to make you pay for it.”
Then she told me something of her own struggle.
After a long talk she asked me, "Wasn’t there a girl here in Chicago who took that same stand (war tax resistance) several years ago?”
Yes, there certainly was.
Eleven years later, another black woman in Chicago still remembered the courageous witness of Eroseanna Robinson, the very person whose example set my feet on the path of determined tax resistance, back in 1960 — Eroseanna Robinson who refused to pay taxes, who defied the order of Judge Robson to give information about her income in spite of a one year sentence for criminal contempt, who fasted one hundred and eight days and won her own release from federal prison by the strength of her resistance.
Now, on , the charges against Fowler, Himmelbauer and Meyer were announced.
That night we picketed and leafleted at the Main Post Office where special postmen were on duty to receive last minute returns from thousands of more tractable Chicagoans.
We haven’t yet received official notice or summons, but from the records filed in court David Finke has found that the three cases are assigned to three separate Judges for trial.
I am to be summoned for an initial hearing in the court of Judge Joseph Sam Perry.
I plan a simple and direct defense. I plan to represent myself without an attorney.
I will ask for a jury trial at the earliest possible date.
I will not base my defense on legalities.
I will simply seek to convince the jury, judge, prosecutor and everyone else that I have done what is right and in accord with inalienable rights of personal judgment, and that I should not be declared guilty or penalized for my actions.
If I am convicted and sentenced to prison, we have been thinking that Jean will apply for public aid for the financial support of our family.
We feel that if the State insists on tearing from the family its source of support, the State should bear the cost of providing other means.
We prefer to see the resources of the movement devoted to the needs of poor people in this country and abroad who have no other recourse.
This is just one of the reasons why I do not desire a costly legal defense or primary financial support from the movement, though we welcome the personal support of our friends.
The form of encouragement and support that we will value most highly will be if our friends in the movement take our troubles and our resolve as an example, to stop paying war taxes and to devote the greatest possible part of their income to sharing with the victims of international war and of the war of rich against poor.
This is why we of the Chicago Area Alternative Fund have saved nothing for our own protection, but have already given away all of our war tax resistance money to meet the immediate needs of others.
If you want to read the articles that launched the present movement of withholding tax resistance by explaining the method, and incidentally brought upon us our small tribulations, you may send two eight cent stamps to:
War Tax Resistance
339 Lafayette Street
New York, New York 10012
and ask for their reprint, “A Fund For Mankind Through Effective War Tax Resistance.”
To get in touch with us about the trial, write to:
Karl Meyer
1209 West Farwell
Chicago, Illinois 60626
Phone 764‒3620
The issue reported on how the court ruled in Karl Meyer’s case:
Karl Meyer Sentenced to Two Years, $1,000
By David Finke
On in the court of federal district Judge Joseph Sam Perry, Karl Meyer appeared in his own behalf to answer a 5-count “criminal information” charging that he falsely and fraudulently filed W-4 income tax withholding exemption certificates.
Having successfully negotiated with the U.S. Attorney, Karl got the government to drop three of the five counts (which he had said he could prove the accuracy of).
He then entered a plea of “nolo contendere,” which the judge accepted as a finding of “guilty,” on the other two counts.
A two-week presentence investigation was then ordered. while Karl remained free without bond.
, Karl returned to court with about 25 friends, supporters, and fellow tax resisters, and personally accompanied by his 7-year-old son William.
Before imposing sentence, Judge Perry with great decorum and civility said he would hear from both the government and the defendant, whose absolute right to represent himself without attorney would be respected.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kocoras then launched into a most amazing and accurate summary of Karl’s career of leadership in the movement of War Tax Resistance:
Not only has Karl not filed a tax return , he has encouraged others to join with him in resisting federal taxes!
And he has explained publicly exactly what he is doing and how other people can do the same.
Kocoras read extensively from articles that Karl had written for Catholic Worker, including those memorable (but to Kocoras damning) phrases, “If you can’t do time, don’t commit crime,” and “If you can’t stand the heat, don’t put your hand in the fire.”
