Recent antiwar demonstrations have indicated that
there are fewer activists in the streets as the war years drag
on. We are all war weary and frustrated that there is no end in
sight to the killing, in Iraq and Afghanistan in particular. The
road to true peace is a long one, and we don't know where and
when the seeds from today's actions may sprout. Keep doing what
you can-as visibly as possible!
A growing list of actions around the country can be found at
http://www.nwtrcc.org/
taxday2008.htm.
[Return to List of Headlines]
By Ruth Benn
I can't say I've ever thought of myself as a "desperado" (a
bold, reckless criminal or outlaw according to Webster's), but
at my first meeting with Revenue Officer E.* that's what he
called me. After this meeting he talked to my legal adviser
and told him that I was a "nice lady." I figure I fall somewhere
in between. Officer E. works for a special branch of the IRS
Collection Division called ATAT-Abusive Tax Avoidance Transactions.
He called me in late November (do they always call around a
major holiday?) to tell me a public lien had been filed about
my debt and suggested we should meet. Shortly thereafter I got
a letter telling me the time and place of the meeting. Although
this wasn't a mandatory meeting, I decided to go in order to
explain my reasons for refusing to pay for war.
I hadn't heard of ATAT until earlier in the fall when my partner
Ed Hedemann got a letter and phone call, also from Officer E.,
and looked him up on the internet. E. had pursued the organization
We The People; Lincoln Rice has an article about their case
in this issue.
At the meeting (I brought a friend to observe) I asked why
the IRS was calling now. For about 20 years I've been resisting
federal income taxes by refusing to pay to the IRS the total
due on my 1040 form and redirecting that amount to groups that
do good work. The IRS has sent piles of collection letters,
agents have called on occasion, but there has been no serious
attempt to collect on what they show as a balance due (now more
than $40,000 as interest and penalties continue to add up).
So, when I asked Officer E. "why now," at first he said that
I have a "significant amount of delinquent taxes. Now you've
become a desperado." I expect this quaint word was intended
to intimidate the faint of heart. He also came to the meeting
prepared, having looked me up on the internet, and later in
the meeting he indicated more about why ATAT was on my case.
It wasn't just that my "unpaid" balance had passed some secret
threshold. "We believe you are encouraging others not to pay
their taxes," he said. His particular job is going after individuals
or groups that the IRS sees as "promoting tax schemes." The
word "schemes" came up a lot in this meeting, even in reference
to the WRL pie chart, which I had brought to illustrate why
I could not in good conscience pay taxes to the IRS. "We call
that part of a scheme," he said. I replied that we see it as
educational information and emphasized that refusing to pay
for war is in no way a "scheme."
This type of meeting with a collection agent is to "encourage"
you to pay up or voluntarily fill out the "Collection Information
Statement for Wage Earners and Self-Employed Individuals," which
gives the IRS information about sources of income, property,
and other assets to streamline collection efforts. If you do
not give the requested information, the IRS can enhance their
encouragement with a summons to bring all records to their office,
which the Officer uses to fill out the form him/herself. After
we had various back and forths in this process, Officer E. pulled
out of his folder a completed summons for a second meeting a
few weeks later. He said he figured I wouldn't hand over $40,000
or fill out the forms, so he had the summons ready in advance.
Regarding my personal war tax resistance these collection efforts
were pretty standard, but the parts of the meeting that were
more troubling were the ones that indicated the IRS was not
just looking at my tax bill but looking at my organizing-and
possibly at NWTRCC. I reported the meeting to longtime NWTRCC
legal adviser Peter Goldberger, less for my own case than the
implications for NWTRCC and war tax resistance organizing. Peter
made contact with Officer E. and had a couple of good talks
with him.
Perhaps influenced by Peter's expertise the word "scheme" did
not come up at the second meeting, which was fairly pro forma.
I had decided to use my Fifth Amendment protections to respond
to questions related to my finances, and Peter sent a letter
in this regard to Officer E. before the meeting. Again with
a friend I went to the meeting, information was requested, I
replied with Fifth Amendment privileges, we had a chat about
constitutional type tax deniers and the case of Wesley Snipes,
which was current at the time, and said good-bye.
