Tax resistance in the “Peace Churches” →
Mennonites / Amish →
Caroline & Rick Yoder
Some bits and pieces from here and there:
NWTRCC has reprinted Melvin D. Schmidt’s paper on “Tax Refusal as Conscientious Objection to War” at its site.
The paper gives a brief historical overview of war tax resistance, describes the results of a survey of sixty-one war tax resisters, speculates about IRS policy motives, and looks at the theory of war tax resistance through a Mennonite-focused theological lens.
Carolyn Yoder brings us a more up-to-date look Mennonite war tax resistance, in a recent article for The Mennonite that includes interviews with fourteen people from the Community Mennonite Church in Harrisonburg, Virginia, who are resisting war taxes in a variety of ways.
The TaxProf Blog recently reprinted some excerpts from Diane L. Fahey’s new paper “The Movement to Destroy the Income Tax and the IRS: Who Is Doing It and How They Are Succeeding”.
The paper, which takes a horrified-liberal perspective on this, asserts that Republicans and others of the right-wing are creating all of this outrage over “the IRS scandal” and other such things not just for short-term political gain but as part of a long-term plan to delegitimize the IRS and the nation’s tax system and erode the culture of tax compliance, at the service of “a small group of financial elites” who want to be able to stop paying.
“The article concludes that if this erosion in compliance attitudes continues, it will reach a level of magnitude that a tipping point will be reached and noncompliance will be an acceptable norm.”
This is the forty-sixth in a series of posts about war tax resistance as it
was reported in back issues of The Mennonite. Today
we find ourselves in our own decade.
Her father [Gerhard Friesen], she said, “was ahead of his time” in advocating
war tax resistance and speaking out at Mennonite conferences against
profiteering from the war economy. “His conscience would not let him support
the military.”
She said her father would have approved the
action by the General Conference Mennonite Church to honor employee Cornelia
Lehn’s request to not have her income taxes withheld from her paychecks.
The Friesens practiced war tax resistance by living simply, giving generously
and usually not earning enough to owe income taxes.
Although as a youth she was embarrassed by her father’s outspokenness to
audiences unreceptive to his message, Martha embraced her parents’ convictions
about Christian discipleship and peacemaking and taught them to her children.
She files tax returns but usually has a zero taxable income due to living
simply and giving 50 percent of her income to charity. She has also advocated
for the Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund legislation.
Daniel Riehl, in a letter to the editor printed in the
edition, invited readers to visit a
website where they could learn how much they were contributing to war by
entering their taxable income:
If one adds up the taxable income of every Mennonite in the land, how much is
the Mennonite church contributing to destroying other countries for the
benefit of our corporations? Is this really what we want to do with our
wealth, the wealth of “Die Stille im Lande,” the
capital of Anabaptists, the sweat of the brow of the meek and the nonviolent
peacemakers?
[M]y mind and heart increasingly made connections with the inherent
contradiction of praying for peace and paying for war via “war taxes.” How
could I, a follower of the Prince of Peace, justify paying for militarism and
the building of weapons with my tax dollars? Indeed, these weapons might be
used to harm or even kill my friends in the Middle East and people in other
places. Increasingly my conscience was bolstered by biblical convictions.
I struggled with others who were also trying to find clarity on this issue.
Later I worked in a Mennonite church in Pennsylvania where my role included
teaching the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7)
to ecumenical women’s groups and to young people.
Thus, while living in the state of the Quaker William Penn and delving deeper
into the Scriptures as well as the
Anabaptist witness, the path became clearer. For me the way to go was to live
below the war-taxable level.
After considerable discernment, the church’s education committee proposed to
the church leadership that I would continue in my position but would be paid
as a person in Mennonite Voluntary Service so as to keep my salary under the
taxable level. There was some resistance by the church leadership to my
becoming a voluntary service worker. Even though there was strong verbal
affirmation for our Anabaptist peace position, it was not acceptable to church
leadership for me to take this stance and commit to living more simply while
still holding the same position.
