Tax resistance in the “Peace Churches” →
Quakers →
20th–21st century Quakers →
Vickie Aldrich
When , there were 341 signers of the on-line version of the “Don’t Buy Bush’s War” pledge (Code Pink claims more than a thousand other off-line pledgers).
By the end of that number had jumped to 583.
Here are what some of them wrote as they joined the campaign:
The Iraq War is an insult to our intelligence. A cowboy solution; when butter would have been better than guns.
Frank Gehry, Santa Monica, California
A brilliant idea! When our children and grandchildren ask what we did to stop the insanity, I must be able to say that I did this much and more. I never stopped trying. My conscience will allow no other. Withholding 28% of our federal income taxes is the percentage that the AFSC (Quakers) say goes toward current military and defense spending i.e. war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Love ya, Code Pink!
Mary Francis, Norman, Oklahoma
I attended Eastern Mennonite College, Harrisonburg, VA during the Vietnam War. It was understood and accepted that part of opposing the War was to resist paying taxes to support the War.
Ruthe Rugh, Bothell, Washington
I am responsible for illegal acts of this so-called ‘War on Terror’ if I pay for them.
Carolyn Israel, Santa Cruz, California
The war machine can’t run without our money.
Wendy Hershey, Oakland, California
This may be the only way to force this administration to realize that it should represent the will of the people. I am strongly for it.
Claire Simpson, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Have been withholding .
Yaney MacIver
No one is listening… but money talks. So let’s withhold our taxes until the bloodshed ends.
Phyllis Townley, New York, New York
I will only fund Peace with my money.
Zack Harrison, Durango, Colorado
I have been withholding war tax money .
Wind Vogel, Woodside, New York
My accountant and financial advisor are not going to like this, but I pledge to join with 99,999 other American citizens and not pay taxes for war.
Kathy Stroud, Ann Arbor, Michigan
It’s about time!
Kitty Hartford, Boothbay, Maine
I have marched, held signs on street corners, made phone calls, sent emails, and been arrested in the lobby of the Federal Building in Chicago for protesting the war (found "Not Guilty" based on 1st amendment rights!). None of this has ended the war. I’m ready to withhold a portion of my taxes.
Friend Bernstein, Highland Park, Illinois
I have led a pretty law-abiding life of over 60 years. But I cannot support imperialist war-mongers who have put a thirst for money and power over human rights and peace.
Jo Sippie-Gora, Kinnelon, New Jersey
In , one of our Washington State Senators, Maria Cantwell informed us (a small group of peacemakers) that would be a year of transition out of Iraq. When asked, what if it turns out that that is not the case, she told us that they, democrats in the Congress, would then utilize their power of the purse and cut the funding for the war. We have stood in front of the Federal building in Seattle every Tuesday . Besides our presence, we provide (MFSO — military families speak out) post cards, addressed to both Senators Cantwell and Patty Murray’s offices which state ‘Support our Troops! De-fund the War!’ We have hand deliver the majority of them (a few thousand) by people passing by who have taken the time fill out and/or sign. Yes, we can no longer wait for our representatives to take action, now is the time for citizens against this misbegotten war, to gather their courage, and together take this unfortunate, but very necessary next step.
Joseph Colgan, Kent, Washington
I started withholding a ‘military’ portion of my taxes as soon as the war was declared. It will be nice to have company in this action.
Nicki Hansen-Dix, Grass Valley, California
The war must end now, no more innocents should die. I will stand behind this pledge, and work towards a new world way of peace.
Valerie Burkman, Menahga, Minnesota
The only way to stop this administration is to pull the plug on the money.
anonymous, Bozeman, Montana
What I’ve been waiting for .
Nan Barnard-Jorgensen, Pacific Grove, California
What must we do to end this? No more business as usual. We have to stop funding the wars of the super rich.
Erin Genia, Olympia, Washington
I have withheld a portion of my taxes . Thanks for doing this. Stopping the money will stop the war.
