Jail-phobia and War Tax Resistance
Hundreds of people risk arrest in direct actions pretty much every day. Protests about the war on Gaza might top the list with thousands of arrests in the U.S. since Israel’s genocide began. Last July Nuclear Resister tallied 9,000 arrests, but that number could have doubled by now. Thousands have been arrested in Black Lives… Continue reading
Book Review: I Was Sentenced to Be Shot
Autobiography of a Political Objector Max Sandim’s Memoir; Forward by Randy Kehler; Edited by Ed Hedemann & Ruth Benn ($15) Published in May 2024 Max Sandin’s memoir begins with a story told by the late Randy Kehler, who met Sandin in 1963, in New York, on a bus taking them to the March on Washington…. Continue reading
Living in Extraordinary Times
This week marked the anniversary of wars largely paid for with US taxpayer money. Twenty- three years ago on October 7, the United States began bombing Afghanistan not even a month after the 9/11 attacks. Brown University’s Cost of War Project estimates that the United States spent $2.313 trillion on the war in Afghanistan between… Continue reading
War Tax Resistance Gathering on Zoom – November 8-10, 2024
NWTRCC’s November 2024 conference will be on Zoom the weekend after the election. (Click here register.) We often meet the first weekend in November, but we know that many of our members will be canvassing and doing other pre-election activities. Friday Night Social Mary Sprunger-Froese of Colorado Springs will gather us together with three songs… Continue reading
Dear IRS- Hear US
Dear IRS- Hear US! September 11th, 2024 | Federal Income Tax, IRS, Letters, Things You Can Do This past Tax Day, Tom Joyce in Ithaca, NY joined others to raise awareness about how much of US taxpayer money goes towards military spending that can result in moral injury. May this ongoing and consistent action inspire! Statement of War Tax Resistance – Tom Joyce… Continue reading
Obedience, Protest, and Facing the Consequences
The first obligation of responsible citizenship, I believe, is obedience to one’s conscience. Obedience to one’s government, and to its laws, is very important, but it must come second. Otherwise there is no check on immoral actions by governments, which are bound to occur in any society, whenever power is abused. — Randy Kehler The… Continue reading
Good Grief?
79 years ago, the United States unleashed the most powerful weapon known to humankind. The devastation of ‘Little Boy,’ a uranium bomb rained down on Hiroshima killing an estimated 140,000 people, mostly civilians. Three days later the United States dropped the second bomb ‘Fat Man’ made of plutonium which was ten times more powerful and… Continue reading
Yes, You Can Do This!
I got on a bus to DC for the “Arrest Netanyahu” rally and march July 24, with a pile of WRL pie charts in my backpack and a sign about refusing to pay for war. I hadn’t been to DC in quite a few years, but Congress’s invitation to the person presiding over more than… Continue reading
War Tax Resistance: A Catholic Worker Tradition
[Editor’s Note: A longer version of this article was first published the April 2024 edition of the Agitator, the newspaper of the Los Angeles Catholic Worker.] “‘Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me’ with napalm, nerve gas, our hydrogen bomb… Should one pay… Continue reading
An Overlooked Avenue for Political Dissent
“An Overlooked Avenue for Political Dissent” is the title of the one and only review on that big online bookseller for the War Resisters League book Guide to War Tax Resistance, precursor to the 2004 edition of the book titled, War Tax Resistance: A Guide to Withholding Your Support from the Military. The 5-star review… Continue reading
Understanding common IRS collection letters
[Editor’s Note. This post by Erica Leigh was originally published in 2016, but all the information is still accurate. Many first-time resisters who filed this past spring are beginning to receive their first letters from the IRS. These letters can be intimidating and scary. With this in mind, we thought it was time to re-share… Continue reading
Living Simply in a New Way: An Interview with Robin Greenfield
[Editor’s Note: Robin Greenfield has been challenging people to think about their environmental impacts, their relationship to other animals and plants, and their enmeshment in economic systems for over a decade. Through YouTube videos, TV appearances, books, articles, public speaking, and other cultural work, he shares personal challenges he sets for himself and how he… Continue reading