My resignation meant that I had six months before my two-year contract was up.
I continued wrestling with the question, How can we Mennonites continue being
the quiet in the land when the world is full of violence?
The edition carried
a
brief article about the Everence Sharing Fund, which distributed nearly a
million dollars in financial assistance to thousands of needy families
. It noted that the fund grew
out of the Everence Federal Credit Union, from which, “[b]ecause of the
organization’s unique tax status, money that would be paid in federal taxes is
instead distributed through mutual aid programs like the Sharing Fund.”
Mennonite World Conference asked a question of Mennonite Church
U.S.A.
(the U.S. branch of
the successor of the merged Mennonite Church and the Mennonite General
Conference): “How are we doing as a peace church?”
In the edition, André Gingerich
Stoner (“director of holistic witness for Mennonite Church
U.S.A.”)
wrote up an answer (“after taking counsel from area conference leaders and
testing [his] response with a wider circle of pastors, teachers, denominational
leaders, and practitioners and others”). Here’s the part that touched on
taxpaying:
For some of our congregations and members, “peace” is still primarily a matter
of not going to war. In a time when there is no draft, engagement in peace
witness wanes.
Our tax monies are conscripted, and each year our church members pay for
cruise missiles, smart bombs, and unmanned drones — with barely the slightest
tinge of conscience, let alone a whimper of protest.
April 15 is tax day in the United States. But while most people pay their
taxes by that date, a group of us at Community Mennonite Church in
Harrisonburg, Va., take a
different route. Concerned with the high percentage of our federal tax money
that goes to the military while we pray for peace, we witness to our Christian
faith through how we deal with this dilemma. This often includes redirecting a
portion of our military taxes to life-giving causes.
We are not against paying taxes. In fact, some of us would willingly pay
higher taxes if they supported education, health, infrastructure, sustainable
and clean energy sources, bike paths, or efforts to learn nonviolent ways to
address complex domestic and international conflicts. That’s why we prefer a
term other than “tax resistance” to describe what we do.
And we don’t think we have necessarily figured out the best way to exercise
our constitutional freedom to live by our conscience when it comes to taxes.
We’re ordinary people on a journey. We offer here a summary of what we do in
the hope that it will encourage others who take similar actions to share their
experiences in their congregations and communities. We also hope it will
inspire more people to consider this type of witness.
Nathan and Elaine Zook Barge
Nathan and Elaine Zook Barge, restorative justice specialist and STAR
(Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience) director.
How long have you engaged in an act witness through your taxes?
Over 30 years
Why do you do it?
Living and working in a Catholic and Mennonite community in Colorado
Springs, Colo., in
, we became aware of the
dissonance between saying we were conscientious objectors to war while
paying for war. Our commitment deepened during the 14 years we worked in
El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala with Mennonite Central Committee
(MCC).
Many friends or their family members had been killed or wounded by
U.S. weapons,
and many people suffered hunger, homelessness and illness because money
was used for weapons rather than for food, health and education.
Ironically, it was on tax day, , that we experienced too closely the fear and trauma of war.
Along with the Salvadorans on the bus, we prayed for safety as guns from
10 U.S.
helicopters strafed the area around us. That day, we became tax resisters
for life.
How do you do it?
It’s a journey, finding the way that works for our stage of life. Early
on, we withheld 50 percent of our taxable income and redirected it to
MCC.
Then for many years, we lived below the taxable level, first as a couple
and then as a family of four. The past number of years, we have withheld
a symbolic 10 cents for every $1 billion in the
U.S. military
budget and redirected that money for life-giving efforts rather than war.
We also reduce our taxable income through charitable donations and
deductions.
David Jost
David Jost, ESL Instructor
How long have you lived under the taxable level?
One year
How do you do it?
By making a small reduction in my pay-check to ensure that I owe no federal income tax.
Why do you do it?
Because I want to avoid financially supporting the
U.S. military
any way I can, and I believe that church institutions (such as Eastern
Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, to which I contribute by reducing
my paycheck) are better stewards of my money than the government.