Vickie Aldrich, Las Cruces, New Mexico
This is a necessary action. May one million quickly join the pledge and millions more after that. Blessings.
anonymous, Wilton, New Hampshire
No taxation without true representation.
Marcia Bailey, South Saint Paul, Minnesota
I want to do this, in fact I already have in a way by not mailing in one of my (large) quarterly payments. However, I want to know who decides what the percentage is that you talk about and where is the letter that we’re supposed to send to the IRS? Also I think you should be a little more up front and tell people how much they may expect to pay in fines. This is not a simple protest and your members should be given more info. The only reason I’m signing is because I have already talked to my accountant, but even so I am aware that I might be opening a whole can of worms and my business may be audited which would be a lot of bother. So you should really give out more info to people so they can make an informed decision. I can assure you that this is not something I would ask a friend to do. It is risky. If you get your 100,000 (which I don’t think is enough to make an impression of this administration) please let me know.
Ranney Moss, Sedona, Arizona
This petition would warm the cockles of the founding fathers (and mothers) hearts. Thank you, everyone, who has signed this petition. In doing so, you are striking a blow for freedom from tyranny.
Claire CdeBaca, Bellingham, Washington
We need more Americans to realize that they are associated with violence, cruelty, insensitivity and inequity, in Iraq and elsewhere around the globe every day, and then we will be angry and shamed enough to stop it. I do not want the world to hate me because of my government’s practices.
Anais Tuepker, Portland, Oregon
No killing in my name. No arms sales to Israel in my name. No torture in my name.
Mazda Riazi, Huntington, New York
In my lifetime — I was born during a war and been through about 5 more wars and now this one — looks like I will die during a war. I and my country are destroyed by this, I do not want to fund it.
Mary Atkins, San Leandro, California
Why we aren’t all taking this stand, I have no idea.
anonymous, Hisega, South Dakota
I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take this shit, anymore.
Roger Wood, Rochester, New York
As a matter of religious freedom of conscience, I choose not to participate in war-making but rather peace-making.
Eli Sasaran McCarthy
Bombing Iran is pure evil. I will not participate in such an atrocity.
Julie Morgan, Roseville, California
The USA is a bully and I will not support any more military spending.
Amejo Amyot, Saratoga Springs, New York
We must come to our senses, so I urge all not to support this present government administration.
Eric Rechel, Grand Junction, Colorado
Yes, this is just what we need.
John G. Root, Jr., Great Barrington, Massachusetts
We must stand up against this war, if even our Congress will not.
Laura Carlson, Tuscon, Arizona
It is now obvious that the only way we can stop the war is to do it ourselves.
Todd Brooks, Davenport, Iowa
Why wait for others? Begin now! I haven’t paid war taxes for and so far my life has not suffered for that commitment.
anonymous, Bolinas, California
While I am more than willing to pay taxes for education, the environment, social services, libraries, parks, transportation, et al, I am not willing to spend my money on killing other people and destroying our environment which is the consequence of war.
Kathleen Jackson, San Anselmo, California
This is a splendid idea. I hope it catches on like wildfire. Keep up the good work.
Taxes Fuel U.S. War Machine — an op-ed from Vickie Aldrich in which she writes about her war tax resistance, and the importance of giving things their right names
Cost of War — Grecia Quijije does the math and figures out the personal cost of war in a typical individual’s tax bill, and wonders if there’s any way to resist
Notes on the new minimum income tax-free income levels, techniques for avoiding bank account levies, and how much of your money you can legally give away without IRS complications
International news including an article by the late Spanish war tax resister Pedro Otaduy
Action ideas including an outreach letter to community radio, a new blog, another war tax resistance legal appeal, and an election day penny poll
NWTRCC news including an announcement of the next national gathering (Chicago ), the new home of our email discussion list, a hunt for nominees to join the Administrative Committee, and a follow-up on those arrested in the civil disobedience action during the last national gathering in Kansas City
Beth Seberger tells how she became a war tax resister and why
The new blog mentioned above is MathewCh5v9, featuring writing by war tax resister Vickie Aldrich, largely reviewing letters from her father from when he was in a Civilian Public Service camp for drafted conscientious objectors during World War Ⅱ.
