MAGA Tax Plans and War Tax Resisters

We war tax resisters have a new challenge in front of us: the potential demise of the IRS.  Just when they were ramping up the collection system after a decade of Congressional budget cuts and the pandemic lockdown, a new regime has swept into Washington hell-bent on shrinking the government. Or at least the parts they don’t like. And the parts that challenge their authority. And the parts that could be lucrative for privatization and profit for big corporations.

Among the workers madly being fired are thousands at the Internal Revenue Service. These firings during tax season, with more to come in the future (up to 50%), portend delays processing tax returns and uncertainly about the whole tax collection process. On the one hand, war tax resisters who have worked up some debt may breathe a sigh of relief. On the other hand, if our resistance includes getting the government’s attention, what will we do without the IRS?

But, more problematic for all of us who don’t want our money going to war and violence, the regime in DC is full of people who have their sights on more than just cutting workers at the IRS. Project 2025, which seems to be the administration’s master plan, outlines tax-related reforms including eliminating individual and corporate income taxes in favor of a consumption tax. Trump’s nominee to be the next IRS Commissioner, former Missouri Congressperson Billy Long, co-sponsored legislation to repeal the income tax, abolish the IRS, and enact a national sales tax.

A sales or consumption tax is not only regressive, hitting lower income folks harder, it will also be difficult to resist — even if we limit our consumption to necessities (which we’ll be lucky if we can afford given the way things are headed).

Trump himself says he wants to simplify the tax system, cut taxes, abolish the IRS and replace it with an “External Revenue Service.” Tariffs, duties and any other revenue that can be drummed up from foreign sources would “fund everything we need and more.” It’s pretty clear from the sweeping cuts that Trump and his billionaire sidekick Musk are inflicting that about all they think “we” need is the Pentagon, Energy Department’s nuclear weapons program, and the militarized parts of Homeland Security (see potential trends in the latest WRL “Where Your Income Taxes Really Go” flyer). The billionaires look forward to taking over contracts as federal programs are privatized. Medicare, the postal service, Veterans health services, the National Weather Service, public schools…a look at the agencies they are dismantling and other plans and you can see where it’s going.

Now, coincidentally, after 20-plus years, War Resisters League has published a new edition of War Tax Resistance: A Guide to Withholding Your Support from the Military. First published in 1981 and now in its 6^th edition, WRL’s war tax guide is still the only comprehensive book about all aspects of refusing to pay for war — federal budget analysis, philosophical questions, how tos, consequences from simple collection to court cases, history, personal stories, organizing ideas — and more! The book is in print and available from the WRL store and also from NWTRCC.*

As in recent years, we will include updates online if there are changes in the tax collection system — or in taxation itself — but War Tax Resistance still holds up inspiring stories of resistance and creative organizing that should give us courage to carry on our opposition to war in whatever ways we can. As we fight the autocrats and oligarchy and their slash and burn style of governing, we have the opportunity to continue to demand government priorities that serve humanity and protect the planet. We could even begin to outline a better and more just tax system too.

— Ruth Benn
Co-author of War Tax Resistance and the WRL pie chart

* If you are in NYC, we sell books locally though NYC War Resisters League. To save on shipping, contact us at nycwrl@nycwarresisters.org.