Ray and Wilma Gingerich
Ray and Wilma Gingerich, retired peace and justice professor and retired hospice nurse
How long have you redirected a portion of your taxes?
Why do you do it?
We are Mennonites (inheritors of a nonviolent way of life); we are
followers of Jesus, who taught us to practice love toward our enemies.
This is the explanation we give to the
IRS.
But our primary reason to resist the payment of military taxes is to
witness to our church, to our Mennonite brothers and sisters. We are
simply seeking to live lives consistent to the faith we profess. If we,
the church, all those who profess Jesus as Lord of our lives, lived more
like Jesus, faithfully refusing to pay for war, our country would not go
to war. (That is a political fact.) How can we pray for peace while
paying for war? On a more personal level, we taught our children (our own
sons) not to join the military. Our two youngest sons are nonregistrants.
How inconsistent then it would be for us as parents to pay others to
prepare for war and to practice violence on our behalf!
How do you do it?
We withhold payment of the military portion of our federal income tax
(approximately 47 percent) and send that amount to life-giving
organizations (e.g., our local
congregation’s compassion fund, Christian Peacemaker Teams and the
National War Tax Resisters Coordinating Committee). A letter of
explanation is sent to the director of
IRS
and included with our annual
IRS
report. Most importantly, copies of our letter to the
IRS
are sent to key Mennonite Church
USA
leaders and heads of organizations. With these letters, a handwritten
note is included — an encouragement to promote the witness against the
payment of military taxes.
Sue Klassen and John Zimmerman
Sue Klassen and Johann Zimmermann, public health nurse and structural engineer
How long have you redirected a portion of your taxes?
We have always kept our earnings low, not only for a lifestyle choice but
to pay as little tax for military as possible. About eight years ago,
when we came back from overseas with
MCC
and had taxable earnings, we started deducting taxes directly for
military reasons.
Why do you do it?
We do it in order to inform our elected officials of our stand for peace.
We send a statement to the local paper each year, and it has brought us
into conversation with many different people from many walks of life
about pacifist beliefs and peace initiatives.
How do you do it?
During the year, we underestimate our tax payments. Then when we have
to pay what is due at the end of the year, we withhold a symbolic amount
of 10 cents for every $1 billion that is annually spent on military
funding, which adds up to approximately $80.
Jennifer and Kent Sensenig
Jennifer and Kent Davis Sensenig, lead pastor at Community Mennonite Church and EMU adjunct professor
How long have you redirected a portion of your taxes or minimized what you
owe?
About 15 years
Why do you do it?
It is a small witness for peace, a part of our life of discipleship to
Jesus Christ and a way of expressing that we seek a more just, peaceable
and sustainable
U.S. public
policy. Kent’s parents lived in Vietnam for a decade during the
U.S. military
intervention into that civil war and saw firsthand the destructive
consequences
U.S. foreign
policy can have.
How do you do it?
For some of the early years of our marriage we withheld a symbolic
portion of our taxes (less than $100), which provided a reason to send
letters to our Congressional representatives, the President, and the
IRS,
expressing our faith-based resistance to
U.S. budgetary
priorities vis-a-vis discretionary federal spending.
We’re not always consistent. Some years we have withheld the entire
percentage of federal taxes for military expenditures, and some years we
have withheld a symbolic portion. Some years we have filed under protest
and written letters. For the last five years, we have managed to not owe
any federal taxes (beyond Social Security) by maxing out a variety of
legal tax-break options, such as charitable giving,
IRA
investments and mortgage-interest deductions. One of us also only has
part-time paid employment, which keeps taxable income lower.
Dorothy Jean Weaver
Dorothy Jean Weaver, seminary professor of New Testament
How long have you engaged in an act of witness through your taxes?
Thirty years or so
How do you do it?
