April 15, 2003
Dear IRS:
I had a dream the other night. Maybe you had one like it too. It was based on one of those mind-numbing commercials for credit cards. That guy with the syrupy TV voice did the voice-over, and it went something like this:
Cost to the US taxpayer of one Caterpillar D-9 Bulldozer, such as the one used by the Israeli army to run over and kill Palestinians (and their supporters) who are simply defending their homes in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip: $1,000,000.
Cost to the US taxpayer of one Armored Personnel Carrier, used to transport U.S. troops invading and occupying Iraq: $2,000,000.
Cost to humanity — due to the American empire’s insatiable lust for profit, control, and hegemony — of all the brilliant, creative, fulfilling years of life lost by children, women, and men harmed or murdered in Iraq, in Colombia, in Palestine, in Syria, in North Korea, on Vieques, in the Robert Taylor Homes, in Bedford Stuy, in East Los Angeles, in Appalachia: Priceless.
With dreams like this, who needs nightmares?
I don’t. So my conscience is leading me to tell you that I can no longer support the U.S. Government’s criminal policies and actions with my tax dollars. It just doesn’t make sense to me anymore. I am redirecting the taxes that I owe to groups that are struggling to create a better world for all people.
David Meyers
Ex-taxpayer
