Pete Meyers
April 15, 2004
Internal Revenue Service
Andover, MA 05501-0002
Dear Internal Revenue Service Person:
I enclose this letter with my completed tax form as an explanation about why I cannot, in good conscience, pay the tax money that is demanded of me by the I.R.S. and the United States government, $1,655.25, for the 2003 tax year.
Approximately 15 years ago, I began – as a spiritual discipline, to monitor every penny that went in and out of my life. Out of this discipline, I have become increasingly aware that how I spend my money – as it symbolizes my life energy – is a very concrete expression of my purpose and intent in this world.
I began to look at how some of the Federal tax dollars are used to fund projects and purposes of which I am in total disagreement with and which I don’t believe I can call my own. For instance, I believe that much of the land we Americans live on is, in fact, stolen land. I believe that some of the people living here are, in fact, descendants of stolen people who have not been adequately recompensed for their history of pain.
My principles dictate, as well, against the spending of my life energies for the express purpose of creating war. I cannot, in good faith, support the building and selling of weapons all around the world – often to dictatorial regimes – when there are so many starving children in the world. Many people in our very own country suffer for lack of adequate education, health care, housing, justice – way too much of our tax dollars, I believe, are going to uphold the interests of the wealthy.
The events of September 11th, 2001, were truly horrifying with so many innocent people losing their lives. These events, and the subsequent U.S. response have helped to galvanize my community and myself to work even more intensively for a world with peace and justice.
I am finding my country’s continued foreign and domestic response since September 11, 2001, to be unacceptable. For instance, the war on Iraq is a stupendous example of a foreign policy that puts the U.S. onto a dangerous path of unilateral preemption. If I could believe that this war was about truly liberating the Iraqi people, I might think differently. However, I believe it is a war about deepening U.S. geopolitical dominance in the Middle East, which I cannot support.
On a domestic front, we find our civil liberties under increasing attack through the USA Patriot Act and so-called ‘Homeland Security’, with a possible Patriot Act II looming on the horizon.
On an economic front, the U.S intensifies its giveaway to corporate interests in the form of tax cuts to rich individuals and corporations while poor people continue to suffer lives of poverty.
I realize that the U.S. government is involved in some good works, which I could wholeheartedly support. The problem I come up against when considering whether or not to willingly hand over my tax dollars is that I know that a certain percentage of my life energy will still go to the maintenance of a military-industrial complex that I just can’t support. As you will see at the end of this letter, I have redirected all of the money I would have paid in Federal taxes to organizations that I believe are working for meaningful change in this country and in the world.
By this action of refusing to pay my taxes – and subsequently redirecting them – I hope to affirm a deepening of my country’s democratic traditions. In my vision, we would expand beyond a representational democracy to more of a participatory democracy. I’ve come to believe that it takes a lot of money to even become a representative in the U.S. government. I have seen too many times throughout the history of this country that the government primarily defends and supports the interests of the more privileged. I believe that our budget should be focused on helping those at the bottom of the economic ladder, rather than those at the top.
I like to remind myself occasionally of what Thomas Jefferson said some 200 hundred years ago. Jefferson felt that our nation would need to undergo periodic revolutions in order to remain vital and alive. I see my tax refusal as part of this revolutionary energy and hope that others will similarly begin to take their own rightful power into their own hands – nonviolently. Lets not forget that part of the American Revolution from England included tax resistance.