I got this idea years ago from an
MCC
info sheet. I split my tax monies and write two checks: 55 percent to the
U.S. Treasury
and 45 percent to the
U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services. I mail both checks to the
IRS
along with a letter, copied to my legislators, explaining why I am doing
this. I also send a symbolic sum of $45 to
MCC
for their “taxes for peace” fund.
Why do you do it?
In the letter I say that as a follower of Jesus Christ I cannot in
conscience pay the portion of my federal taxes that goes to military
purposes. I note that I have no intention to avoid paying the money I owe
to the federal government. I simply wish to designate that these funds go
to a cause that is life-giving, not death-dealing. And I submit these
checks as an expression of my freedom of religion, protected by the
constitution, the freedom not to have to take an action that is
contradictory to my Christian beliefs.
Anna and Ben Wyse and family
Anna and Ben Wyse, public health nurse and owner of Wyse Cycles, with their children Martha, Desmond, and Sam.
How long have you been living below the taxable income level?
Since we got married, 13 years ago — with the exception of one year when we accidentally made a little too much money.
Why do you do it?
Living below the taxable income level is at some level an act rooted
in helping us sleep at night.
One component of American militarism has to do with protecting our
consumptive lifestyles. The uneven distribution of wealth and uneven
consumption of resources are one factor that drives conflict both in some
localized conflicts and some international conflicts. As Americans, we
cannot help but participate in and benefit from the violent structures
that underpin our economy and society. By living under the taxable level,
we at least are attempting to reckon with the dissonance we experience
between what we believe and the broken world in which we all live.
We often feel like this is sort of a token act that will never really
make a difference. We also know there are still numerous ways that we are
complicit in the machinery of violence that our society relies on.
Despite all that, this is one of the important choices we have made about
how to express faithfulness and a longing for a different kind of
world.
How do you do it?
By bringing home one income. When Anna had a job, Ben did a lot of
volunteer work, and when he worked for folks he asked them to donate to
various nonprofits in lieu of payment for services. Now Anna is a
full-time stay-at-home parent, and we live on Ben’s income. We have to be
careful with our budget, but we still live a far more abundant lifestyle
than many of our neighbors in Harrisonburg and many of our global
neighbors.
Rick and Carolyn Yoder
Rick and Carolyn Yoder, retired business and economics professor/semiretired international health systems consultant and psychotherapist
How long have you redirected a portion of your taxes?
Since we were married 38 years ago
Why do you do it?
Our work has taken us to many countries where we have seen both the
positive and negative effects of our tax dollars. Carolyn’s work in
psychosocial trauma healing often involves dealing with the fallout of
violent conflict. We believe it’s a moral issue that nearly half our
taxes go to military spending and that we spend more than the next
highest 15 countries combined on the military while cutting domestic
spending on programs such as health care, education, and the social
safety net. Redirecting a portion of our taxes to life-giving causes
helps reduce the gap between our stated values on peace and nonviolence
and our actions.
The research on bystanders says that silence in the face of harm or
wrongdoing emboldens harmdoers, leading them to assume others support and
agree with them. Doing something, even something small, puts them on
alert that someone has noticed and doesn’t agree. We’re not under the
illusion that our letters and voice will change things, but it does
change us. And knowing what we know, how can we be silent
bystanders?
How do you do it?
We first take steps to ensure that we owe the
IRS
on April 15, rather than having a refund due us. Then we redirect a
symbolic amount, a couple hundred dollars, from our federal income tax
payments to the National Peace Tax Fund and
MCC.
We enclose a letter with our tax returns, stating what we are doing and
why, with copies to the
U.S. President,
our legislators and our congregation. We also enclose a copy of the formal
action taken by Community Mennonite Church to offer its support morally,
financially and otherwise to its members.
A question many people have for those of us who redirect our taxes to
life-giving causes is about the consequences from the
IRS. Sue
and John’s experience is typical: “We receive quarterly letters from the
IRS each
year, informing us that we owe them money. We respond to them with a letter
restating our reasons. If in a given year we have prepaid too much tax, the
money that we have withheld gets subtracted from our return. We do not really
mind that this happens, because we find that we have already achieved the goal
of bringing attention to our stance on military spending and war.”
