The 2010s
2010: Death and Taxes Film Released
NWTRCC produced the new film Death and Taxes, which introduces people to war tax resistance/refusal through the stories and explanations of 28 active resisters and experts.
2012: Gold Star Mother and Antiwar Activist Cindy Sheehan is Taken to Court
The IRS took Cindy Sheehan to court in 2012 for her refusal to pay for war.
Cindy Sheehan became an antiwar activist and war tax resister after her son was killed in combat in Iraq in 2004. She stated publicly her refusal to pay because “I feel like I gave my son to this country in an illegal and immoral war.” By 2011 the IRS said she owed something over $100,000. After failing in their collection efforts, the Justice Department issued an Order to Show Cause to force her to divulge her assets. She appeared in district court in Sacramento, California, on April 19, 2012. Sheehan used the Fifth Amendment in court and was ordered to return to the IRS offices and give a line-by-line Fifth Amendment response to questions on the IRS form, which she did. After months of uncertainty as to the status of her case (which is generally how these things remain), Cindy received dismissal letters from the IRS in February 2013.
2013 Quaker Joseph Olejak Sentenced to Jail
A resister-of-conscience who found the war tax resistance network after he had been sentenced to jail, Dr. Joseph Olejak, a chiropractor in upstate New York, said he had “good intentions, but maybe not the best execution strategy.” Olejak had resisted on impulse without seeking guidance, although he began attending Quaker meeting. His “impulse” led to an IRS investigation of fraudulent conveyance of property, serious tax charges and an indictment. On May 13, 2013, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York, Olejak accepted a plea agreement and pled guilty to felony tax evasion. He agreed to an assessment and restitution for taxes for years 1994-2008. In October 2013, the judge sentenced him to 26 weekends in the Columbia County (NY) Jail and 200 hours of community service, a sentence which he fulfilled.
2016 The Election of Donald Trump Sparks WTR Resurgence
The November 2016 election of Donald Trump brought new attention to tax resistance. The widespread anger at his platform, policies, and his refusal to release his personal tax forms put a spotlight on taxes. On February 15, 2017, the internationally-read Guardian newspaper published an article, “We will not pay: the Americans withholding their taxes to fight Trump,” that brought the most attention to NWTRCC and war tax resistance in years. On April 15, 2017, angry taxpayers called for a Tax March that grew to 180 marches across the country, demanding Trump release his taxes but including hundreds of signs demanding an end to war spending too. War tax resistance workshops, inquiries, and ideas for new campaigns surged for about a year, but the endless chaos of the Trump years seemed to wear down new activists.
2018 Release of Documentary The Pacifist Profiling WTR Larry Bassett
Between 2017 to 2019, longtime peace activist and war tax resister Larry Bassett refused to pay the IRS $230,000 in taxes based on his 2016 to 2018 income from a million-dollar inheritance resulting from his father’s 2016 death. Because the inheritance was in the form of annuities, it was not subject to the $13 million inheritance threshold. With interest and penalties, that amount has grown to $370,000, all of which — and more — he donated to wide variety of causes, including peace groups, human service organizations, international aid programs, among others. An hour-long 2018 documentary The Pacifist (directed by Alex Zhort) recounts this history.
pre-1700s • 1700s • 1800s • 1900–1959 • 1960s • 1970s • 1980s • 1990s • 2000s • 2010s • 2020s
