Some historical and global examples of tax resistance → United States → Vietnam War, ~1965–75 → No Tax for War Committee protest, 1967 → Henry A. Felisone

Here are a handful of artifacts relating to the American war tax resistance movement circa 1967.

First, some relics that were filed alongside a letter from Herbert Sonthoff to W. Walter Boyd (though I think this filing may be arbitrary and that the letters are not related to each other):

An Open Letter ^*

At this late date it is pointless to muster the evidence which shows that the war we are waging in Vietnam is wrong. By now you have decided for yourself where you stand. In all probability, if you share our feelings about it, you have expressed your objections both privately and publicly. You have witnessed the small effect these protests have had on our government.

By April 15^th, every American citizen must decide whether he will make a voluntary contribution to the continuation of this war. After grave consideration, we have decided that we can no longer do so, and that we will therefore withhold all or part of the taxes due. The purpose of this letter is to call your attention to the fact that a nationwide tax refusal campaign is in progress, as stated in the accompanying announcement, and to urge you to consider refusing to contribute voluntarily to this barbaric war.

Signed:

Prof. Warren Ambrose	Mathematics, M.I.T.
Dr. Donnell Boardman	Physician, Acton, Mass.
Mrs. Elizabeth Boardman	Acton, Mass.
Prof. Noam Chomsky	Linguistics, M.I.T.
Miss Barbara Deming	Writer, Wellfleet, Mass.
Prof. John Dolan	Philosophy, Chicago University
Prof. John Ek	Anthropology, Long Island University
Martha Bentley Hall	Musician, Brookline, Mass.
Dr. Thomas C. Hall	Physician, Brookline, Mass.
Rev. Arthur B. Jellis	First Parish in Concord, Unitarian-Universalist, Concord, Mass.
Prof. Donald Kalish	Philosophy, U.C.L.A.
Prof. Louis Kampf	Humanities, M.I.T.
Prof. Staughton Lynd	History, Yale University
Milton Mayer	Writer, Mass.
Prof. Jonathan Mirsky	Chinese Language and Literature, Dartmouth College
Prof. Sidney Morgenbesser	Philosophy, Columbia University
Prof. Wayne A. O’Neill	Graduate School of Education, Harvard University
Prof. Anatol Rapoport	Mental Health Research Institute, University of Michigan
Prof. Franz Schurmann	Center for Chinese Studies, University of Calif., Berkeley
Dr. Albert Szent Gyorgy	Institute for Muscle Research, Woods Hole, Mass.
Harold Tovish	Sculptor, Brookline, Mass.
Prof. Howard Zinn	Government, Boston University

^* Institutions listed for informational purposes only

P.S. The No Tax for War Committee intends to make public the names of signers, hence if you wish to add your signature, early return is desirable. Contributions are needed, and checks should be made payable to the Committee.

The following page, dated 11 March 1967, shows a mock-up of the intended public advertisement showing the signers’ names:

The committee will publish the above statement with names of signers at tax deadline — April 15.

Send signed statements to: NO TAX FOR WAR COMMITTEE, c/o Rev. Maurice McCrackin, 932 Dayton St., Cincinnati, Ohio 45214.

For additional copies of this form, put number you will distribute and name and address on the following lines:
No. _____ Name ____________________
Address _________________________