She has also addressed her own conscientious objection — war tax resistance — in some posts:
Vickie Aldrich thinks about civil disobedience at her blog.
She says that maybe the term “civil disobedience” is too much defined in terms of the government and law being disobeyed.
Perhaps “civil initiative” would be better: “It changes the emphasis from objecting or disobeying authority to that of supporting and initiating civil society.”
In her blog post she also reproduces the text of a letter she wrote to her state’s U.S. senators to complain about the IRS having dinged her with a “frivolous filing” penalty for having included a letter of protest along with her last tax return.
I did an interview with the BBC.
I don’t like the BBC and I usually have distasteful experiences, but it has such a huge audience, I try to swallow my distaste and just do the interviews.
Seamus, the host, didn’t disappoint me — he was just like all the rest — combative and sensationalist.
At one point he asked me something like this:
“Cindy, given the fact that the Military Industrial Complex is so large and powerful, what kind of impact do you think not paying your taxes has on it?”
Well, at least I can read the latest act of horror committed by my country or its adjuncts and think to myself, “at least I didn’t fund that.”
How can one say he/she is against war and other atrocities, yet pay for them?
And Seamus was right, withholding my money and using it for good rather than evil doesn’t seem to be slowing down the war machine even a little bit, but what if conscientious war tax resistance were a movement and not a statement by just a few?
After that interview with Seamus and the meeting at the Peace House in war-torn, but healing Belfast, I received an email from one of my attorneys who is helping me with my tax issues telling me that my hearing before a magistrate to try and force me to comply will probably be on in Sacramento.
At the meeting at the Peace House, a gentleman asked me if I would go to prison rather than pay my taxes.
I don’t want to go to prison in the U.S.A. — that’s one of the last things in the world I want to do.
I don’t think that it will come to that, but my answer to the gentleman was, “Yes.”
This is one of the multitude of reasons why:
The other day, I saw a video report from the BBC, not some left wing anti-Semitic, radical news source, that told about an Israeli soldier that lined three sisters ages four to eight up against the side of their home in Gaza and shot them — killing two and crippling the four year old.
By conservative estimates, the U.S. gives Israel ten million per day for military aid.
Would I rather go to prison than fund the murder of these young girls and millions more?
That’s not a hard choice for me.
In Belfast, the British troops finally left, forced out by a combination of non-violent protest and armed struggle.
Tax resistance is one of the most non-violent forms of resistance that I can think of: One that can make a profound difference.
I hope we can Occupy Peace and grow the tax resistance movement to really and non-violently make a difference.
We must ask ourselves if funding the execution of babies is something that our moral center is comfortable with.
War tax resister Vickie Aldrich
reports that she’s getting some help from students at the University of
New Mexico law school in her fight against an
IRS
“frivolous filing” penalty:
They will argue it not in terms of my position on war taxes or the
IRS
regulations but in terms of “case law” and in relation to how the penalty
was applied. I’ll know more as time goes by. I was surprised at how much I
was relieved at this news. I was a bit disappointed that they suspect it
will take more than one semester. I fantasized that it was like a western
movie scene when the cavalry would come riding in to the rescue, the
IRS
would look up from their desks and drop everything and run shouting “look
look it’s New Mexico law students!,” “we give up.” Evidently, this is not
the case, we are not at the end, just beginning a new chapter.
New war tax resister Chris Gaunt explains what led her to take her stand, in Iowa’s Your Weekly Paper.
The Internal Revenue Code permits the IRS to slap a $5,000 “frivolous filing penalty” on anyone who files a tax return that “(A) does not contain information on which the substantial correctness of the self-assessment may be judged, or (B) contains information that on its face indicates that the self-assessment is substantially incorrect, and … (A) is based on a position which the Secretary has identified as frivolous… or (B) reflects a desire to delay or impede the administration of Federal tax laws.”