Officer E. will continue his collection efforts (in March levies
began to arrive at offices where I do occasional work) and hand
my case over to the IRS legal department. The possibilities
about my case include steps that a small number of other resisters
have dealt with before, such as, the IRS could try to get a
federal judge to order me to fill out the Collection Information
Statement.
The possibility that the IRS will continue to look into "schemes"
related to our organizing is more of a wild card. Clearly we
are a different kettle of fish from those who argue that taxes
are not legal, that individuals do not have to pay income taxes,
and who sell "packages" of documents for people to implement
this erroneous advice. As war tax resisters we have focused
on reasons of conscience and our inability to voluntarily pay
for war. We teach by example, talk about options people may
not have considered, and explain the consequences -both positive
and negative.
Nevertheless, I won't say I'm not a little bit scared, plus
I know that this sort of IRS activity has a chilling effect
on many potential activists. The IRS has been more aggressive
against "tax denier" groups, and my two meetings have made me
worry that they will try to curtail NWTRCC's First Amendment
rights. Despite my fears I remind myself that there is nothing
the IRS can do to me that is as bad as what U.S. tax money is
doing in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Colombia, etc. I know
that the groups who received my redirected taxes made better
use of the money than the federal government would have.
In the course of explaining why ATAT was involved in my case,
Officer E. said "You are a threat to the compliance of the income
tax system. If everyone did what you do, then the government
could not do what they need to do." Right. So we will continue
to do what we feel we must do and see how things develop with
the IRS.
* We have chosen not to name the officer to avoid opening
the door to harassment of an IRS agent if the name got beyond
our network.
Ruth Benn is NWTRCC Coordinator and began refusing to pay
war taxes in the 1980s.
[Return to List of Headlines]
To the Editor:
In response to the sections called "Faster Response by IRS" and
"Responding to Salary Levies" (MTAP, 2/08): (I agree, by the way,
that the IRS response is getting faster; we've just been levied
for taxes refused last April.)
Nowhere [in those sections] is there much sense that someone
might not want, and not want "on principle," to "avoid such
seizures." Nowhere is there any sense that one might use a salary
levy to talk with the people one's working for and with.
I'm someone who's repeatedly done the latter-something made
possible by the circumstances of my job, i.e., that I'm a tenured
professor at a liberal arts college, and I recognize the unusualness
of those circumstances. But can I really be the only person
who when levied at the workplace wants to take the occasion
to talk with co-workers?
More generally, and I apologize for the abstractness of this:
is war tax resistance a mode of civil disobedience? If so, is
being levied like being arrested? If so, should we be striving
not to be levied, or rather thinking of levies as the moments
at which our disobedience is made visible and maybe, by being
made visible, made effective?
To be clear: I hate being levied, it makes me feel isolated
and powerless and stupid. But I do think of it also as the moment
when some different kind of action or conversation becomes possible.
-Larry Rosenwald, MA
Searches and Summonses
In a few current cases IRS collection agents are busy pursuing
war tax resisters who have not cooperated with their efforts.
In order to find bank accounts they have issued summonses to employers
to turn over copies of recent checks written to resisters. Presumably
this will be a path to wherever the WTR cashes or deposits the
checks. Once the bank account is found the IRS can demand copies
of deposited checks in order to find sources of income for that
individual. Levies to those sources may follow. In other cases
summonses may be issued to a third party if the IRS thinks there
may be a shared account. IRS summonses are backed with enforcement
power, so ignoring a summons by any party may lead to further
legal steps.
Taxable Level
Low-income tax resisters in the U.S. who are trying to stay below
the income tax line have been given a little more breathing room
by the recently enacted economic stimulus plan. This plan exempts
the first $6,000 of what would ordinarily be taxable income from
the federal income tax.
Wesley Snipes
As far as high profile tax deniers go ("denier" seems to have
replaced the word "protester"), the actor Wesley Snipes is one
of the most visible. The Justice Department took him to court
earlier this year for failing to file returns or pay taxes from
1999 through 2004 and also charged him with fraud and conspiracy.