Signers So Far

• Meldon and Amy Acheson
• Michael J. Ames
• Alfred F. Andersen
• Ross Anderson
• Beulah K. Arndt
• Joan Baez
• Richard Baker
• Bruce & Pam Beck
• Ruth T. Best
• Robert & Margaret Blood
• Karel F. Botermans
• Marion & Ernest Bromley
• Edwin Brooks
• A. Dale Brothington
• Mrs. Lydia Bruns
• Wendal Bull
• Mrs. Dorothy Bucknell
• John Burslem
• Lindley J. Burton
• Catharine J. Cadbury
• Maris Cakars
• Robert and Phyllis Calese
• William N. Calloway
• Betty Camp
• Daryle V. Carter
• Jared & Susan Carter
• Horace & Beulah Champney
• Ken & Peggy Champney
• Hank & Henry Chapin
• Holly Chenery
• Richard A. Chinn
• Naom [sic] Chomsky
• John & Judy Christian
• Gordon & Mary Christiansen
• Peter Christiansen
• Donald F. Cole
• John Augustine Cook
• Helen Marr Cook
• Jack Coolidge, Jr.
• Allen Cooper
• Martin J. Corbin
• Tom & Monica Cornell
• Dorothy J. Cunningham
• Jean DaCosta
• Ann & William Davidon
• Stanley F. Davis
• Dorothy Day
• Dave Dellinger
• Barbara Deming
• Robert Dewart
• Ruth Dodd
• John M. Dolan
• Orin Doty
• Allen Duberstein
• Ralph Dull
• Malcolm Dundas
• Margaret E. Dungan
• Henry Dyer
• Susan Eanet
• Bob Eaton
• Marc Paul Edelman
• Johan & Francis Eliot
• Jerry Engelbach
• George J. Etu, Jr.
• Mary C. Eubanks
• Arthur Evans
• Jonathan Evans
• William E. Evans
• Pearl Ewald
• Franklin Farmer
• Bertha Faust
• Dianne M. Feeley
• Rice A. Felder
• Henry A. Felisone
• Mildred Fellin
• Glenn Fisher
• John Forbes
• Don & Ann Fortenberry
• Marion C. Frenyear
• Ruth Gage-Colby
• Lawrence H. Geller
• Richard Ghelli
• Charles Gibadlo
• Bruce Glushakow
• Walter Gormly
• Arthur Goulston
• Thomas Grabell
• Steven Green
• Walter Grengg
• Joseph Gribbins
• Kenneth Gross
• John M. Grzywacz, Jr.
• Catherine Guertin
• David Hartsough
• David Hartsough
• Arthur Harvey
• Janet Hawksley
• James P. Hayes, Jr.
• R.F. Helstern
• Ammon Hennacy
• Norman Henry
• Robert Hickey
• Dick & Heide Hiler
• William Himelhoch
• C.J. Hinke
• Anthony Hinrichs
• William M. Hodsdon
• Irwin R. Hogenauer
• Florence Howe
• Donald & Mary Huck
• Philip Isely
• Michael Itkin
• Charles T. Jackson
• Paul Jacobs
• Martin & Nancy Jezer
• F. Robert Johnson
• Woodbridge O. Johnson
• Ashton & Marie Jones
• Paul Jordan
• Paul Keiser
• Joel C. Kent
• Roy C. Kepler
• Paul & Pauline Kermiet
• Peter Kiger
• Richard King
• H.A. Kreinkamp
• Arthur & Margaret Landes
• Paul Lauter
• Peter and Marolyn Leach
• Gertrud & George A. Lear, Jr.
• Alan and Elin Learnard
• Titus Lehman
• Richard A. Lema
• Florence Levinsohn
• Elliot Linzer
• David C. Lorenz
• Preston B. Luitweiler
• Bradford Lyttle
• Adriann van L. Maas
• Ben & Sue Mann
• Paul and Salome Mann
• Howard E. Marston, Sr.
• Milton and Jane Mayer
• Martin & Helen Mayfield
• Maurice McCrackin
• Lilian McFarland
• Maureen & Felix McGowan
• Maryann McNaughton
• Gelston McNeil
• Guy W. Meyer
• Karl Meyer
• David & Catherine Miller
• James Missey
• Mark Morris
• Janet Murphy
• Thomas P. Murray
• Rosemary Nagy
• Wally & Juanita Nelson
• Marilyn Neuhauser
• Neal D. Newby, Jr.
• Miriam Nicholas
• Robert B. Nichols
• David Nolan
• Raymond S. Olds
• Wayne A. O’Neil
• Michael O’Quin
• Ruth Orcutt
• Eleanor Ostroff
• Doug Palmer
• Malcolm & Margaret Parker
• Jim Peck
• Michael E. Pettie
• John Pettigrew
• Lydia H. Philips
• Dean W. Plagowski
• Jefferson Poland
• A.J. Porth
• Ralph Powell
• Charles F. Purvis
• Jean Putnam
• Harriet Putterman
• Robert Reitz
• Ben & Helen Reyes
• Elsa G. Richmond
• Eroseanna Robinson
• Pat Rusk
• Joe & Helen Ryan
• Paul Salstrom
• Ira J. Sandperl
• Jerry & Rae Schwartz
• Martin Shepard
• Richard T. Sherman
• Louis Silverstein
• T.W. Simer
• Ann B. Sims
• Jane Beverly Smith
• Linda Smith
• Thomas W. Smuda
• Bob Speck
• Elizabeth P. Steiner
• Lee D. Stern
• Beverly Sterner
• Michael Stocker
• Charles H. Straut, Jr.
• Stephen Suffet
• Albert & Joyce Sunderland, Jr.
• Mr. & Mrs. Michael R. Sutter
• Marjorie & Robert Swann
• Oliver & Katherine Tatum
• Gary G. Taylor
• Harold Tovish
• Joe & Cele Tuchinsky
• Lloyd & Phyllis Tyler
• Samuel R. Tyson
• Ingegerd Uppman
• Margaret von Selle
• Mrs. Evelyn Wallace
• Wilbur & Joan Ann Wallis
• William & Mary Webb
• Barbara Webster
• John K. White
• Willson Whitman
• Denny & Ida Wilcher
• Huw Williams
• George & Lillian Willoughby
• Bob Wilson
• Emily T. Wilson
• Jim & Raona Wilson
• W.W. Wittkamper
• Sylvia Woog
• Wilmer & Mildred Young
• Franklin Zahn
• Betty & Louis Zemel
• Vicki Jo Zilinkas