The IRS has been abusing this authority to fine people who file full and correct tax returns but who also include with their returns letters of protest indicating why they are not paying the full amount or why they feel their taxes are being misspent.
The law pretty clearly says the penalty only applies to filings that both assert a legal position the IRS considers frivolous or designed to delay or impede tax collection and accompany a tax return that is incomplete or incorrect.
But the IRS has a trick up its sleeve: in order to challenge an unlawful fine like this, according to the IRS’s own rules on the subject, you must first pay the fine.
Tax resisters who are unwilling to give money to the IRS are thereby locked out of the appeal process, and the agency can fine them whether or not they have the legal authority to do so.
The agency seems determined to continue abusing its authority in this way.
The law students who have taken on Vickie Aldrich’s case plan to pursue this angle in their defense strategy.
Vickie Aldrich gives us an update on her “frivolous filing” struggle with the IRS.
Aldrich accompanied her income tax returns with a letter indicating that for reasons of conscience she would not be paying the complete amount due.
The IRS interpreted this as her taking a frivolous legal position and fined her ($5,000 I think) for doing so.
She got the help of some law school volunteers, but seemed unable to convince anyone that she wasn’t making a legal argument at all, but merely a statement of her moral priorities.
The two sides seem to have come to an agreement, in which the main sticking point for the IRS seems to have been that they wanted Aldrich to stop sending them any such letters, whether she pays her tax or not.
The IRS issues Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs) to people who are required to file tax returns but who do not qualify for social security numbers.
Apparently they give these out promiscuously and without much review, further encouraging the fraudulent tax refund farming industry.
Often in tax resistance campaigns, not everybody is able to be a tax resister, for instance because not everybody is responsible for the tax being resisted, or because the point of the resistance is that some of the people being taxed ought not to be (and so only that class of people is resisting).
In such cases it can be useful to inspire those who cannot themselves resist the tax to show solidarity for the movement in other ways, and it can also help to provide or suggest roles that non-resisting sympathizers can play in the campaign.
Today I’ll mention some examples.
The Rebecca Rioters knew how to make their tollgate destruction popular among people who couldn’t (or even wouldn’t) participate directly.
For example:
One night, Rebeccaites destroyed the Rhos Gate, the Rhydyfuwch Gate, and the gate on the Llangoedmore road near Cardigan.
“ was market day in Cardigan, and every one who drove in was exempted from paying the usual toll, except those who came over the coach-road.
The people, looking at things from that point of view, were filled with Rebeccaite enthusiasm.
On that day nothing was heard at public-houses but proposals of good health and long life to Rebecca.”
On another occasion, they pointedly left intact the gates on “the Queen’s high road” but destroyed those on roads that the various parishes were required to maintain.
“This rendered Rebecca not unpopular amongst some farmers and others, many of whom paid the fine, rather than be sworn in as special constables.”
The Rebeccaites also sometimes resorted to threats to induce reluctant people to participate.
In one example:
All male inhabitants being householders of the hundred, were to meet , at the “Plough and Harrow,” Newchurch parish, to march in procession to Carmarthen — to defy the Mayor and magistrates, and to destroy the gate on their return.
Rich and poor were to be compelled to attend, and in case of illness a substitute must be found.
All owners of horses were to ride.
All persons absent without a sufficient excuse or substitute were to have their houses and barns destroyed by fire.
and in another:
[I]n order to ensure a full attendance of her followers, the church doors in the neighbourhood of Elvet were covered with notices in the dead of night, signed by “’Becca,” commanding all males above the age of sixteen and under seventy to appear at the “Plough and Harrow” on under pain of having their houses burnt and their lives sacrificed.
The time and place of meeting were also published by word of mouth at most of the Dissenting meeting-houses throughout the hundred, and wherever a disinclination was known to exist on the part of any person to join in the procession and to take part in the intended proceedings, he was privately admonished if he wished to protect his property from the firebrand of the midnight incendiary, and to excuse himself from personal injury, that he had better join the procession — “or else.”