Snipes was tried with two promoters of the arguments against taxation
whose advice he followed. The promoters were both convicted on
the fraud and conspiracy charges, but Snipes was acquitted on
those criminal charges and found guilty on the lesser charges
of failing to file and pay. All await further sentencing. What
is interesting about this case is that the government has again
failed to win convictions on the most serious criminal charges
against a prominent follower of the tax denier movement. These
cases seems to hinge on whether juries believe that the individual
sincerely believes they don't have to pay taxes. One of Snipes's
lawyers said that Justice should drop criminal tax laws, because
the question of "intent" is so subjective. Additionally, these
high profile cases indicate that the government is seriously worried
about the loss of revenue and the growth of the tax denier movement.
In this case, the government's intent was clear, and Snipes's
acquittal on the most serious charges was not what they had in
mind.
[Return to List of Headlines]
We are grateful for recent contributions and dues payments
from:
War Resisters League National Office
New England War Tax Resistance Boston, MA
Lehigh Valley WTR Life Fund, Bethlehem, PA
Casa Maria, Milwaukee, WI
Las Vegas Catholic Worker
[Return to List of Headlines]
Counselors and contacts are updated on our website fairly regularly.
If you find that contact information is not correct, please let
the NWTRCC office know. If you need someone in your area and do
not use the internet or see anyone near you, call the NWTRCC office
for referrals, 1-800-269-7464.
[Return to List of Headlines]
Legal and International
Case Closed
Ed's Note: In the December 2007 issue we reported that members
of Restored Israel of YAHWEH (RIOY) had been released from prison
and that many of the charges against them were tossed out on appeal.
Attorney Peter Goldberger reports here on the final step in the
case, a resentencing hearing based on the revised charges.
Joe Donato, Inge (Rose) Donato, and Kevin McKee were re-sentenced
on March 7, 2008, in federal district court in New Jersey, following
the appellate reversal of 12 counts of employment tax evasion
with which they had been charged. In addition the court found
Inge innocent of the alleged failure to file personal income
tax returns for which the jury convicted her as she had no taxable
income in those years. There is more good news than bad.
Prior to re-sentencing, the government elected to dismiss the
overturned counts rather than conduct a retrial. Unfortunately,
because the Third Circuit appeals court affirmed all three defendants'
convictions for conspiracy to defraud the United States in relation
to those same employment taxes, they all ended up convicted
of a felony, which in turn supported reimposition of almost
the same sentences as originally, time they had already served.
Incredibly, the prosecutor from the Tax Division of the Justice
Department in DC asked that they be given "longer" prison terms;
the judge gave that thought no consideration at all. However,
Judge Simandle did reimpose the same fines ($50,000 on Inge,
$5,000 on Joe, and $4,000 on Kevin), all of which had already
been paid by their religious society.
On the bright side, however-and most important-the judge modified
the terms of all three defendants' post-incarceration supervised
release, which runs for three years from their respective release
dates. First, even though they are all now "convicted felons,"
the judge ruled they can freely associate with one another,
which would normally be prohibited. Second, for the express
purpose of "accommodating" their religious beliefs, the judge
changed the standard requirement of "regular gainful employment"
to allow Joe and Kevin to substitute charitable or community
service for paid employment, so they can keep their income below
the taxable level while under supervision and thus avoid a further
conflict with the government.
Most gratifying, the judge clarified and modified the original
special condition that they "fully cooperate with the IRS by
filing all returns and paying current and delinquent taxes"
to say instead that by August they must file all delinquent
and current returns, to the extent required by law, going back
10 years-but he dropped the specification that they have to
pay, so far as the court's conditions are concerned.
He expressly left that to the IRS and its ordinary administrative
remedies. This is what we had requested, and it removed our
greatest worry. The RIOY defendants have reconsidered where
they draw the line and are now willing to file, although they
still do not want to pay. (The judge actually suggested they
consider paying the non-military percentage of their taxes,
which he speculated would be "more than 50%." I didn't offer
him a pie chart.) The judge came very close to terminating Inge's
supervision entirely, but in the end deferred that until the
returns are filed. All three defendants gave very moving statements
to the judge prior to sentencing, and all in all, it was not
a bad day; we got about 85-90% of what we were hoping for. It
is very unlikely there will be any further appeal.
