How you can resist funding the government →
a survey of tactics of historical tax resistance campaigns →
ask people to vow to resist when a critical mass of people take a similar vow →
“Don’t Buy Bush’s War” campaign
The anti-war activist group “Code Pink” is launching a massive nationwide war tax resistance campaign that aims to get 100,000 people to pledge to resist taxes to protest U.S. belligerence in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Iran.
We have marched, we have petitioned, we have called and emailed and urged Congress to stop buying Bush’s war.
It isn’t working.
Congress continues to vote billions of dollars toward the occupation of Iraq without any timeline for withdrawal.
It is time for us do what they don’t have the courage to do.
If Congress wants to fund the war with our dollars, well, we’ll simply refuse to give them those dollars!
When our political leaders have not listened to the will of the people, individuals have engaged in civil disobedience.
There is a great tradition of war tax resistance in the United States and it is our time to carry on that patriotic tradition.
When there are 100,000 of us who have the courage to pledge no more money for war, we will join in an act of mass civil disobedience and refuse to pay the portion of our taxes that represents the % we spend on the U.S. military occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Join the resistance today — you can make a difference.
The campaign will officially launch .
In Boston, an action at Boston Harbor will be attended by tax resistance pledgers including Cindy Sheehan and Ray McGovern.
In Portland, Oregon, activists will read the Declaration of Independence and perform a recreation of the Boston Tea Party action.
Other actions to launch the tax resistance campaign will occur in cities across the country.
How much of your tax payment this year would you like to allocate for water boarding in Iraq or an invasion of Iran?
Around the world, people are puzzled as to why the U.S. public allows the Bush administration to wage illegal wars and usurp our power.
Why do we tolerate it and continue to pay for it?…
…It is time for taxpayers who oppose this war to join together in nonviolent civil disobedience and show Congress how to cut off the funds for this war and redirect resources to the pressing needs of people.…
There is a great tradition of war tax resistance in the United States.
During the Mexican-American War that began in , Henry David Thoreau refused payment of war taxes and called on others to join him in resistance.
“If a thousand people were not to pay their tax bills this year, that would not be a violent and bloody measure, as it would be to pay them, and enable the State to commit violence and shed innocent blood.”
When Ralph Waldo Emerson visited Thoreau in jail, he asked the author of Walden, “Henry, what are doing in there?”
Thoreau responded, “Ralph, what are you doing out there?”…
…Some might suspect that tax resistance is symbolic and futile.
But we want to purposely put a cog in the machine of war tax collection.
We believe it will lead to a deepening of opposition as tens of thousands of people say, “I can no longer in good conscience pay for these acts by my government.”
Mass war tax resistance, on the scale proposed, has never been done in the U.S.…
The world and history will judge us by how vigorously we resist the illegal and immoral war tactics of the Bush Administration.
My husband, friends and I have decided we can’t pay for war anymore.
What are you doing out there?
Nina Rothschild Utne, chair and editor-in-chief of Utne Reader, writes in an upcoming issue of that magazine that she, too, is enthusiastically joining the campaign:
War tax resistance is far from a new idea. But there is a bold initiative
brewing that has an elegantly simple new angle: There is safety in numbers.
The idea is to get people to sign a pledge that they will engage in civil
disobedience by withholding a percentage of their taxes, but only if a
critical mass of 100,000 signers is reached
.
Activists have spent long hours pushing for election reform, marching in the
streets, and engaging in other forms of civil disobedience against the Iraq
war with seemingly no effect, so clearly a different tack is needed. The
“I’ll jump if you will” approach to war tax resistance just might work.
My friend Jodie Evans, cofounder of Code Pink, is one of those people who
live on the barricades, sleep little, and dedicate most every waking moment
to social change. Her material desires take a backseat to her convictions,
and the ragged pink mules she has worn for years as part of her Code Pink
identity are the laughingstock of her friends. She has been arrested more
times than she can count and has been at the epicenter of many of the most
effective and mediagenic progressive campaigns of the past several decades.
But Jodie is also at home in the most rarefied strata of power. Thanks in no
small part to her, the pledge list will be seeded with participants from
business, Hollywood, and other influential enclaves, and the initiative will
be backed by a strong communications strategy.…
At The Nation, editor Katrina vanden Heuvel spills lukewarm praise on Code Pink’s war tax resistance campaign.
