“Relationships: When One is a WTR” — about “mixed marriages” in which one partner is a resister and the other one isn’t, and the challenges this can present.
There’s a short bit from me in this article, and a photo of me and my sweetie on the cover.
News about war tax resistance actions like the South-East gathering coming up in Georgia; outreach at the Gandhi-King Conference on Peacemaking, the anarchist bookfares in Tacoma and Seattle, and the School of the Americas mobilization last month; and two upcoming nuclear weapons abolition events.
Notes about a new war tax resistance counselors’ packet, the case of long-time Maine resister Frank Donnelly (who may be facing jail time for his resistance), the possibility that health savings accounts may be levied for back taxes, and some notes about how tax liens affect your credit rating.
There’s a new issue of More Than a Paycheck, NWTRCC’s newsletter.
In this issue:
The lead story concerns Frank Donnelly, a war tax resister from Maine who pled guilty to tax evasion charges and is due to receive prison time.
It is rare for a war tax resister to face criminal charges.
In this case, Donnelly resisted by working in the underground economy and underreporting his income.
The IRS seems to be treating it as an ordinary tax evasion case.
International news including a note on the World Council of Churches policy on war tax resistance, war tax resistance in Canada, and the upcoming International Conference on War Tax Resistance and Peace Tax Campaigns in Norway .
Obits for recently-deceased war tax resisters Dennis Brutus, George Willoughby, and Lillian Willoughby.
notes and updates about the new health care bill, IRS enforcement tactics, taxpatriatism, the advantages of credit unions, and the criminal case against war tax resister Frank Donnelly
resource updates, including new brochures, a “penny poll” tutorial, the new War Resisters League pie chart, and reviews of the new Death and Taxes film
If you liked Liz Scranton’s profile, you’ll probably also like this account from a produce-addled wild-eyed hairy mountain man.
Both tell of lifestyle choices that go beyond tax resistance to a more radical reinvention of what it means to live a good life.
Supporters of war tax resister Frank Donnelly, who is becoming one of the rare handful of American war tax resisters honored with criminal penalties for their stand, are rallying at the Bangor, Maine Federal Building on where he will be sentenced.
Long time war tax resister and peace advocate Frank Donnelly will appear for sentencing because of his war tax resistance on in Federal Court in Bangor.
Donnelly, who pled guilty in , for under-reporting his gross income on tax returns for , faces up to three years in prison.
A rally in support of Donnelly is planned for outside the Federal Court House and Post Office on Harlow Street in Bangor.
A statement by Donnelly following the sentencing will take place later that day outside the Federal Building.
The time of Donnelly’s statement is tentatively set for , but it may be delayed to later in the afternoon if the sentencing hearing has not finished by that time.
Donnelly has been an opponent of war since the Vietnam War era, when, after joining the army as a youth, he stopped wearing his uniform in opposition to the war.
He was jailed in a military stockade for four months in because of his opposition.
He began to refuse his taxes at that point so that he would not pay for similar military tragedies.
He has been active in the Ellsworth area volunteering for groups such as Habitat for Humanity, a local soup kitchen, and various peace organizations.
“I don’t see any difference between our children and the ones the U.S. goes around the world to kill,” summed up Donnelly.
Thousands of people in the United States have refused to pay taxes for war since the late 1940s. Almost without exception, the IRS has attempted, sometimes successfully and sometimes not, to seize money from those war tax resisters but not go to court.
For reasons unique to Donnelly’s case, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has chosen to criminally prosecute him.
“People who believe in peace, not war, should be thanked, not prosecuted,” said Larry Dansinger, a Frank Donnelly supporter who works with the Maine War Tax Resistance Resource Center.
“Every administration in recent decades, both Democrat and Republican, has kept us in war and created a huge, and unnecessary, military.
The only way to stop this drain on our resources is to not pay for it,” he continued.
The rally will include brief speeches by one or two of Donnelly’s supporters.
Then many will go into the courtroom for at least part of his sentencing hearing before federal judge John Woodcock.
War tax resister Frank Donnelly was sentenced to a year in prison for tax evasion.
Federal District Court Judge John Woodcock was unimpressed by Donnelly’s stand, in part, he said, because Donnelly didn’t go public with his resistance and didn’t notify the IRS of his protest.
By doing his protest stealthily (quietly not reporting much of his income on his tax returns), he seemed to Woodcock like just another tax evader.
Donnelly rejected the characterization.
“I’m a war tax resister… not a tax cheat.