-Peter Goldberger, Attorney (for
Inge), Ardmore, PA
Tax Resistance in Kenya
After an election that was widely seen as fraudulent returned
President Mwai Kibaki to power in Kenya, the opposition organized
protests, and violent mobs spread brutal chaos through the country.
Kenyan attorney Charles Kanjama is trying to encourage the opposition
to embrace a nonviolent resistance strategy, with tax resistance
at the forefront.
Noting the use of tax resistance in campaigns ranging from
the Roman Empire's occupation of Judaea to the U.S. occupation
of Iraq, Kanjama writes that "Kenyans will need to participate
more actively in non-violent forms of resistance against an
illegitimate government... [including] an economic and tax boycott
to starve the government of cash and force it back to the negotiating
table."
Kanjama suggests that protesters target the income tax and
value-added tax (VAT), and try to enlist corporations in the
campaign. For taxes automatically withheld from paychecks, he
suggests, "participating employers and employees can enter into
a voluntary contract to convert monthly employment into quarterly
or half-yearly employment, thus effectively delaying tax liability
for several months."
For the value-added tax, he suggests that people "only engage
in transactions that are not eligible for VAT."
For people willing to confront the government with civil disobedience,
rather than using such legal tax avoidance methods, Kanjama
suggests that they organize and hold their withheld taxes in
escrow accounts until their demands are met-but that they also
be prepared to accept the possible penalties and other consequences.
- Dave Gross
International Conference
Conscience, the peace tax campaign (UK) invites you to the 12th
International Conference on War Tax Resistance and Peace Tax Campaigns,
September 5-7, 2008, at the University of Manchester Fallowfield
Campus, Manchester, United Kingdom.
Professor Paul Rogers, University of Bradford Peace Studies
Department, will be the keynote speaker on "Towards Sustainable
Security: looking ahead to how we can construct a sustainable
system of security in the 21st century." The proposed theme
for the conference is how to coordinate our campaigns towards
a shared international platform, which will include initiating
a complaint to the UN. With our focus on how to present a united
front, we suggest looking at ways to increase public awareness
and prepare people for the changes we wish to see, not just
for each individual's right, but also in terms of peace and
security on the wider scale.
The cost for the full weekend, including meals and accommodation
is £150 per delegate. Housing is in Ashburne Hall, an elegant
19th century building set in its own gardens, only three miles
from the city center. Manchester has its own international airport,
and there are frequent trains (approximately 2 hours) from central
London. Registrations are due by July 1.
See www.peacetax2008.org.uk
for forms and details or contact NWTRCC office.
[Return to List of Headlines]
NWTRCC Network Activities
...Before April 15 parishioners of the Sacred Heart Church in
Joliet, IL, will find a war tax boycott card and "How to Resist
Paying for War" flier in their church bulletins. Bill Ruhaak and
other Joliet peace activists spread the word this way each tax
season.
...Peter Smith of Michiana War Tax Resisters in South Bend,
IN, reported that 13 folks showed up for a March WTR workshop;
about half had never thought about it before. The workshop started
with a little skit ala Wally Nelson. After a brief overview,
everyone told why they came and what they hoped to get out of
the workshop. Bobbi Wrenn Banks from WAND spoke about budget
priorities, and many issues were raised such as U.S. imperialism,
the Federal Reserve, multinational corporations, agriculture,
global warming, etc. Folks found the war tax boycott Getting
Started" flyer very clear. There was the usual misconception
about being thrown in jail, but little knowledge about ways
the IRS can take resisted tax money.
...Oregon Community for WTR (Portland) reported that outreach
opportunities are on the upswing. Their March schedule included
participation in a Code Pink conference in Corvallis, WTR and
Peace Tax Fund workshops at a peace mobilization, tabling at
peace rally (anniversary of Iraq war), participation in peace
forum in Hood River, and workshops at Dorothy Day Catholic Worker
House. On tax day they will be hoisting signs with various "Burma
Shave" slogans during "Bridge City's" morning commute. Portland
activist Pam Allee says, "the sloganeering is a simple exercise
in visibility that seems to cheer the majority of observers
up. I think it is safe to say that our group here recommends
it as tax day activity. Just make sure that your slogans are
simple, your lettering is large (we use 7" stencils), and your
signs very widely spaced."