She’s caught, as many progressive government-lovers are, by the conflict between their admiration for a large, expensive, coercive State in the abstract, but their dislike for its actual incarnation in Washington.
The social democrat in me has always been uncomfortable with tax resistance, despite my admiration for the War Resisters League.
As progressives, we want to enlarge the public sphere, and elevate the primacy of politics, engaged in collectively, as the means for solving social problems.
Taxes are obviously a crucial element of meeting our common goals.
In that respect, opting out of the collective decision making of the polity about how to spend the nation’s money is problematic.
Arguments that some policy or other will “enlarge the public sphere” fire the same neurons in my brain as get triggered when I hear about how some new household gadget will “transform the way you think about your kitchen” or “give you a whole new you!”
And as for elevating the primacy of politics — in this season of political primaries, is there anything that could sound less appealing?
But somebody, I suppose, has to mistake this carnival of grotesques for collective engagement in “the means for solving social problems.”
If nobody really believed this falderol then any naïve child might wander in and point out with a laugh that the Collective is naked — and then who would subscribe to The Nation?
Indeed taxes are obviously a crucial element of meeting our common goals, should those goals include a massive bureaucracy that imprisons Americans in vast numbers, exports mass murder around the globe, and threatens everyone everywhere with incineration if they don’t get with the program of the bloodthirsty psychopaths that rise like scum to the top of the public sphere.
How problematic it would be to opt out of funding such common goals as these!
Code Pink sent this out to their mailing list this morning:
“It is not enough to say we must not wage war.
It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it.”
— Martin Luther King, Jr.
As we honor Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday, we want to celebrate his legacy not just with words, but with action.
We ask you to join us in taking one of the strongest stands you can against war: refusing to fund it with your money.
Former Secretary of State Alexander Haig once said “Let them march all they want, as long as they pay their taxes.”
Well, we have marched, we have vigiled, we have sent letters and phone calls and faxes, but Congress continues to fund Bush’s war.
In the spirit of Martin Luther King, Jr. and as part of the American tradition of non-violent civil disobedience that goes back to Henry David Thoreau, now is the time for us to take the matter of war funding into our own hands and stage a tax revolt.
In our flash video at the end of his anti-war speech MLK says; “Take a Stand, Tomorrow may be to late.”
Each year we have taken a stand, and it is a very personal one, but one we can do together.
Our Don’t Buy Bush’s War campaign calls people of conscience to take a stand against the war in Iraq or the threat of war in Iran by signing a pledge that when joined by 100,000 other signatories, they will refuse to pay their taxes until the US gets out of Iraq (a fully operational plan begun).
Our campaign offers safety in numbers and a firm stand against the Administration’s funding of the war.
We know you’ll have many questions about the campaign, and perhaps some fears.
Please go to www.dontbuybushswar.org to sign our pledge, learn about other ways to support the campaign, and find answers to your concerns.
Be assured that CODEPINK will continue to work to end to this war, to restore our Constitution, to close Guantanamo, and to redirect our nation’s resources towards the needs of its people.
Thank you for standing with us in Dr. King’s memory.
Six hours later, over a hundred new people have made the pledge, and they’re still coming in fast.
Here are what some of the signers have written:
As the Bush administration responds only to threats of defunding, this is my line in the sand.
Steven Humes, Durham, North Carolina
As an educator, I believe that we have a responsibility to invest in our next generation here at home, rather than in military dominance of sovereign nations halfway around the world. I will put the amount I withhold directly into our educational system.
Suzanne Knoll, Goleta, California
I love a good Tea Party!
Kimberly Wyke, Camden, Maine
I will no longer pay for what I do not want. I will no longer act as an American who is for war. I am a human being on this planet who respects other human beings and my actions will follow in line with my words. My tax dollars will be used for the cause of good not evil.
Sarah Ealey, Kentfield, California
A government that does not listen to us should not be funded by us.
Tara Mulqueen, Brooklyn, New York
Don’t feed the hand that bites you.
Paul Eagle, Belfast, Maine
There is strength in numbers but even if this becomes a solitary endeavor, I’ll know I tried.
Mary Jane McElrath, Miami, Florida
Don’t wait for the group to do it. Start (or refine) your practice of mindful consumption by refusing to consume war, and redirect your money now.
