More Than a Paycheck,
REFUSING to PAY for WAR
February/March 2017
Contents
- WTR in the Age of Trump
Stand UP, Sign Up by Kathy Kelly - Redirection 2017
- Counseling Notes 2017 IRS Deductions and Exemptions • Why the IRS Says It Can’t Collect
- Many Thanks to everyone who supports NWTRCC with their volunteer time or financial donations and to the following groups for recent donations
- Network List Updates
- War Tax Resistance Ideas and Actions WTRs Out and About • Back on the Agenda! • A Widening Agenda for Tax Resistance
- Resources Gifts Galore • Free Organizing Packet • Money, Free Materials, and Action Ideas
- NWTRCC News Remembering Ed Pearson, CMTC Founder • Condolences • Help NWTRCC Grow in 2017 – AdComm Nominations Needed • Mark Your Calendars
- PROFILE We Marched: Now Let’s Take the Next Important Step
By Kayla Starr
Click here to download a PDF of the February/March issue
WTR in the Age of Trump
Sam Koplinka-Loehr in Philadelphia on January 21. Photo courtesy of Sam Koplinka-Loehr and Camellia Tenutobanner
Ruth Benn ran into a rare show of force at the Women’s March in Washington, DC. Photo by Linnea Capps
Stand Up, Sign Up
By Kathy Kelly
All Trump all the time. With a dizzying display of executive orders, President Trump is reversing gains made in environmental protection, health care, women’s rights, immigration policy, and nuclear weapon reduction — with more executive orders promised.
In his inaugural speech, Trump proclaimed “America First.” The U.S. ranks first in weapon sales, first in mass incarceration and first in producing waste material. Pope Francis urged President Trump to protect the poorest people in society. Yet Trump has surrounded himself with generals and billionaires at cabinet level positions.
It’s true that some of Trump’s policies are a manifestation of wrongs perpetuated in previous administrations. Other presidents and their staffs have adeptly worn masks that were easier for us to look at and accept. We could pretend that they were committed to humanitarian goals and building democracy. But recalling economic sanctions that directly contributed to the deaths of 500,000 Iraqi children under age five is but one reminder of multiple reasons that conscientious objectors to war have often opted, over the years, to practice war tax refusal.
Rev. Dr.Martin Luther King urged people to expose ugly wounds caused by the giant evil triplets of racism, militarism and poverty. We must take off the masks and recognize our collective responsibilities.
Anticipating resurgent interest in refusal to pay for abhorrent, discriminatory policies, a group of war tax refusers created a statement [see insert or ask the NWTRCC office for a copy] to encourage people to consider war tax resistance by contacting the network, learning about resources and linking to grassroots communities in their region that nonviolently oppose taxation for war.
Essentially, we can’t afford Trumpism. We aim to align our lives with our deepest values and welcome kindred spirits to join us.
Kathy Kelly co-coordinates Voices for Creative Nonviolence (vcnv.org) and has traveled extensively to war zones including Iraq and Afghanistan (in between civil disobedience actions in the U.S. and resulting trials and jailings).
Editor’s note: In addition to the sign-on statement initiated by Kathy Kelly, Kathy Boylan, and Daniel Sicken, we are seeing exploding interest in tax resistance in general, so we collected a few statements on this topic. Please add yours. Send comments to the NWTRCC office, or join discussion on the WTR listserve (click on the black and red star at nwtrcc.org), on NWTRCC’s Facebook and Twitter pages, or on NWTRCC blog posts.
Social media is on fire about tax resistance! There are calls for resistance until Trump releases his own tax returns, alongside general interest in resisting taxes that fund the Trump administration’s agenda. War isn’t on most folks’ radars yet, but I’m unfortunately confident it will come up soon. I especially think there’s promise in war tax resistance targeting border militarization and Trump’s executive order for a new border wall section. Please contact me with any ideas or potential connections for online outreach at wartaxresister@nwtrcc.org.
— Erica Weiland, NWTRCC Social Media Consultant, Seattle, WA
David Gross at the rally in San Luis Obispo, California. Photo by Dan Gross
There’s a hunger for a tax resistance campaign against all of Trumpism. The WTR movement must decide: do we expand our own focus to feed this hunger, or do we lend our expertise to a distinct but parallel tax resistance campaign that is not as focused on war and militarism?