Here is the breakdown of how I actually redirected the tax money that is demanded of me:
- $340.98 to Samaritan Center — Local organization (www.ccst.org/tompkins/tompkins.html) run through Catholic Charities of Tompkins County designed to help people most in need obtain financial assistance for such things as security deposits, medicine, personal needs, etc…
- $7.50 to United Way of Tompkins County — Local service organization (www.uwtc.org) that helps to fund human service agencies…
- $579.58 — Tompkins County Living Wage Coalition/Workers’ Rights Center — Local activist coalition that works for a living/sustainable wage and workers’ rights for all people through many different contexts…
- $60.00 — Tompkins County Network for Peace and Justice — Local coalition of groups that began as a result of September 11th and is helping to work for peace in an environment of war…
- $67.77 — Ithaca Catholic Worker — Local organization working to bring justice and peace to people of Palestine, Israel, Columbia and Iraq (among other places) by providing witness on the ground in these countries…
- $140.53 — The Luminary News — Local news and information show on cable access TV that brings news not otherwise available to viewers of Tompkins County…
- $35.00 — War Times — Bi-monthly newspaper (www.war-times.org) produced to help broaden deepen the fight against the Bush program by compiling information and analysis…
- $30.57 — Tompkins County Bill of Rights Defense Committee — Local organization (www.bordc.org) that supports repeal of the USA PATRIOT Act, Homeland Security Act, and Executive Orders that infringe on Constitutional rights.
- $10.00 — Ithaca Indymedia — Local branch (www.ithaca.indymedia.org) of global alternative news media source (www.indymedia.org)…
- $25.00 — Community Dispute Resolution Center — Local nonprofit organization (www.co.tompkins.ny.us/dss/ltc/COMRES/COMMDRC.HTM) dedicated to helping all people find responsible ways of resolving conflicts…
- $10.00 — Ithaca Fair Trade Coalition — Local coalition of groups (www.fairtrade.catalyzerjournal.com) that educates the public of the importance of purchasing ‘fairly-traded’ items…
- $40.00 — Education for Peace in Iraq Center —National organization (www.epic-usa.org) that works for a ‘just’ U.S. policy towards Iraq…
- $42.00 — Committee on U.S.-Latin American Relations — A network of volunteers (www.rso.cornell.edu/cuslar) promoting awareness of the culture and politics of Latin American nations and their relationships with the United States…
- $74.29 — Ithaca 2004 Campaign for Peace, Justice, and Participation — A sustained campaign of political mobilization to defeat Bush in 2004 (www.bushmustgo.net), and to build a large, active and enduring community movement devoted to peace, justice, social equality and grassroots democratic participation…
- $18.03 — War Tax Resisters Penalty Fund — National fund (www.nonviolence.org/issues/wtrpf/) to help support ‘war tax resisters’ when funds are ‘taken’ by the Internal Revenue Service…
- $14.00 — Ithaca Breast Cancer Alliance — Dedicated to providing support, education (www.ibca.net) and advocacy for all Tompkins County people facing the breast cancer epidemic…
- $20.00 — Buffalo Street 25 Defense Fund — Legal defense fund set up for those who committed civil disobedience in Ithaca soon after U.S. war on Iraq started…
- $15.00 — Durland Prison Project — Dedicated to filling the hole of reading material (www.alternativeslibrary.org) needed by prisoners created by Department of Corrections’ departments that spend many millions building and remodeling prisons – but neglect the need and thirst of imprisoned men and women for quality reading material…
- $50.00 —Ithaca Community News — Local online source (www.ithacanews.org) of news and information in the Ithaca community…
- $75.00 — Free Speech TV — A national television channel (www.freespeech.org) that reflects the diversity of our society, provides perspectives that are under-represented or ignored by the mainstream media, and shines a national spotlight on engaged citizens working for progressive social change.
$1,655.25 — Grand total of tax money redirected that I would have paid to the I.R.S.
I conclude my letter with a statement made by a Mennonite pastor, John K. Stoner. “We are war tax resisters because we have discovered some doubt as to what belongs to Caesar and what belongs to God, and have decided to give the benefit of the doubt to God.” I sincerely encourage you to treat my letter and my actions with respect. I know, as well, that you have a job to do and will respect that to the fullest degree possible.
In the spirit of life and with peace
Pete Meyers
To applaud the US Army’s capture of Saddam Hussein, and therefore to justify its invasion and occupation of Iraq, is like deifying Jack the Ripper for disemboweling the Boston Strangler. And that after a quarter-century partnership in which the Ripping and Strangling was a joint enterprise.—Arundhati Roy