Lee Gough, Brooklyn, New York
When the American people stop paying for war, wars will cease. Lets set a good example for Congress on how to stop a war!
David Hartsough, San Francisco, California
The war in Iraq costs $6,000.00/second. That figure doesn’t take into account all the other police actions ‘our’ government forces on ‘sovereign’ nations around the world. How can anyone of conscience support that?
Matthew Schmidt, Barnesville, Ohio
War can not continue without our taxes. Pure and simple.
Lakshmi Kerner, Oakland, California
I get angry every time I think of my tax dollars going toward anything this current regime endorses!
Diane Birmingham, Fort Collins, Colorado
I have not paid the percentage of taxes that go to war voluntarily for over 20 years. I will continue to protest war in this way. The government eventually comes and gets the money, but my conscience is clear that I haven’t willingly paid for people to die.
Mike Ellison, Vancouver, Washington
This is a beautiful thing!
Christopher Constantin, Three Rivers, California
I started resisting . This is the only real way we the people can change the coarse in our foreign policy.
Nicholas Collins, Phoenix, Arizona
Let’s stop funding the war and fund peace instead! Imagine a world where we fund peace, not war.
anonymous, Venice, California
I am encouraging all my friends to join in the modern day tea party
Bridget Miller, Centreville, Maryland
I worry about tax gestapo at the door, but we have to do something they will notice!
Emery Goff, Farmington, Maine
Enough’s enough. I have to take a stand and so does everyone else.
Reich Benasutti, Lawrenceville, Georgia
Thank you, Code Pink.
Jason Dalldorf, Fresno, California
We have lost our Democracy; we have destroyed another nation illegally, immorally and unjustly. I refuse to continue paying for death and destruction.
Rayeanne King, Oak Bluffs, Maryland
It’s about time we all take this stand!
Lyn Gottschalk, Green Bay, Wisconsin
I am an American citizen living in Canada. I pay U.S. taxes, but the amount is minimal. Nevertheless, I will sign the pledge and withhold a % (not sure how much yet). What the U.S. does affects everyone in the world, wherever they are.
Elizabeth Whitmore, Ottawa, Ontario
I’ve already cried out in this wilderness known as America. We the people are and have been struggling against the ‘policies’ of this misadministration. Perhaps this action will open your eyes and ears. Can you hear us yet?
Kathy Walsh, Lake Worth, Florida
This is not our war! Hear our voices we will not fund your war any more! If you want war go there yourselves!
Krystal Ansley, Jacksonville, Florida
My husband and I withheld 28% of our federal income taxes for . That percentage is the portion that the AFSC (Quakers) said goes toward current military and defense spending i.e. war in Iraq and Afghanistan. We don’t plan on paying at least that amount , either. We have been receiving threatening letters from the IRS for months. The last letter we got threatened us with a $5000 fine or jail time. We know the IRS only wants their stinking money, and they don’t want to throw us in jail and have to pay for us to be there.… In the letter we received from the IRS last week, they said our reason for not wanting to pay was frivolous. We call it taking a principled stand and doing the right thing. We will wait them out.… These fascists in U.S. government are a bunch of murdering thieves. We will not give our hard-earned dollars to people who wantonly kill other people and steal the natural resources of their country. If they won’t listen to anything else they’ll damned well listen up when the money spigot is turned off. Every single American taxpayer should suck it up, stop being afraid of the government we are all 100% part owner of and cut off the money that goes toward maiming and killing innocent people and contributes directly to the bloated war machine.
Kris Graham, Houston, Texas
I will no longer support this war with my tax money. We have voted and tried to work within the system to no avail. I do not know what else to do to stop war.
Susan Thorpe, Tucson, Arizona
What gives you the right to take my money and millions of taxpayers’ money and use the billions to bully, harass, and kill innocent victims.
Cynthia Stokes-Adam, Brooklyn, New York
Bush threatens to bomb Iran unless its citizens engage in just such civil disobedience as this. Let’s show them how like we did in Boston Harbor.
Tim Wood, Atlanta, Georgia
The two of us signed this prepared petition because we have been withholding the military portion of our income tax liability . At that time we realized we could not conscientiously pay for war when we were praying for peace.
Barbara & Jim Dale, Decorah, Indiana
Like the majority of citizens of the United States of America I am fed up with the Bush/Cheney Administration’s illegal tactics to scare us into funding a war that should never have been started.