This species of intimidation had the effect of drawing together immense numbers to the place of rendezvous.
despite the threats:
[Their cheers] were lustily responded to by groups of spectators who had by this time completely filled Guildhall Square, so that the Rebeccaites could hardly pass through.
At one point they explicitly threatened an attorney to make him join them on one of their destructive sprees, “so that if any proceedings were subsequently taken, he as local solicitor might be made a party to them.”
They sometimes also forced the toll house operators to take part in the destruction of their own toll houses.
When Palestinian Jews practiced tax resistance against the British occupation government in the at least one Jew back in London stopped paying his income tax as well.
In , in support of Palestinian doctors who were refusing to pay an Israeli income tax, shopkeepers in Gaza City launched multiple two-day strikes.
Some men who were sympathetic to the tax resistance of the Women’s Tax Resistance League found that they could participate in the campaign by exploiting a legal technicality that made them responsible for paying their wives’ income taxes.
If their wives refused to pay, and they were unable to pay and had no property to seize, they might be imprisoned for tax refusal — and some were.
American revolutionaries who were using boycotts and other means to try to cut off the support of taxed and British-monopoly products found allies back in the home country in the form of manufacturers and exporters who begged Parliament to rescind the taxes so as to bring the boycotts to an end.
War tax resister Vickie Aldrich recently got some pro bono legal assistance from law students in her battle with the IRS.
When residents of Beit Sahour launched a tax strike against the Israeli occupation, Israel put the town under seige.
Christian groups around the world attempted to bring humanitarian aid to the city, or even to visit (including the heads of the Greek Orthodox and Armenian Orthodox churches), but were turned away by the Israeli military.
The success of the anti-Poll Tax movement in Thatcher’s Britain relied on mass popular support.
The Anti-Poll Tax Unions “had to make people feel wanted and included and give everyone a sense that they had a role,” said movement chronicler Danny Burns.
“In order to sustain a long and protracted struggle, it was necessary for as many people as possible to feel responsible for some aspect of the movement, however small.
In the fight against the bailiffs and sheriff officers, the kids hanging around the streets passed on the word as soon as they saw a suspicious-looking character.
Parents and pensioners who were not out at work organised telephone trees and were ready to be at each others’ houses at short notice.”
You may have noticed less activity hereabouts than usual. Many things are
contributing to this, among which are the delights of early summer and the
sudden intermittent failure of the ‘b’, ‘n’, and ‘=’ keys on my laptop. But
I’m also putting in a lot more of my tax resistance writing energy into
finishing off my book and less into the blog.
Meanwhile, here are a few bits and pieces from here and there:
Vickie Aldrich won her battle with the
IRS.
You may remember that the agency hit her with a “frivolous filing” penalty
for including a letter of protest with her tax return. Since the return
itself was filled out correctly and completely, by law she should not have
been subject to such a penalty, but the
IRS
gave her one anyway, in a sort of knee-jerk fashion. The way the agency has
gamed the rules, you have to pay the fine before you appeal it,
so they’ve got conscientious tax resisters over a barrel. In Aldrich’s
case, she got some legal help and managed to get the agency to accept
$500 (10% of the fine). But, as I noted
, the
IRS
finally figured out that they were overstepping their bounds by issuing
such penalties, and,
according to Aldrich, they have refunded her $500 with interest.
The rolling ball of pundit dung called the
“IRS
scandal” continues to pick up new residue:
That’s the part of that particular scandalette that makes for vivid
headlines, but more serious are the allegations that IRS employees skirted the rules when setting up conferences: accepting kickbacks in the form of luxury ($1,500/night) room upgrades and other hotel perks rather than trying to find a low-cost venue.
It’s unlikely that the agency will find much sympathy in Congress as they appeal for more funding to help fix their dysfunctional and increasingly burdened organization.
Take a look at this graph of IRS funding history to see the sort of fix they’re in.
The Meeting urges all of its members to find direct expression of their
opposition to this escalation of violence — including war-tax resistance,
public demonstration and public civil disobedience, [and so forth]…
I missed my chance to be a conscientious objector when my number didn’t come
up in the last year of the draft. It was .