You got to stand up for your beliefs… and so I’m going to jail for my beliefs."
I’m actually surprised Woodcock went to the trouble of making such a distinction.
Usually, the government’s position is that even if a resister is public with his or her protest, announces it to the feds, and so forth, it’s still just tax evasion and is no more justified than any other sort.
Those sorts of distinctions are usually just tactical concerns within the war tax resistance movement.
My guess is that what it amounts to is that judges love to pontificate, and sentencing people is much more fun if you can browbeat them too, so judges grab at whatever straws they can find.
Criminal prosecutions of war tax resisters are so rare that it’s hard to draw any conclusions, though.
The prosecution had sought an 18–24 month sentence.
Donnelly is also required to pay the back taxes, penalties, and interest.
A few more things of interest that passed through my RSS aggregator and email inbox while I was away:
George Monk and Molly Schaffnit went off-the-grid and back-to-the-land, motivated in part by their desire to live under the tax line on a lower income to avoid contributing to the U.S. military.
The Charleston Daily Mail tells their story. Also: they have a web site.
Rosenwald’s account was interesting, particularly that actual war tax resisters were few and far between at the conference (most countries were represented only by people working to enact some form of legal recognition for conscientious objection to military taxation, a la the Peace Tax Fund Act).
The United States and, to a lesser extent, Britain, was represented by a movement of civilly disobedient conscientious objectors as well.
I wonder why the Spanish resisters who have been so much in the news there didn’t show up on the radar at the conference.
If you would like to send letters of support to the two recently-imprisoned
war tax resisters mentioned in
’s post, I now have their
contact information:
Carl W. Steward
09105-088
FPC Montgomery
Federal Prison Camp
Maxwell Air Force Base
Montgomery, AL 36112
Francis Donnelly
01787-036
Unit E, Federal Correctional Institute Camp
P.O. Box 699
Estill, SC 29918
I’ve been away from home for the past several weeks and haven’t had many
chances to get to my old-fashioned snail-mail. So I only recently found out
that about a month ago the
IRS
levied a bank account that I closed back in
.
They’re trying to get $4,680.14 in blood from that particular stone, which is
what they figure I owe (along with penalties and interest) for my
taxes. For some reason they aren’t combining
that with what I owe for other years but seem to be going after each tax year
individually in separate efforts.
I also got a letter from imprisoned war tax resister Frank Donnelly, who seems
in good spirits and is looking forward to a release possibly as soon as
. He tells me he’s been “getting letters
from strangers in support of my tax resistance which makes me proud of my
actions.”
If you’d like to drop a line (or send a good book) to Frank Donnelly (or
Carlos Steward, also doing time for his war tax resistance), see
this Picket Line
entry for the correct addresses.
The new issue of More Than a Paycheck, NWTRCC’s newsletter, is now on-line, featuring the following stories:
No to War Again — a lead-off editorial about the evergreen resistance tactic of war tax resistance now that we’re confronting yet another war, this time in Libya
It was e.e. cummings, I used to love this when I was an early teenager about a conscientious objector [“i sing of Olaf glad and big”].
There was one line, “there is some shit I will not eat,” that reverberated in my social conscience since probably age 12.
There comes a point when there is something out there that we have to reject ultimately, and we have to throw ourselves on the wheel to stop it — even if the wheel devours us.
The boycott of taxes is so strong, so potentially powerful, that I guess I am urging other people to go forward without fear.
We are right.
War is wrong.
We are approaching the totalitarian state.
Take from them their finances, and we take their strength.
Eliminate the nexus between corporate wealth and industry and politics.
In this era there is so much to protest against, and tax is a very salient part of that.
A note about “frivolous filing” notices.
The IRS has gotten in the habit of responding to taxpayer protests with $5,000 frivolous filing penalties — even if the protests accompany a tax return that has been filled out correctly and legally.
What’s worse is that by the IRS’s rules, in order to appeal such a fine, you have to first pay it.
Peace activists have a resource of financial support when they accrue penalties for resisting taxes, participating in civil disobedience or in nonviolent direct action.
Through the PSC, the cost of a person’s or family’s penalty can be defrayed by almost 100%.
This is possible because a community of almost one hundred people have come together and committed to help each other with their fines.
Clare Hanrahan’s tax day speech:
“We must stop supporting this system of destruction.