The prosecutor hit the issue squarely on the head, then, when he said:
“What is at stake here is the integrity of the income tax law.”
The government is obviously worried about the possibility of widespread, undetected, mass-based tax resistance if Karl’s ideas should catch on and not be deterred.
The prosecutor closed his remarks by observing that federal taxes support all programs of government including the operation of Judge Perry’s court.
Karl was then asked to present his statement to the court, the Judge being very cordial again.
With brevity and simplicity, Karl pointed out that federal taxes (unlike the city and state taxes which he pays) are “overwhelmingly devoted to warfare,” and that during the course of his life between sixty and seventy per cent have gone to pay for military ventures.
In conscience, Karl said, he cannot and must not cooperate with the financing of killing.
As he began to explain how his resistance had always been done openly and publicly, the Judge dramatically changed his tone and manner.
In rapid sequence he interrupted Karl to say that being open is no excuse — “You can openly and publicly rob a bank!” — “this defendant is showing no penitence, this is obviously not a case for probation, and there is no point in wasting anymore time.”
Karl was immediately sentenced to the maximum penalty on both counts (one year, $500), with the sentences to run consecutively, although he might consider making the sentences concurrent if Karl showed a “change of heart.”
The Judge was about to call the next case when an older man, Solomon Goldman, appeared at Karl’s side from the audience, shook his hand, and loudly declared, “Karl Meyer, my grandchildren will thank you.
You are a man of peace.” Judge Perry was astounded; exclaimed to Mr. Goldman “You’re not an attorney!” and ordered him removed from the building.
Then a bit of confusion set in.
The Judge was ordering the marshal also to remove Karl, but the marshal was still involved with Mr. Goldman.
Karl was asking if he could give his briefcase to his friends, was told it could be gotten from the lockup.
Bill Himmelbauer (another convicted W-4 tax resister) was by this time at Karl’s side getting the briefcase, various people were waving two-fingered peace signs to Karl and saying “Goodbye!” as he walked out, and the Judge (whose courtroom was still understaffed) was on his feet shouting “No demonstrations!
There will be no demonstrations in here!
I’ll have you all in jail for contempt.
Clear the courtroom!” as we slowly filed out.
I’ve been informed that Karl will be sent to Sandstone, Minnesota, federal prison, after about two weeks in Cook County Jail in Chicago.
Several friends have seen him already, and report that he’s the same old Karl:
He has put his hand in the fire, and he can stand the heat as well as anyone.
(See Letter Column for Karl’s letter.
The story of his action bears repeating. ―Editor’s comment.)
Karl Meyer’s letter follows:
From Prison
Cook County Jail Chicago, Illinois
Dear Dorothy and C.W. family,
I received a letter from Kathy Bredine telling me of your call, and I was very pleased to receive your message.
Here I am permitted to write and receive mall from anyone, but I will probably be here only a few more days, before “shipment” to a federal “Facility.” There I will have a restricted mailing list; how many names I will not know until I get there; but I have been planning to put you on the list, near the top.
The letters will be for all of you, from A Prisoner.
I hope that you will not be cut from the list for being a single woman and not a relative, even though more than twice my age.
Rules are rules (though I am not sure that that is one of them), and the crime of which I stand convicted is that I claimed a familiar relationship of brotherly responsibility for the very lives of a people not in my own line of genetic descent, at least for several generations, and not even born on the same continent between the St. Lawrence River and the Rio Grande.
I was a little stunned to receive the maximum penalty for that crime, one year on each of two counts, to be served consecutively, plus $1000 in fines, though it is my prudential practice to go into court prepared and expecting to get the maximum.
Nevertheless, I keep forgetting that when these judges see a sheet of convictions as long as mine (however humane the motivations that lie behind it) going back for fourteen years, they can’t seem to see beyond that sheet, and they have a reflexive reaction to go for the maximum.