Following this was a page explaining how to go about resisting:

Some Methods of Nonpayment

1. For those owing nothing because of the Withholding Tax.
   
   Such persons write a letter to the Internal Revenue Service, to be filed with the tax return, stating that the writer cannot in good conscience help support the war in Vietnam, voluntarily. The writer therefore requests a return of a percentage of the money collected from his salary.
   
   Note: Of course, the IRS will not return the money. However, the writer has refused to pay for the war voluntarily and has put it in writing. This symbolic action is not to be belittled since anybody who does this allies himself with those who will withhold money due the IRS.
2. For those self-employed or owing money beyond what has been withheld from salary.
   
   Such persons write a letter to be filed with the tax return, stating that the writer does not object to the income tax in principle, but will not, as a matter of conscience, help pay for the war in Vietnam. The writer is therefore withholding some or all of the tax due.

Note: In all cases, we recommend that copies of these letters be sent to the President and to your Senators.

Remarks:

The Internal Revenue Service has the legal power to confiscate money due it. They will get that money, one way or another. However, to obstruct the IRS from collecting money due (by not filing a return at all, for example) seems less important to us than the fact that each is refusing to pay his tax voluntarily. With this in mind, many of us are placing the taxes owed in special accounts and we will so inform the IRS in our letters.

Willful failure to pay is punishable by a fine of up to $10,000 and up to a year in jail, together with the costs of prosecution. So far, the IRS has prosecuted only those who have obstructed collection (by refusing to file a return, by refusing to answer a summons, etc.). Usually, the IRS has collected the tax due plus 6% interest and possibly an added fine of 5% for “negligence”. The fact that the IRS has rarely, if at all, prosecuted tax-refusers to the full extent of the law does not mean they will not do so in the future.

Finally, an article from the December 1967 edition of The Capitol East Gazette:

Tax Refusal Urged by Group

Two thousand anti-war leaflets on telephone tax refusal were distributed in Capitol East on Saturday, Nov. 18, by members of CHOICE, a group of local residents who are withdrawing their support for the Vietnam war.

The leaflet explains that the 10% phone tax was enacted in April 1966 specifically to raise money for the Vietnam war.

According to CHOICE, the phone company will not remove a person’s telephone if he refuses to pay the tax. The company asks refusers to state why they are withholding the tax and then turns the matter over to the Internal Revenue Service.

According to CHOICE, there are presently 25 known tax refusers in the Capitol Hill area.

Those desiring CHOICE’s leaflet are asked to call LI 6‒9836.

This is the twentieth in a series of posts about war tax resistance as it was reported in back issues of The Mennonite. Today we reach 1973.

The Paris Peace Accord is about to be signed, beginning the eventual withdrawal of U.S. troops from Vietnam. Will the growing war tax resistance movement in the General Conference Mennonite Church be able to sustain its momentum as anti-war urgency slackens?

Of all the varieties of tax resistance, the pay-taxes-but-complain method seems the least likely to satisfy or impress. But some people do seem to like it. For example, a letter from Sem and Mabel Sutter to the Commissioner of the IRS, dated 18 January 1973 explained that they were paying “the two-thirds of our 1972 federal income tax which is budgeted for military purposes… under protest.” Because “the money is already in your hands in the form of withholding tax, we have no recourse but to pay it, while stating that it violates our conscience to do so.” The typical complaints about “the wholesale destruction of human life” and the opportunity costs of military spending followed, along with a patient explanation of the Mennonite point of view on “resistance to war.” Finally the letter concluded that “until such time as legislative provision is made for conscientious objection to war tax, we shall pay our tax under protest.”