NACC Grants
The 2008 Nonviolent Action Community of Cascadia (NACC) grants
have been awarded. With more money than usual, they were able
to fund a good many organizations this year. Only a few received
the full amounts they had requested, but 18 groups have anywhere
from $500 to $2,000 more to work with now. NACC thanks the Escrow
Account holders who make it all possible! Awardees included BAY-Peace,
Oakland, CA, for a Counter-Recruitment Boot Camp tour; Books to
Prisoners, Seattle, WA, to fund a move to a new office and increase
its volume of mailings; Casa Maria Catholic Worker, Milwaukee,
WI, to expose homeless children to protests, conferences, and
progressive events; Free Gaza Movement, El Cerrito, CA, to break
the Israeli siege of Gaza with humanitarian supplies; Institute
of Urban Homesteading, Oakland, CA, for its inaugural season of
classes in gardening, permaculture, kitchen arts, herbal medicines,
creative arts, and the body; and Young Women in Action Kenya,
Mlolongo, Kenya, to put in place peace-building institutions amid
conflicts and ethnic wars in Kenya.
For the complete list and more information about NACC grants
see seanacc.org/#awarded
or contact them at (206) 547-0952. _
[Return to List of Headlines]
Where Taxes Go
Mailed with this issue was the WRL pie chart. No surprises there-more
money for war and less for everything else-but the general public
still seems to be amazed, so it's a great leaflet to hand out
on tax day. You can order up to 200 copies from the NWTRCC office
(800-269-7464) or larger orders from the WRL (212-228-0450). 1-199
copies, 10¢ ea; 200 copies 7¢ ea. Call for postage costs. From
WRL 200-499 7¢ ea.; 500+ 5¢ ea. plus postage. The chart with more
explanation is also on the internet at http://www.warresisters.org.
Tax Day and Beyond
See the NWTRCC website for all of our resources. We have recently
updated Practical #4 on Self-Employment, which is in print and
available. Practical #6 for organizations has also been updated
and printed copies will be available soon. Both updated versions
are on the publications page of the NWTRCC website, nwtrcc.org/publications.htm.
If you haven't ordered materials for tax day yet-hurry! Place
your order today by calling 1-800-269-7464 or nwtrcc@nwtrcc.org.
[Return to List of Headlines]
Thoughts on the Passing of Joanna Karl
Joanna Karl had boundless energy. I didn't know for years that
she owned a car because she made great pains to travel lightly
on the earth. She was always on her bicycle, even in the coldest,
rainiest Oregon weather. I envy Joanna for how she lived. She
was a great example of living lightly, actively, and peacefully
on the planet. She was a true woman of conscience. It was her
radio interview on local Portland community radio station KBOO
that got me into war tax resistance back in 1991 during the first
Gulf War. I thank her so much for that inspiration!
I also envy Joanna for how she passed over to the other side-too
soon, but it seems better to have a quick transition doing what
one loves to do. She loved being outdoors, working on her house
with all its "appropriate technology" and energy efficiency
components. She died at the end of February after falling from
a ladder, working on her house.
In the pro-peace and war tax resistance movements she was perhaps
best known for the handmade wooden buttons she cranked out every
spring for several years. She made these from branches she had
pruned from the trees on her property. I remember the effort
she took to make sure the colored dyes and even the glue for
the button's pin were non-toxic. She strove to minimize the
hurt she inflicted on people and the planet. May she increase
the peace in the spirit world as well!
-Daniel Woodham
Video Update
NWTRCC's new "Introduction to war tax resistance" film is coming
along. Filmmaker Steev Hise traveled with two interviewers, Shanti
Sellz and Rico Chenyek, to the Bay Area and to the East Coast
(New York, DC, New England), and filmed Rico and Shanti as they
learn about war tax resistance from a variety of folks. He's collected
a lot of footage now and is beginning the task of looking at it
all and planning how best to piece it together. We still need
to raise about $2,000 from new sources to finish the film, so
contact the NWTRCC office if you have funding ideas.