Valory Warncke, Maumee, Ohio
We know the wars are created to line the pockets of the thugs who create it for greed and to control the people. I won’t pay and I won’t be controlled by the thugs.
Shiara Lightfoot, Buena Vista, Colorado
I have not ever done this before, but I am ready to do it now.
Liz Aaronsohn, New Britain, Connecticut
Thank you Code Pink.
Ann Meany, Saint Paul, Minnesota
I cannot, in good conscience, continue to throw away my hard-earned money to fund killing in the name of capitalism’s violence against American citizens, innocent foreigners, and our dying planet.
Hal Goldfarb, Mesa, Arizona
It is a human right to refuse to participate in killing and war. I am happy to join with others in redirecting our taxes away from aggression and violence and toward building a peaceful world.
Susan Quinlan, Berkeley, California
No funding of Bush/Cheney illegal war. Not now nor in the future.
Kathleen Wolfe, Des Moines, Washington
It’s funny, not really, that I have been saying this for many years: civil disobedience works.
Leslie Provatas, Orient, New York
When our children and grandchildren look back at this moment in history and ask what we did to stop the insanity, I hope we can say that we did at least this much, if not much more.
Christopher Senn, Orcas, Washington
This is a fantastic idea! I have thought about this long and hard in the past. I don’t want my hard earned tax dollars funding a senseless war! Thank you for your sincere hard working efforts which I wholeheartedly support!
anonymous, Muskegon, Michigan
I can no longer support the death of innocent people, by funding this war through my hard earned and very needed dollars! War serves no one! This one, in particular, is insane, and we must stop it! No funding from my part!
Susan Janes, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
War is evil, and the wars being waged in my name on the Iraqi & Afghani people are particularly sickening. Terrorism is best deterred with ethical behavior & education. My ethical behavior will now include withholding my tax dollars. My government has disregarded every other effort I and hundreds of thousands of others have made to request & demand the cessation of these wars. We must push back. Thank you Code Pink.
Mary E. Stone, Montague, California
Yes, it’s time for this action. Nothing seems to have an impact in this country any more except for money. Brilliant!!
Carol Bayard, Maplewood, New Jersey
We must stop plundering and destroying out of greed. I will not let my money go there anymore.
Karen Boyer, Portland, Oregon
I strongly support this effort to make war tax resistance a more public statement against the war machine. Thanks!
anonymous, Portland, Oregon
I’m sick of my tax dollars going to this blood war for oil, and I have nothing for myself or my daughter. But most of the people I know don’t want to pay taxes for this lying crap.
Brenda Brown, Placitas, New Mexico
No Killing in my name. Signing this petition is an ethical necessity for me personally. I have to take this stand in order to live honestly.
Mathilda Cassidy, Santa Rosa, California
Jodie Evans of Code Pink was on KPFK a week ago, talking up the Don’t Buy Bush’s War campaign.
(Here’s an MP3 of the show — the Evans segment starts at about 22 minutes in, and she starts talking about the campaign at about 34 minutes in.)
In all, good stuff.
But some of the message needs work — particularly the part about how war tax resistance isn’t as risky as many people believe it to be.
This message wasn’t delivered in a particularly convincing way, and it used some dubious factoids.
Evans said (I’m paraphrasing from memory) that nobody gets put in jail anymore for war tax resistance like they did in because they’ve changed the laws since then.
The radio host read another factoid from the campaign’s web site that reads “ only one war tax resister has been prosecuted, and he was sentenced to 8 hours per week of community service.”
Neither of those statements is accurate.
In fact, there were very few war tax resistance prosecutions during as far as I know, but there have been four people who have done time for tax resistance , and at least ten .
It is very rare, though.
And typically you have to really want to go to jail — stubbornly refusing many opportunities to cooperate — before they finally throw the book at you.
A war tax resister isn’t at all likely to suddenly be handcuffed and tossed in the back of a paddy wagon without warning.
We have the facts on our side here, but our message has to be credible and clear and convincing, and in this it can’t hurt to be accurate.
“Inspired by the vision of Dr. King, we want to purposely put a cog in the machine of war tax collection,” said Jodie Evans, Co-Founder of CodePink.
“We believe it will lead to a deepening of opposition as tens of thousands of people say, ‘I can no longer in good conscience pay for these acts by my government.’