The 6 February 1973 issue included a letter from Steven G. Schmidt. Similarly anguished about the Vietnam War, he suggested something a bit stronger than paying-under-protest:

I would like to suggest one further action to people who follow Christ and to people who believe in God. Income tax money is due soon. Most of that money will go to disrupt and destroy lives. Perhaps church people would serve God best by sending this money to nonmilitary agencies or to local charities or the church. I, for one, pledge my support to you — and I know others who do, too. Let me know if we can help you in any way, for it takes courage to follow conscience.

As Joshua put it (24:15), “Choose ye this day whom you will serve… as for me and my house, we shall serve the Lord.” We at our house have come to believe that putting the money that would have gone to IRS into life-giving investments is serving the Lord.

A letter from David Janzen, dated 19 February 1973, hoped to keep the war tax resistance momentum going as the anti-war movement’s urgency was being deflated by the withdrawal of the United States from the Vietnam War:

Tax resistance

Dear [The Mennonite editor] Larry [Kehler]: I have been asked by a number of friends, “Now that the war is over in Vietnam, will you end your war tax resistance?” Since most of my friends read The Mennonite, I wanted to share my answer here, hoping it may be helpful to others.

No, I will not pay the telephone excise tax (now 9 percent); I will do my best to owe no income tax and will refuse to pay whatever I do owe.

I am glad that the United States has finally agreed to withdraw all troops from Vietnam and exchange prisoners with Hanoi, but… the war is not over and U.S. complicity in it has not ended. Our bombers in Indochina have not been brought home, rather they are raining destruction on Cambodia and Laos in in unprecedented levels. The victims of these bombs are not my enemies. Why should they suffer for the sins of their rulers, or mine?

Furthermore, the President has requested a $4.7 billion increase in the Pentagon’s budget, and this in supposed peace time. What is the purpose of all this war spending that consumes 60 cents of every income tax dollar? It is, it seems to me, getting ready to put down with massive violence, the next threat to the American empire, or worse, to win the nuclear showdown of World War Ⅲ. By contributing to this kind of terror politics, I do not demonstrate God’s nature nor bring his peace. So, for the foreseeable future, I plan to reinvest my war taxes into works of mercy.

If anyone wants information on how to refuse taxes for war, even if you are in a withholding situation, write me or War Tax Resistance, 912 E. 31^st St., Kansas City, Missouri 64109.

I haven’t really looked into the question of whether Canadians are doing more good than evil by paying their taxes. C.J. Hinke of 918 Center St. South in Whitby, Ontario, is apparently the only open tax resister in Canada, and would be glad to share his reasons with inquirers.

Walton Hackman, executive secretary of the Mennonite Central Committee’s “Peace Section” noted that war tax redirection to support that Section’s work had increased:

Taxes-for-peace fund new channel for witness

During the past year the MCC Peace Section has received $4,000 in contributions made in lieu of tax payments. This was a new phenomenon. In previous years only several hundred dollars were contributed in this way. The contributions were unsolicited; they were made by individuals whose consciences would not allow them to pay taxes which were used for war purposes.

Since a substantial number of individuals from the MCC constituency are looking for an alternative way to use tax monies otherwise collected for war purposes, the Peace Section took action at its November meeting to establish a taxes-for-peace fund to which such contributions could be made.

Some of the funds contributed last year were contributions made in lieu of the 10 percent (now 9 percent) telephone excise tax which, according to Wilbur Mills, chairman of the United States House ways and means committee, is a tax needed to pay for the Vietnam war. Other funds contributed in lieu of tax payments came from individuals who withheld part of their federal income tax. Contrary to what many people hoped, the end of United States military action in Vietnam does not mean a reduction in military spending. The proposed budget increase for the Pentagon next year is $4,200,000,000.

Those who have made contributions to the Peace Section in lieu of tax payments during past years are not, as some might suspect, the young activists, but include businessmen, medical doctors, teachers, farmers, and administrators representing a good cross section of the Mennonite brotherhood.

