How you can resist funding the government → the tax resistance movement → conferences & gatherings → Fall 2015 New England Regional Gathering of War Tax Resisters and Supporters

The 30^th Annual New England Regional Gathering of War Tax Resisters and Supporters will be held from 16–18 October, 2015 in Amherst, Massachusetts.

The conference will focus on “strategizing new directions for war tax resistance,” and features a Friday evening presentation by Frida Berrigan. The gathering is open to the public. If you’d like more information, ask Jason Rawn or Daniel Sicken.

The following month, from 6–8 November, the national gathering of NWTRCC will be held in Las Vegas, Nevada. More details and registration information will become available on this page.

Today, some links about domestic tax and tax resistance issues:

• NWTRCC is holding its national gathering in Las Vegas this weekend. Last night Jennifer Carr entertained us with her visions for a more legislatively feasible Peace Tax Fund bill. Today holds a full schedule of workshops and events.
• Ruth Benn reports back from the recent New England gathering of war tax resisters.
• This coming tax season, “shared responsibility” fines for people without qualifying health insurance are going to hit for realsies. The IRS is by law somewhat hobbled in pursuing people who refuse to pay these fines, and when you combine that with conservative hostility toward Obamacare, you have a recipe for a potential wave of tax resistance.
• It looks like the experiment of using private bill collectors to go after unpaid federal taxes is back. It seems this on-again/off-again experiment has little to do with collecting taxes, and more to do with a tug-of-war between Democrats and Republicans on whether to reward Democrat-leaning public employee unions or Republican-leaning government contractors.
• Irwin Schiff, one of the most bull-headed and influential of the “show-me-the-law”-style tax protesters in the United States in recent years, died in prison recently. He developed cancer while in prison, and died shackled to a prison hospital bed, as his son Peter recounts:

  As the cancer consumed him, his voice changed and the prison phone system no longer recognized it, so he could not even talk with family members on the phone during his final month of life. When his condition deteriorated to the point where he needed to be hospitalized, government employees blindly followed orders that kept him shackled to his bed. This despite the fact that escape was impossible for an 87 year old terminally ill, legally blind patient who could barely breathe, let alone walk.

  I’ve seen a surprising amount about this in the foreign press, like this lengthy article from China that matter-of-factly discusses Schiff as an American political prisoner.

There’s a new NWTRCC newsletter out, with content including:

• Building Partnerships During Tax Season — local war tax resistance groups plan to network with other activist organizations this Spring
• Justin Becker reflects on Student Debt and War Tax Resisting
• Counseling Notes, including an early warning on those transportation bill provisions, news that the IRS will no longer levy SSA disability insurance benefits, notes on what happens when the IRS disputes the numbers on your W-4 form, and what happens when the IRS sends a notice to an address you no longer live at.
• Chris Coverdale Jailed for Tax Refusal in the U.K.
• A report on the New England regional gathering and brief notes about the School of the Americas Watch vigil and the Western District Conference of Mennonites.
• A report on the NWTRCC national gathering last month in Las Vegas.
• Matt Niznik reflects on the challenges for a war tax resister in a relationship in a community property state.