The tradition of civil disobedience involves breaking a law in favor of a higher law.
It is time to call for this powerful action.”
“I think that as a movement we can’t expect the war to end and at the same time pay its bills every month.
At some point the bill paying has to stop, and then the war will stop,” said Bill Ramsey of the War Tax Boycott Coalition.
I note also that they’ve added some more groups, including United for Peace & Justice, to their coalition.
I don’t see anything about the campaign on the UFPJ site yet, but if they make an effort to promote the campaign to their members, that could make a big impact.
We have refused to pay war taxes . We will never pay for war. How can we? If you pay for it you will have it.
Rev. Don and Roberta Thrustin Timmerman
I could not stop this illegal war, but I shouldn’t have to pay for it!
June Forsyth Kenagy, Albany, Oregon
I knew it was an illegal war from the start and have looked forward to this moment of resistance.
Jack Heller, Topeka, Kansas
I call upon the American people to Resist War Taxes.
Craig Teichen, Chicago, Illinois
The only thing this rich people understand is the almighty worthless dollar. If they think a majority of us won’t pay our taxes for the killings they want, maybe they’ll think again.
Margie Lindsey, San Diego, California
I have been shamefully ignorant of what my country has been up to over the years with money from me. Now I say ‘no more murder in my name’ because I will not support it anymore.… Never again will I knowingly finance murder. I would rather go to jail.
Cliff McCutchen, Liburn, Georgia
I have been refusing to pay my taxes ever . Clearly, I have far more courage than your average American anti-war protester. It is scandalous that it has taken Americans four years to wake up to the idea of refusing to pay the war taxes.
Nabil Shaban, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
I have not, and will not pay taxes until we are out of Iraq and if we bomb Iran!
Chris Magda, North Port, Florida
I am happy to pay my assessed income taxes for peaceful reasons, but not for the war in Iraq and certainly not for further aggression in Iran!
Stephan Maddy Altschul, Monterey, Tennessee
I have had enough — this seems like the next logical step.
Kathy Ingallinera, Sitka, Alaska
This has been waiting to happen. I have been doing this .
Jesse Crumb, Eureka, California
I will not pay one more cent of my taxes to support killing.
anonymous, Holley, New York
No more taxpayers’ money for this immoral war.
Sandra Taylor, Marlboro, New York
Don’t want my tax dollars to support illegal wars started by this (or any) president.
Bret Vanderberg, Los Altos, California
I consider it an honor, and a service to humanity, to actively resist this most terrorist ongoing criminal syndicate in all of our human history, now lodged in power in the United States, regardless of any of its risks or even actual physical costs. Fulfilling this pledge to pay no tax, in order to end this nightmare, in the name of love, to all humanity, is among the least of the things I can now also do. Come on. Come get me.
David Busch, Los Angeles, California
My taxes will not kill anymore!
Connie Bergen, Kennebunk, Maine
No taxes to be paid, no more war to be funded — the choice is the government’s. I am not paying
Jennifer Suzanne Martino, Dixon, California
I have been trying to do this on my own and have not been able to figure out how to do it & pay the money saved to organizations helping the women of Iraq. With no success. So, I’m with you 2000% of the way. Do it.
Kossia Orloff, Durham, North Carolina
Get out of Iraq or I’ll stop paying taxes! Leave Iran alone or I’ll stop paying taxes!
In for the audacity of his dreams, the “militarism, materialism and racism” he warned would be our downfall have become more apparent, more drastic, and more vicious.
The gap between those in poverty and those in luxury is wider than ever, the racial dynamics of that gap are undeniable, and we carry our racism abroad in the form of preemptive wars.
we also mark the 5th anniversary of the Iraq War.
Each birthday of King’s becomes a chance for a million people to join his vision.
He was trying to change everything, and he was doing that through a campaign of impacted people using organizing and action to leverage their numbers against institutional power at the government and corporate level.
We definitely feel aligned with his dreams and his actual work here at Ruckus.
In , we’d like to ask you all to join us in responding to a call to civil disobedience on a massive scale to stand up against our current racist, materialistic military effort in Iraq.
We don’t want to pay for this war anymore.
If 100,000 people join this pledge to refuse to pay their taxes , this could be one of the most impactful stands against the war.