Young people, especially students who are not in earning situations of paying taxes, contributed very little in lieu of tax payments. Most of the contributions came from people over thirty.

The taxes-for-peace fund, as it is being called, is being established for persons whose conscience against war and killings will not allow them to pay the portion of their taxes that goes for war purposes. It should be clearly understood, that contributions made to this fund will not satisfy the Internal Revenue Service. It will, however, provide individuals with a receipt proving that their intentions were not to defraud, but that their withholding some portion of their tax monies was a matter of conscientious objection to war and militarism.

The monies contributed to the fund will be used for the work of the Peace Section and will be a small effort toward waging peace rather than war.

With the need for manpower in the armed forces greatly reduced and with the use of more sophisticated remote-controlled technical weapons, it is increasingly difficult to express one’s conscientious objection to war. Mennonites have traditionally withheld their bodies as a protest against war. Now few bodies are needed and many more dollars are needed for the development and maintenance of expensive war machinery.

Contributions to the taxes-for-peace fund may be one tangible way in which conscientious objectors can positively express peace through their tax dollars.

A letter by Gus Konkel, dated 17 March 1973, shows the first sign of backlash for some time. Excerpt:

It seems to me the whole question about war taxes is a prime example of utter question begging. In the final analysis all the taxes go in and out of the same pot. Tagging a name to any particular tax doesn’t really mean anything. I don’t ever expect to live under a government that has no defense system, be it capitalist or communist. How directly I support that defense system through the tax dollar doesn’t seem to me to be of any great import one way or the other.

The 27 March 1973 edition reported:

American Telephone and Telegraph reports that 22,000 people refused to pay the telephone excise tax in protest against the Vietnam War in 1972, up from 17,000 in 1971 and 12,000 in 1970. The Internal Revenue Service wants AT&T to disconnect all those phones, but AT&T says tax problems are IRS’ business. Apparently IRS wants as little to do with 22,000 prosecutions as AT&T wants to do with the $200,000 a month it would cost to disconnect protesters’ phones.

The 3 April 1973 edition reported on three anonymous donors, young people from Goshen, Indiana, “with an average income of $4,000” had together donated $5,000 to a fund for financially-needy Goshen College students. “They have decided to give away their earnings,” the article reported, “rather than keep them and pay federal taxes, much of which goes for war.”

The 10 April 1973 edition gave a second example of a Mennonite organization practicing war tax resistance corporately (see ♇ 22 July 2018 for the first example):

Minneapolis congregation refuses telephone excise tax

Faith Mennonite Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, has recently voted to withhold payments of the 9 percent federal excise tax on its telephone bill “in protest against the Vietnam War and U.S. militarism.”

The church council had discussed the issue in November and January and had recommended that the tax issue be brought up at the annual business meeting February 4. On that date, the issue was debated during the Sunday school hour and voted on at the annual meeting in the afternoon.

“There was not complete consensus in our case,” said Pastor Donald Kaufman. “But a significant group feels that this is an important Christian witness.”

Congregational moderator Richard Westby drafted a letter to Northwestern Bell to be sent with each month’s phone payment. The letter reads in part:

“The Faith Church has traditionally opposed war and continues to pay for war (although tax withholding does not have a long tradition within our history.) This contradiction between profession and practice within our congregation is now being changed so that we are more consistent in our faith. We are opposed to war and do not want our tax payments to support, endorse, or pay for U.S. war efforts.

“As a church organization, we realize that we have a responsibility to our country and government for services rendered. We support our government except when it contradicts Christian morality and conscience… We feel obligated to challenge our government’s reckless and immoral military deeds. By our small action we join with many other moral people in strongly urging our government to change its priorities and reduce its dependence upon the military. Without money, modern warfare could not be fought…”

The telephone tax, formerly 10 percent, was restored by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1966, during the escalation of the Vietnam War. Beginning this year, it will be decreased 1 percent annually until it disappears in 1982.

The 4 September 1973 edition carried a brief news item about the the strange AFSC lawsuit in which they were trying to have the withholding taxes they had already paid for their conscientiously-objecting employees refunded to them. (See ♇ 15 July 2013 for more about that suit.)

The 9 October 1973 edition included a tribute to Mennonite professor Benny Bargen, who had died in late 1972. It touched briefly on his war tax resistance, saying: “His opposition to war had led him to request that his salary be held at a level that would not require him to pay taxes.”