Of course it is appropriate that I should be the first person to start serving time for claiming exemptions from war taxes on the W-4 Form, since, being a child of Dorothy Day and Ammon Hennacy, it is not my way to conduct guided tours to the jailhouse door and not go in myself.
A number of statements were torn from the context of my writings by the U.S. Attorney to be quoted against me, and he particularly dwelt on that prison aphorism. “If you can’t do the time, don’t commit the crime,” which I have often repeated.
In the light of that reality, I might have done differently myself if I had known the severity of the penalty that would come down on me.
For a person without a family of small children, two years is nothing to speak of; but for people having the care of small children such as my own, William—aged 7, Kristin—aged 4, and Eric—aged 5 months, it is a serious thing for them to be fatherless for such periods of time, I think; that is why we must emphasize that there are practical ways, fully within the range of any ordinary working person, to withdraw financial support from the murder of Vietnamese families without going outside U.S. law and without taking the risks of imprisonment that I hare unfortunately taken.
Now, after a year and a half of widespread experience, we can gauge the response of the federal government to the withholding exemption method of war tax resistance.
Nine people have been prosecuted to date, and a sentencing pattern of one year on each count seems to be emerging.
The withholding exemption method of war tax resistance remains very important and useful for persons who measure the personal risk and decide that it is proper for them to take it.
But, particularly for those of us with families, it will be useful to develop ideas on how we can be true to our deepest convictions about our responsibilities to mankind, without coming into such open confrontation with the laws of the U.S.
Many people have talked with me about working toward conscientious objector provisions under the federal tax laws that would allow war objectors to earmark their social tax assessments for exclusively peaceful purposes.
As to practical effect, such provisions already exist under the tax laws of the U.S.
We need only the generosity and honesty in our ideas to take advantage of them.
For instance, under the present tax laws, a family of five could retain income of $4350 for personal use without having to pay any income tax.
In addition they would be entitled to an itemised deduction from taxable income for up to 50% of their gross income if donated to broad categories of recognized charitable and socially positive purposes.
Thus a family of five could easily have an income of at least $8700, give half of it for peaceful purposes, and legally owe no federal tax on the balance.
This is a general figure that does not take account of many deductions and exemptions that might increase that figure.
Many people feel that it is not possible for a family of five to live decently on $4350 a year in the United States.
Our own family experience, in urban Chicago, one of the higher priced areas of the country, indicates that it is quite reasonable and possible to set a family budget at that level.
The factor which has required us to use a higher income has been our contributions to the support of several other people outside our immediate family, at St. Stephen’s House of Hospitality, whom we could not legally claim as dependents for exemption from taxation.
Over the past three years our personal household has lived on a budget averaging about as follows: rent, including heat—$135 a month; food, clothing and household items—$135; hospitalization insurance—$16; Social Security deductions—$30; public transportation—$23; gas—$3; electricity—$8; phone—$8.
That totals $385 a month, very close to the minimum we are talking about; but we are far from having explored all potentials for less expensive living; our rent is higher than necessary because we live in a desirable location in northern Chicago, one block from the lakefront, and our food budget could be cut somewhat by different and more careful buying methods that we have not taken the time to explore; we could cut our electric bill in half and do without a phone, if necessary.
Yet, I can not describe our life as one of sacrifice or hardship.
Thus I believe that if we are honest about our commitment to a peaceful coexistence with other people and other societies, we must and can learn to live in a way of voluntary simplicity that is compatible with equality among people.
And it isn’t even illegal.
Yours, with a large part of my love.
Karl Meyer — a Prisoner for Peace
P.S. The Bldg. Dept has been after us about the house on Mohawk St., which now stands alone amid vacant lots on all sides where other houses were torn down.
I have found places for two of the three men who remained of our household there; Lemont had to go back to the TB Sanitarium; Roy, who was with us , I have gotten on public aid and found him a decent place in a residential hotel; Richard has been with us but he is able to look after himself.
The building will soon be condemned and torn down.
Frank Marfla, of our Alternative Fund group, will visit the men and look after them while I am in jail.