The campaign asks people of conscience like you — people who have tirelessly marched, written letters, signed petitions and protested in the streets; we who want to take a stand against the war in Iraq or the threat of war in Iran — to sign a pledge that, when joined by 100,000 other signatories, they will refuse to pay their taxes until the U.S. gets a fully operational plan in place to get our military out of Iraq.
The idea is safety in numbers and a firm strike at the Administration’s capacity to fund the war.
This is one of the strongest actions we can take, and indeed the time has arrived for us to show this level of commitment.
This will make a difference.
As Alexander Haig, U.S. Secretary of State said in : “Let them march all they want, as long as they continue to pay their taxes.”
You can help to counter the fear and misconceptions about this powerful tactic.
With the support of leading tax lawyers, we will prepare people to file (not evade) but not pay taxes to fuel Bush’s War.
The most people face is fines adding up to 7% of the total they owe, and very few war tax resisters have ever been prosecuted.
Folks who are initiating this call to action are working with people who have been resisting since the war began, are in constant dialogue with the IRS and nothing has happened to them.
Sign up and check out FAQ at (www.dontbuybushswar.org).
More than thirty protesters were arrested while trying to storm the barricades surrounding the front entrance to the IRS headquarters in Washington, D.C.
“Just as military recruiters supply bodies for the war, the IRS supplies the funding,” stated New York City WRL organizer Ed Hedemann.
“So, I’m doing my part in disrupting that relentless flow of money by standing in front of the IRS entrance and by refusing to send my taxes to the IRS.”
Among the organizations sponsoring this part of the protests commemorating were NWTRCC, War Resisters League, United for Peace & Justice, and Code Pink.
And speaking of Code Pink, they continue to draw new tax resisters to sign up for their Don’t Buy Bush’s War campaign.
Some of the latest signers gave the following “signing statements:”
Thank you Code Pink for organizing this media communication. Our politicians don’t have to listen to our votes when we keep paying our taxes. Bravo!
anonymous, Burlington, Vermont
If the idiot Republicans and their minions want this war, they can pay for it. And no soldiers ‘died for me’; they died because they volunteered to enter an immoral war.
John Bisceglia, Bellingham, Washington
I’ve refused to pay taxes for over 20 years now, and I doubt our inept government and the IRS will ever be able to find all of us tax resisters. There are simply too many ways to make money and keep it out of banks, and many ways to live without personally owning any property.
Scott Johnston, Cincinnati, Ohio
War. Murder. Destruction. Illegal occupation of a sovereign nation. Extraordinary rendition. Secret Prisons. Torture. Illegal wiretapping. More spending on military than all other countries combined. And I’m helping to pay for it. Not any more!
Patrick West, Boulder, Colorado
I am a Conscientious Objector to all war, and I have been openly refusing federal war taxes every year since ! IRS never succeeded in collecting a dime from me until I began receiving Social Security checks in ! Now they take 15% from each check, but I continue each year to refuse to pay for war and weapons.
Robin Harper, Wallingford, Pennsylvania
I’m going to withhold $100 anyway; get enough signatures and I’m in for the full whatever-godawful-number-it-is percent of my taxes.
Friend Reynolds, Chicago, Illinois
Thank you. Every penny I have ever given to support the things that are meaningful and positive in the world is utterly negated — and then some — every time I pay my taxes.
Gregory Dicum, San Francisco, California
Time to check in on this year’s three big war tax resistance campaigns.
The first is NWTRCC’s “ War Tax Boycott”.
The original idea behind this project was to have thousands of anti-war activists publicly pledge to redirect all or a portion of the federal income taxes due on to charity.
As of today, about 375 people have signed on to the pledge, with about 290 “public” signers willing to put their names out.
The second is the “Don’t Buy Bush’s War” campaign, which aimed to get 100,000 taxpayers to pledge to resist their taxes (if 99,999 others would) by .
They haven’t updated their counter in a while, but it currently reads 2,092 pledgers.
The third is “Pledge For Peace.”
They didn’t have a target number of signers or a deadline, but wanted “self-identified leaders and opinion shapers in our congregations” to, by signing, “commit to action and to personal sacrifice” including war tax resistance.
Last I looked, 134 people had signed.
in the United States, and all across the country people were scrambling to get to the post office in time to have their tax returns postmarked by the deadline.