Rick and Carolyn have had a lien placed on their bank account for the amount
owed plus interest and a small penalty. They have also had the
IRS get
the amount due by electronically taking their state tax refund. Ray and Wilma
have been audited numerous times, likely due to the high amount of deductions
they have for contributions.
H.A. Penner applauded
that article in a letter, putting in a word for the “$10.40 For Peace” project
along the way. In
a
later letter () he added:
Now, in the interest of peace, must we demand an arms embargo against all
armed actors in Iraq and Syria, including the United States?
Paying for war is a form of participation in war…
But here alas, he decided to plug the Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund instead
of full-throated war tax resistance.
Some links that have bubbled up in my browser over the past few weeks as I’ve been on my Brethren binge:
Businesses in Chattanooga, Tennesseee held a one-day strike in support of #BlackLivesMatter, as a way to withhold sales tax dollars in order to pressure the city government to redirect funding from the police department to less-nefarious uses.
American war tax resister Ed Agro has died.
Agro was one of the founders of the New England War Tax Resistance regional group, and was also the admin behind the wtr-s war tax resistance email list.
Richard Yoder responds in a letter: “I am grateful that there seems to be a renewed emphasis on the historic peace witness of the Mennonite tradition, including war-tax resistance and redirecting of our tax dollars to life-giving activities. The nature of warfare has changed from the past when the military needed our bodies to now needing our dollars to pay for high-tech warfare. So in the same way Mennonites in the past found a way to say no to participating in war through conscientious objection, we now need to do the same with our tax dollars.”
A Glasgow man whose apartment keeps getting flooded has accused the city of negligence for signing off on the building’s construction, and is refusing to pay his council tax as a pressure tactic.
Anabaptist World features a letter from Harold A. Penner urging Mennonites to redirect their war taxes to the Mennonite Church USA Peace Tax Fund.
And here is some more news about the ongoing troubles at the IRS.
This CNN Business story goes in some depth into how a loose coalition of activists forced the IRS into an embarrassing and costly retreat from its plan to use facial recognition technology to verify the identity of taxpayers using its online account portal.
This note from the National Taxpayer Advocate gives more details about the IRS plan to stop issuing certain enforcement action notices while it tries to deal with the enormous backlog of unprocessed returns and other correspondence.
For example: “If a taxpayer’s account has been assigned to one of the IRS’s automated levy programs (ALPs), the IRS is also suspending the levies made by those programs…”
The agency will also not be able to pursue many new levies because in order to do so, it must first send the taxpayer a letter informing them of their right to request a Collection Due Process hearing, and they’ve temporarily stopped the automatic sending of those letters.
Some 53,000 IRS employees are still on remote work — about two-thirds of the agency’s workforce, which an IRS spokesperson characterized as “a maximized telework posture.”
But privacy rules prevent remote processing of the millions of paper tax returns mailed to the IRS, as well as the examination of returns with discrepancies from IRS records, the issuance of refunds and dealing with other taxpayer mail.
The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University issued a report showing that the IRS audits the poorest American households at five times the rate as the rest.
This seems to be an effect of the agency’s plummeting rate of audits of the well-to-do combined with its increasing use of cheap-and-easy “correspondence audits” against low-income taxpayers who apply for the Earned Income Tax Credit.
As the National Taxpayer Advocate puts it:
The IRS correspondence audit process is structured to expend the least amount of resources to conduct the largest number of examinations — resulting in the lowest level of customer service to taxpayers having the greatest need for assistance.
Last Summer, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a spending bill that would have boosted the IRS budget.
That bill got bogged down in Congress before anything could come of it.
A recent appropriations bill resurrected the IRS budget boost, but pared it way back, so now the agency budget will only rise by 6%.
These days that’s hardly enough to keep up with inflation.
And the appropriations bill restricts how various parts of the increase can be spent, so some parts of the agency budget — tax enforcement for example — will see even smaller increases.