War Tax Resisters to Meet in Birmingham
National War Tax Resistance Gathering and Coordinating Committee
meeting
May 2- 4, 2008
Birmingham Friends Meeting · Birmingham, AL
Come to a mini-conference with people from around the country
who refuse to pay for war. Share stories of resistance, check
in on the national War Tax Boycott campaign, and see some highlights
from video shoots for our new film! The program begins with
dinner on Friday night and ends at noon on Sunday after the
business meeting. It is hosted by Birmingham War Tax Objectors
and NWTRCC. Contact the NWTRCC office for registration information.
We hope to see you there!
[Return to List of Headlines]
Organization Barred from Distributing Its Information
by Lincoln Rice
On February 22, 2008, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second
Circuit upheld an injunction issued in August 2007, by a U.S.
District Court in Albany, NY, against We The People (WTP), a
tax protester group. WTP (and its leader, Robert Schulz) argue
that the 16th Amendment was not properly ratified and that U.S.
citizens outside of the District of Columbia are not legally
bound to file or pay federal income taxes. On this basis, they
have specifically urged employers to cease withholding and employees
to demand an end to tax withholding. They claim that their followers
need not comply with the tax laws until government officials
answer a list of "questions" about the tax laws posed in a "petition
for redress of grievances," which they have prepared and publicized.
War tax resisters, on the other hand, resist their federal
taxes because approximately 50% of it is spent on war. A war
tax resister's main impetus for refusing to pay federal taxes
is war, not arguments regarding the validity of the 16th Amendment
or the imposition and collection of taxes. War tax resistance
groups respect individual conscience and do not promote one
particular course of action.
The court's injunction was based on the conclusion that WTP
had created an illegal tax shelter and tax fraud scheme. The
injunction prohibits WTP from selling and/or distributing what
the IRS considers false and fraudulent information, requires
them to remove all this material from their website, requires
them to post the injunction on their website, givemeliberty.org,
and demands that they give to the government the list of names,
addresses, emails, Social Security numbers, etc. of all the
individuals and entities to whom they provided materials. The
latter directive is perhaps the most disturbing from a constitutional
point of view. The appeals court had temporarily blocked enforcement
of that paragraph, but eventually sustained it, reasoning that
forcing WTP to provide the names of its "customers" would allow
the IRS to monitor whether those individuals were, in turn,
failing to comply with the tax laws.*
The next logical question: could this happen to NWTRCC? The
short answer, probably not. The opinion is very precise on why
WTP received this injunction, which indicates many substantial
and significant differences between WTP and NWTRCC. First, WTP
states that the federal government does not have the authority
to tax U.S. citizens. As such, they offer materials that show
interested parties how to "legally" stop W-4 withholding and
provide individuals with paperwork to give their employer, which
states that the employer can legally stop issuing W-2 and 1099
forms. This, in addition to their 16th Amendment arguments,
is viewed as fraudulent and misleading by the court. Second,
the government's interest in the case pertains to the loss of
income caused by what they see as fraud. The government states
that WTP is responsible for at least 997 individuals not filing
tax returns for at least the past three years. And because it
costs the IRS $1,607 to produce a substitute return, this has
cost the government at least $4.8 million the last three years
alone.
Third, WTP sold their "package" like a commercial product,
charging admission to training sessions, and even offering customized
"legal opinions" justifying these tax violations. While NWTRCC
is of course trying to hurt the military budget's bottom line,
we are not distributing false information and are not operating
on a commercial basis. NWTRCC always presents accurate information
about legal and illegal ways of resisting taxes that pay for
war, and candidly describes those which would constitute a form
of civil disobedience. All of our materials represent, to best
of our knowledge, the laws that some are choosing to break when
they withhold taxes, while fully disclosing the penalties, fines,
etc, that we may face.
*To read the appeals court opinion, go to http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/opinions.htm
and enter docket # 07-3729.
Lincoln Rice monitors legal issues for NWTRCC, is active
with Milwaukee WTR, and works and lives at Casa Maria Catholic
Worker in Milwaukee, WI.
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