Miscellaneous tax resisters → individual local or state tax resisters → James Stinson

Occasionally, you get tax resistance from someone who just gets fed up with paying too much for too little. There’s no grand ideological or conscientious stand involved, just a tax payer getting sick and tired of it.

The leader of The Grimsby Generalist Party has vowed not to pay his council tax to North East Lincolnshire Council, in protest at rising taxes during the recession.

He said: “I refuse to pay a penny — no matter the consequences.

“This council has taken money from us and we have hardly seen any benefit from it at all.

“Until we see an improvement in facilities and the council as a whole, I feel it is time to stand up and say, ‘No more — do better or get out’.

“I do not ask any citizen to join me in my protest, as the risk of not paying council tax is a prison sentence.

“However, I am willing to take this risk on behalf of every citizen in the country who is fed up and annoyed with their tax rises and local authorities.…

“I am refusing to pay the extortionate, crippling and disgusting council tax in my area — in protest at this council and in support of the hard-working citizens of North East Lincolnshire and the country.”

Last month I noted the case of James Stinson, who has decided to refuse to pay his council tax (in the U.K.) not from any high-minded philosophical principle but simply because he’s sick of being charged so much and getting so little in return.

A followup article gives an update on the consequent court case, in which he is facing fines and prison time for his stand:

“Someone has to stand up for what they believe in. I am prepared to go to prison over this — I believe that prison is a holiday camp nowadays anyway.”

“My lawful reasons for not paying are few and far between. What I am doing is illegal.

“However, I have a basic human right to afford to live and the crippling council tax I have to pay infringes that right.

“I hope that what I am doing will make people consider what they are paying in council tax and maybe they will start a petition or start protesting themselves.

“The increase in council tax has badly affected people in North East Lincolnshire. I have not taken this action lightly.

“I consider it to be a harsh increase during a recession. It is not a time when people should be demanding more money.

“It is a time when the council should look at ways of cutting costs.”