During high school I got the opportunity to think through whether I could kill
other people in a war. I couldn’t see how I could possibly allow myself to be
trained to shoot or bayonet another human being.
Well. It’s and my wife
Kathy and I’ve been well trained in killing. Not the kind of face-to-face
killing that kept me awake in my high school years. Like a bomber pilot, we
never see our victims unless they show up on the news. Maybe we can’t even be
directly implicated. We don’t look dangerous, but we are accomplices.
Over the years we’ve been trained to look the other way as our federal taxes
paid for others to kill, or threaten to kill, in our places. From Vietnam to
Afghanistan and beyond, we’ve had a hand in financing the deaths of millions
of human beings. With the nuclear weapons and delivery systems we’ve helped
pay for, billions of others are threatened.
Well, we didn’t have a choice did we?
We didn’t think we had a choice. If we didn’t pay our taxes we’d go to jail.
That simple, right? The idea of resistance never even occurred to either of us
until . Since that
time Kathy and I have wrestled with the idea of conscientious objection to the
draft in high school. The two ideas are closely related.
Our family’s bodies and minds are useless to the military at this point. Our
tax dollars are valuable. They are being drafted and have been drafted since
we started working and making a living wage. In today’s high-tech military,
warm bodies are of secondary importance. Cold cash is key.
Military spending makes up between 40 to 50% of the federal budget, depending
on whose statistics one uses.* In order to resist
conscription of my family’s share of this money, I submitted a new W-4 to my
employer and adjusted dependent allowances to reduce my withholding. Now only
about half as much is removed. At the end of the year we will correctly fill
out and file our federal income tax return as usual, but we will only pay 50
to 60% of the balance due. The remainder, the military portion, we will
redirect to worthy causes. With our tax forms we’ll enclose a letter that will
explain the reasons for our action.
What will happen to my family and me? Lord knows, but if past events are good
predictors of the future, then this is the likely scenario. First, the
IRS will
send us letters. These will go from brusque to threatening. There might be a
personal visit. At some point, maybe in a few months, maybe in a few years,
they will come after the money. This they will easily find in our family bank
accounts or by garnishing my pay. They will take interest and penalties beyond
our unpaid balance. They will almost certainly not put Kathy or me in jail (as
I said, the Federal Government has little use for our bodies, and no one is
known to have been jailed for war tax resistance in the
U.S.A.
for over a decade, though there are thousands of resisters).
So what’s the point? If they’re going to take the money anyway, why go through
all of this?
The point is that we have a choice about whether to look the other way while
my money is used for murder. In our way of thinking, we have an obligation to
object when we see evil, to avoid participating in it willingly or tacitly,
and to try to do what we can to stop it. The military will likely get our tax
money, but we will not have handed it to them. They will have to take it.
We don’t look so dangerous. But maybe we are. Instead of being a threat to
world peace, we’ve taken a step toward being a threat to world war.
* Good sources for this information are the
American Friends Service Committee, War Resisters League, and the Center for
Defense Information.
That issue also reprinted an article from the San Francisco
Chronicle about Elizabeth Boardman’s trip to Baghdad shortly before
the war. That article mentioned in passing her war tax resistance.
The issue included an article
by Vickie Aldrich on “A History of War Tax Resistance in the United States.”
Another note in that issue mentioned that her Meeting, the Las Cruses, New
Mexico, Monthly Meeting had adopted a minute “in support of war tax
resisters.”
Another article in that issue included the following minute, approved by the
Intermountain Yearly Meeting:
Our religious convictions lead us to take a stand against war. There are many
ways to do this, one of which is war tax resistance. We support those in our
Yearly Meeting who feel called to war tax resistance.
The issue featured a query from Peg
Morton of the Eugene Friends Meeting:
“Are We Ready to Refuse to Pay for War and Accept the Consequences?”
She asked Quakers to remember their history of war tax refusal, and invited
them to take part in the “War Tax Boycott” that
NWTRCC
had organized that year.