Not merely because it is immoral and unjust, but because it is illegal — according to International Law.”
counseling notes — Congress considers revoking passports from tax delinquents, the IRS struggles to cope with a flood of tax fraud, and Ed Hedemann suggests low-income tax resisters inflate the numbers on their income tax statements so they have something to resist.
international news — tax resistance in Spain, and a new nonviolent campaign guide from War Resisters’ International
legal news — updates on the Frank Donnelly and Cindy Sheehan cases
action reports and photos
reports from the NWTRCC national gathering in Chicago
When people are arrested, tried, or imprisoned for tax resistance, their comrades have sometimes used this as an occasion to hold rallies or other demonstrations.
This shows support for the people being persecuted, demonstrates determination in the face of government reprisals, and can be a good opportunity for propaganda.
Here are some examples:
When Russell Kanning was convicted for leafletting at the IRS office in Keene, New Hampshire, supporters demonstrated at the jail, holding up “Free Russell Kanning” signs.
Supporters of jailed war tax resister Russell Kanning protest near the IRS office in Keene, New Hampshire
During the Dublin water charge strike, according to one organizer:
“The campaign immediately took a decision that when any individual was summonsed to court, we would turn up and contest every case — and that we would turn up in force. …
And when the first court appearances took place, over 500 people turned up outside Rathfarnham courthouse to support their neighbours.
We marched to the courthouse, had stirring speeches, several songs including ‘You’ll never Walk Alone’ and ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ and an amazing sense of our unbeatability.”
Sylvia Hardy, an elderly woman from Exeter, refused to pay her council tax, calling it highway robbery that the tax rates have risen by double-digits per year, while her pension rises at only 1.7% annually.
When she was summonsed to court, she walked alongside banner-waving supporters and was met by a crowd of supporters outside the courthouse.
Another pensioner who refused to pay his council tax bill for similar reasons, David Richardson, was taken to court in .
About fifty supporters demonstrated outside, singing “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow,” for Richardson.
Brian Wright was the first person imprisoned for failure to pay Margaret Thatcher’s “Poll Tax” — 700 people held a rally outside the prison to show support.
Other prisons holding poll tax resisters were later picketed by protesters.
When J.J. Keon, a Socialist from Grafton, Illinois, was jailed for refusing to pay what he contended was an illegal poll tax in , Socialist Party spokesman Ralph Korngold came to town and gave a speech outside the prison urging people to join Keon in resisting and to ask why no rich tax dodgers were behind bars.
Maurice McCrackin was jailed for war tax resistance in .
While there, war tax resister Richard Fichter picketed the federal prison camp where he was held.
Before that, he’d picketed the courthouse where McCracken was being tried.
When the IRS took war tax resister Ed Hedemann to court in to try to force him to turn over financial documents to the agency, some 25 supporters, waving signs and handing out leaflets, joined him to demonstrate outside the courthouse before the hearing.
Prior to war tax resister Frank Donnelly’s sentencing on tax evasion charges in , dozens of supporters rallied outside the courthouse.
One supporter noted that “[i]n addition to showing up at his sentencing, Donnelly’s friends in Maine threw three ‘Going-Away-To-Jail Parties’ for Donnelly in the days leading up to his prison sentence.
In one party surprise, Donnelly cut into a fresh Maine blueberry pie, and he found a file baked into the pie.”
The women’s suffrage movement in the United Kingdom was particularly noted for its courthouse and jailhouse rallies:
When Clemence Housman was jailed for failure to pay about $1 of tax in — with the authorities telling her that they were authorized to keep her in jail until she paid up, however long that took — the Women’s Tax Resistance League held a protest outside the prison, and “gave three rousing cheers for Miss Housman, which… it is hoped reached the lonely prisoner in her cell.”
The league then organized a procession to the prison gates.
The four mile walk, over muddy streets on a rainy day, ended in a surprising victory, as the government had thrown in the towel and released Housman — without getting a penny from her — after five days.
When a Women’s Suffrage wagon full of activists descended on the courthouse where Janet Legate Bunten was being charged with refusal to take out a license for her dog, the authorities panicked.
“The court was twenty minutes late in taking its seat,” a sympathetic observer noted, “and it was freely rumoured that the reason of the delay was that more police were sent for to be in attendance before the proceedings began!
There certainly was an unusual number present for so insignificant a court.”
The Women’s Tax Resistance League organized “a great gathering” to support Kate Harvey who was charged with ten counts of failing to pay national insurance taxes on her gardener’s salary.
Following the sentence, they shouted “Shame!” to the judge, then held a “poster parade” to the town square and held a mass meeting there.
