Some historical and global examples of tax resistance → Germany → war tax resisters → Gertrud Nehls

Some links of interest from here and there:

• I’m sure seeing a lot of Americans expressing their desire to stop paying taxes, now that Trump is going to be the one to spend them. Most of this is just blowing-off-steam, I expect, but some is in earnest.
  
  One example is this post from Rachel Murphy Azzara: Tax Resistance Is Our Last Recourse.
• In related news, Philly War Tax Resistance is presenting at a workshop on Escalating Political Resistance: Tactics for Racial Justice a week from Saturday in Philadelphia. War tax resisters will also be out in force at the inauguration protests in Washington.
• Erica Weiland at the NWTRCC blog answers one of the most frequently-asked-questions of war tax resisters: Will I go to jail if I refuse to pay war taxes?
• The (U.S.) National Taxpayer Advocate issued its annual report recently. The report includes a useful appendix summarizing the literature on Behavioral Science Lessons for Taxpayer Compliance. Most of this literature is written from the point of view of learning how to make subjects into more compliant taxpayers, but there are usually good lessons for those of us who are trying to do the opposite. Beware though of the social science replication crisis which may make many of these findings worthless.
• Nick Stafford paid his car tax by carting five wheelbarrows full of pennies to the Department of Motor Vehicles.
  • James Maule, at the MauledAgain blog, addresses the pay your taxes in pennies technique (and then does it again).
  • “Pay taxes in an inconvenient or symbolic way” is tactic #70 in the 99 Tactics of Successful Tax Resistance Campaigns.
• Westfälische Rundschau profiles war tax resister Gertrud Nehls (in German).
• Ny Tyd covers the Norwegian peace tax fund project. (See also ♇ 23 February 2013.)
• Mexico is also aflame with tax resistance sentiment, following the gasolinazo in which the process of somewhat privatizing the state-run gasoline monopoly led to a recent hike in gas prices. Here’s an example of coverage from Uruapan.

The latest news on the tax resistance front:

• Calls for people to refuse to pay taxes in resistance to Trumpism are coming fast. For example:
  • Death of Taxes: An Old Protest Tactic Revived for a New President, Allee Manning, Vocativ
  • Refusing to Pay Income Taxes for the Trump Agenda — a new NWTRCC press release
  • Americans Should Refuse to Pay Federal Income Tax if Trump Does Not Release Tax Returns, Ben Cohen, The Daily Banter
  • Divest from War, Invest in People, Kathy Kelly, LA Progressive
• A story is buzzing around in red and blue circles that California is threatening to stop paying federal taxes in response to the Trump administration’s threats to withhold funding from “sanctuary cities.” The only substance to the story, as far as I have been able to determine, is an off-the-cuff remark by Willie Brown, formerly mayor of San Francisco and formerly speaker of the California state Assembly, to this effect: “California could very well become an organized non-payer. They could recommend non-compliance with the federal tax code.” But nonetheless, this quasi-story has been generating a lot of buzz, along with the predictable ignorant outrage in the dittosphere.
• NWTRCC is urging war tax resisters to go public and sign their names to a pledge that will be used for publicity and advertising for the cause.
• Here’s some follow-up on German war tax resister Gertrud Nehls:
  • German Peace Activist Refuses to Pay “War Tax” to Berlin Government
  • 77-jährige Hagenerin zieht Klage gegen Finanzamt zurück
• Historian Vincent Geloso notes that refusal to participate in a census for tax resistance reasons has to be taken into account by historians when they evaluate the evidence in census returns.
• War tax resister Jason Rawn offers some Musings on Obstructing a Public Way, War Tax Resistance, War Profiteering, Divestment, Livelihood, and Destroying Hundreds of Targets at a Rate of Up to Ten Per Minute.
• Between Trump’s federal hiring freeze and his new executive order that any new federal regulation be accompanied by the removal of two others, the IRS’s already hobbled processes have gotten further bogged down. However, Treasury Secretary nominee Steven Mnuchin is swimming against the Republican tide (or signaling that it’s time for the tide to shift) by advocating for higher funding and more hiring at the agency.