There to meet them were tax resisters:
The Ryder Report has video of the protest in Keene, New Hampshire, including feedback from passers-by.
In Brattleboro, Vermont, war tax resisters including Bob Bady and Daniel Sicken redirected their taxes to local charities:
Kevin Flaherty, a postal employee who ducked out in the afternoon for a smoke break, said it was encouraging to see the war tax resisters give away their money.
“It’s great,” he said, pointing out that it was Kevin Flaherty the citizen — not Kevin Flaherty the postal worker — who was supporting the group.
“Sometimes when people are paying their taxes, I joke that somebody has to pay for the Iraq War.
Maybe this will make them pay attention.”
Tax resisters in New York City handed out War Resisters League budget pie charts at the midtown post office.
Joshua Klein of Nashua, New Hampshire filed his tax returns , but decided to include a protest letter instead of a check.
“Klein would not reveal how much he owed but said he’s donating the money to America’s Second Harvest, the largest domestic hunger-relief organization in the country, and the American Civil Liberties Union, although he’s not affiliated with either group.”
In Los Alamos, New Mexico, two protesters were arrested for trespassing during a vigil at the Los Alamos National Laboratories.
The protesters said they were there “to prayerfully encourage the nonviolent, safe, clean disarmament of weapons of mass destruction, along with the clean-up of LANL… [and] to visibly celebrate the war-tax boycott organized by the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.”
War tax resisters in Bangor, Maine, including Larry Dansinger, protested at the post office and gave away redirected taxes.
One of the grants was a scholarship to a student who, because he has refused to register with the selective service system (for the military draft), will be ineligible to apply for college financial aid.
The Home News Tribune of New Jersey has a video report of the war tax protest at the post office there.
In Portsmouth, New Hampshire, peace activists held a “penny poll” in which they asked passers-by how they would prioritize the nation’s budget.
Meanwhile, constitutionalist tax protesters handed out documentaries and documentation about their theories.
In Berkeley, California, Code Pink was out with their “Don’t Buy Bush’s War” banner.
Free Speech Radio News covered national protests over war taxes, government spending priorities, and the Capitol Hill press conference.
Along with the news coverage, bloggers commemorated with more personal commentary:
At The Begging Bowl, Jake writes about his tax resistance: “The money I would have paid the government has gone to the Chicago Anti-Hunger Foundation.
When votes no longer matter we vote with our dollars.
I vote for the works of mercy and feeding the hungry.
And if it means the IRS is gonna come knocking on my door for $119, I will offer them some food too.
And if they ask for a check, I’ll go with them to jail.
That’s another work of mercy, visit the imprisoned.
If we took the works of mercy as seriously as we took our 1040s and economic stimulus package, the Kingdom of God would be at hand.”
J.D. Tuccille, at Disloyal Opposition, gives a thumbs up for tax resisters — “whatever their reasons, I think it’s worth saluting folks who go out of the way to avoiding feeding the beast.”
Kerrie, at State & Local Politics, reacts to news coverage of the Schwieberts: “It takes a whole lot of nerve to do what his couple is doing.
But I wonder if Bush would take notice and stop the war if more people took this route to protest the war?
I know that we have to do something because things are getting worse not better.”
Will Shetterly, at It’s All One Thing, discusses tax resistance, and includes some inspirational quotes from tax resisters.
Tax resistance groups have used surveys to gauge public support for a possible campaign and to reassure potential resisters that they will not be alone.
Some have also tried the gambit of asking people to commit to resist if and only if a certain critical mass of people also makes such a commitment.
Today I’ll give some examples.
Surveys to gauge support or to “push poll”
The Secretary of the Federation of Dublin Anti Water Charge Campaigns remembers that the government initially challenged anti-tax activists by saying that they were an unrepresentative, radical fringe, and that most people supported the tax:
Our immediate response was to challenge his contention and to propose a survey of the area to find out what people really thought, and a further public meeting to report the findings.
Within 15 minutes we had a dozen volunteers to carry out the survey and these went on to form the nucleus of what became one of the most active campaign groups in the federation.
The follow-up meeting 3 weeks later heard that something like 85% of the local residents opposed the tax.
The fact of carrying out this survey gave everybody the confidence that the silent majority were with us, and for those who carried out the survey, they realised that it wasn’t such a difficult thing to knock on their neighbours’ doors and talk to them and it gave them the confidence to go on to become key campaign activists.
