Some bits and pieces from here and there:
- Here’s some more good stuff about the guerrilla electricians in the Greek Δεν Πληρώνω (“Won’t Pay”) movement who reconnect the power to people who have had their electricity cut off for failure to pay the new taxes. The article claims that the movement has successfully, and quite illegally, relit a thousand Greek homes in this way.
- A Huffington Post columnist covers Americans who are renouncing their citizenships to get out from under the IRS.
- Francisco José Sarrión Torres reports on the activities of the Tax Resistance Group of Ciudad Real [Spain]: “This year we wrapped up the war tax resistance campaign with no refunds redirected to two-thirds of the tax resisters in Ciudad Real. It has been reclaimed as though it were an error, but we have already stated publicly and in writing that it was not, but was an exercise of conscientious objection in the face of the misuse of our taxes by the government. We have redirected €870 to organizations like Ecologists in Action of Ciudad Real, the 0.7% Project of the Rural Christian Movement, the Anselmo Lorenzo Foundation, or Doctors Without Borders, from believing that these are some that actually contribute to progressing toward a peaceful world.”
- Carlos Lopez has an article on tax resistance up at the Euribor blog.
Some excerpts, translated from Spanish:
Lopez has decided to become a “social rat” — reducing his consumption as much as possible so as to avoid paying the value-added tax:…there are reasons to protest, most of us understand that the national books have been cooked and since we are shackled with deep debt, the most workable, quick, and “EU-recommended” solution is budget cuts, to be prioritized in terms of their expendability — and it is here that most of us feel betrayed, by seeing how expendable the citizens are and how comparatively vital are the political class, who have barely changed their privileges.
He also recommends a few other methods of tax resistance. There were over a hundred comments on the article last I looked, many of them off-topic in the classic internet fashion, but giving some clue as to the reach of the article.…I declare a consumer strike, and I will get the most out of every cent I earn; I subscribe to “lonchafinismo” (responsible consumption). I’ll stretch out the time on my monthly contact lenses, I’ll cut my hair less, I’ll give up on going to the movies and watch films at home, I’ll stretch expiration dates, will drive more economically. Certainly the shops are not to blame, and I’m sorry for them, but if the government comes to realize that it [the VAT increase] is a useless measure, perhaps they will rethink it.
