To my federal legislators and my local paper
Re War tax resistance
Dear Friends,
Today I have filed my IRS 1040.
I have not included a check for the amount I still owe for 2014, about half of my total income tax bill.
I am a member of the long-established Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and a war tax resister. I do not voluntarily pay for government programs that involve killing human beings or requiring them to kill others.
I am not a Libertarian: I believe in taxation. I am not a tax evader: I have reported my tax obligation and the whereabouts of my assets as accurately as I could. If the federal Peace Tax Fund which some have advocated for these past twenty years were in place, I would gladly send my tax money there.
As it is, I am sending my full balance due to the IRS to the People’s Life Fund in Berkeley, California, where it will be held in escrow.
I am aware that the IRS will collect on one of my accounts, adding penalty and interest to the base amount I owe. I am sorry for the trouble this causes both the IRS and myself.
It costs me considerable time, effort, and money to make this political gesture every year. And the amount involved would hardly pay for a couple of AK-47s. But I have to try. Letters, petitions, and marches have failed for decades now to turn our federal government away from war. Still about half our income tax dollars are used for a militarily-based foreign policy, even during years like this one when we are not clearly at war anywhere, and when the money is clearly needed for the needs of our own citizens.
I yearn for a change. I yearn for my country to find a more mature way to relate to other nations. I pray that, world-wide, we will soon follow the precepts of our religions. They all enjoin us to love, forgive, and cooperate with one another to make this a world fit for all people, not just the most advantaged.
Most Sincerely Yours
Elizabeth Boardman