It’s something I would recommend that campaigners try — doing a survey such as this or even collecting a petition in an area, knocking on doors and talking to people about the issue gives those people who we are hoping will become campaign activists a sense of ownership of the local campaign as well as demonstrating quite clearly the strength of feeling on the issue.
People need to feel that it’s their campaign — not one either owned by or controlled by any political organisation or party.
In the anti-Poll Tax movement in Thatcher’s Britain, a Bristol organizer, remembers that in his neighborhood group:
[Our] network was strengthened by a door-to-door survey of over 500 households.
The survey was not intended to be scientifically accurate.
Its purpose was to give the APTU a fairly accurate picture of what was happening on the ground, and, perhaps more significantly, it was a pretext for engaging people in conversation about the Poll Tax, informing them of the non-payment campaign and encouraging them to join their local APTU.
The results were interesting.
Only 20% said that they would definitely pay.
The same number said that they would definitely not, but more significantly, 55% said that they wouldn’t pay if a lot of other people in the area weren’t paying either.
So even at this early stage we knew that non-payment was going to be massive.
Over a third of the people canvassed became paid up members of the union.
By the end of the exercise Easton had over 300 members and street reps for almost every street.
The canvass was not left there.
The key to its success was the second visit.
The group compiled all the statistics on a street by street basis and many of the reps then went back, door-to-door, and told people the results of the survey in their street and the neighbouring streets.
A newsletter was delivered to everyone telling them what the overall results were for Easton.
This meant that people knew how few of their neighbours were going to pay and it gave them confidence not to pay themselves.
They had spoken to the canvassers personally, so they knew that the survey was genuine.
In the American war tax resistance group NWTRCC surveyed resisters, former resisters, and anti-war activists who had never resisted taxes, to find out about their attitudes toward war tax resistance.
They used some of the information, for instance a question for the never-resisted group about their reasons for not resisting, to help them refine their outreach message.
Almost two-thirds of those never-resisters answered “yes” to the question:
Would you 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?
This encouraging response led the group to launch what it called the “ War Tax Boycott.”
Although the Boycott itself did not generate the hoped-for “thousands,” the group found it to be a useful outreach platform, and has continued to use it in subsequent years.
Women’s suffrage activists in Wisconsin in said they “will take a census of the women taxpayers, [and] the list of names will be published and used as a basis of a ‘protest to the Legislature against taxation without representation.’ ”
Ask people to vow to resist once a critical mass of people take the vow
The women’s suffrage activists from Wisconsin I mention above also said that “when 10,000 names have been secured to a pledge, the women will refuse to pay taxes, and the questions involved will be taken to the courts.”
Another version of the pledge put the number at 5,000:
We, the tax paying women of Wisconsin, hereby agree to do what we can by protest and argument to emphasize the fact that taxation without representation is tyranny as much for American women today as it was for American colonists in .
And we also pledge ourselves that when 5,000 or more women in Wisconsin shall have similarly enrolled we will simultaneously take action by whatever method may seem best in accordance with official advice from the Wisconsin Suffrage Association to the end that public attention may be thoroughly and effectively called to the injustice and injury done to women by taxing them without giving them any voice as to how their money should be employed.
The American anti-war activist group Code Pink launched a campaign called “Don’t Buy Bush’s War” in , saying:
When there are 100,000 of us who have the courage to pledge no more money for war, we will join in an act of mass civil disobedience and refuse to pay the portion of our taxes that represents the % we spend on the U.S. military occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Nina Utne explained:
There is safety in numbers.
The idea is to get people to sign a pledge that they will engage in civil disobedience by withholding a percentage of their taxes, but only if a critical mass of 100,000 signers is reached by .
The campaign’s ambitions were a little too high, as it turns out, but they did get over 2,000 pledges, and started many conversations about war tax resistance.
Miners at the “New Rush” in Kimberly, South Africa in signed a pledge of tax resistance, mutual protection, and boycott of non-resisters that included a minimum-signers trigger:
This pledge is to become operative, and shall be enforced, when signed by 400 men.
… This pledge is a serious matter.
If it is passed to-night it will only be a Resolution; but as soon as it is signed by 400 men, which will most likely be on Monday next, it will be the law of the people which must be abided by and ruthlessly enforced.