— David Gross, San Luis Obispo, CA
The way I came to WTR is more like falling in love than part of a grand strategy to bring peace to the world. Everything about WTR still makes sense to me, but I can also tell it has little resonance for many progressives. Given the breadth and depth of the attack to civil society we are witnessing now, two possibilities to popularize WTR are worth further consideration. One is to expand the idea of war so that it includes the domestic war of dissolving civil institutions. And, as a way of meeting people where they are in love — on their issue — we can consider a broad-based symbolic resistance from key leaders or constituents of various movements. For instance, I will bet good resisted dollars that Tim DeChristopher and Bill Mckibben are ripe for resisting some variation of 3-5-0.
— N.D., New York, NY*
The City of Angels, erupted in mass protest January 21, a post inauguration day “heard around the world.” Hundreds of thousands of women and allies flooded downtown in a colorful and creative show of resistance to Trump’s election. The police, basically invisible, reported no arrests. While personal handmade signs touched on many domestic issues, few were on peace or antimilitarism. Sadly, Obama’s last day in office produced a bombing raid in Syria that killed dozens. By normalizing endless war, the Democrats may have squeezed the life out of a once active peace movement. But war tax resistance and redirection is a viable strategy to divest from the Pentagon and to rebuild the power of the people to make war obsolete.
— Cathy Deppe, Los Angeles, CA
A selfie by Christie Kirchhoefer at the DC Women’s March
I joined with the millions of women who came out in a preemptive stance towards the new administration and the intensification of war within our communities in order to recommit to building a new way forward. In DC, we swarmed the city where the decisions of mainly white men have brought about destruction to the people throughout the world — and increasingly so in the U.S. We committed to investing in a different way forward and have a greater opportunity for war tax resistance, especially as war enters our communities and targets the most vulnerable. We are learning that despair is a luxury afforded only to the privileged, and our liberation is deeply bound up in each other.
— Chrissy Kirchhoefer, St. Louis, MO
Resisting Trump seems like a no-brainer to many, yet to that same majority resisting paying taxes for governmental action one doesn’t support — be it war or prisons or militarized police — remains obscured by fear and myth. It’s time for tax choice to become normalized. It’s not so simply a fight against the rich, it’s against the rich who use the government to enforce their agenda undemocratically. We can resist their agenda and their government by redirecting our tax money to projects, schools, farms and organizations we support. We can choose to tax ourselves and choose to spend the tax ourselves. Think of your local school teacher; she could do so much good — tangible good — with $5,000 of your monies. A simple action, it creates more transparency, more accountability, more relationships and more avenues of communication, which are desperately needed in these times.
— L.S., Brooklyn, NY*
Folks are asking about the idea of broadening the scope of WTR to include other Trump policies that many would have conscientious objections to. I think it’s a very tempting direction, since there is so much to object to in what he’s doing. One thought is that as he threatens to withdraw federal support from sanctuary cities, we might launch a redirection campaign to pull federal taxes to support those cities that are targeted.
Susan Quinlan, Berkeley, CA
*Sometimes friends in our network have personal reasons for being less public about their relationship to war tax resistance. We respect those reasons and allow for anonymity on occasion.
Redirection 2017
War tax resisters from around the country are taking on a new initiative, to collectively redirect tax money to organizing for liberation led by Black, Indigenous, and People Of Color (BIPOC). Together we will refuse to pay thousands of dollars to our oppressive government and redirect that money directly to organizations that are challenging the very foundations of oppression in our society. Redirection decisions will be made at the local and/or regional level. NWTRCC will help publicize the effort as well as gather information on the total amount that was redirected. This is an opportunity to build new relationships and redirect resources to those fights and more directly support the BIPOC leadership in our areas. By having it be locally based, each community can shape the effort in a way that works best for them.
Move this effort forward by hosting workshops and making the connections between federal spending on police, prisons, and the military or meeting with organizations like Showing Up For Racial Justice to encourage them to resist taxes and redirect the money to Black Lives Matter organizers in their area.
For more information and to connect with redirectors in your area, contact NWTRCC Field Organizer Sam Koplinka-Loehr (organizer@nwtrcc.org or 607-592-7650). See the inserted form to report your redirection.
Counseling Notes:
2017 IRS Deductions and Exemptions
| Category | Standard Deduction | Personal Exemption |
|---|---|---|
| Single | $6,350 | $4,050 |
| Married, filing jointly | $12,700 | $4,050 |
| Married, filing separately | $6,350 | $4,050 |
| Head of household | $9,350 | $4,050 |
For example, the taxable level for a single person is $6,350 plus $4,050 = $10,400 (federal income tax; social security taxes are due at a much lower level). For each married taxpayer who is at least 65 years old or blind, an additional $1,250 standard deduction may be claimed. If the taxpayer is single, the additional standard deduction amount is $1,550. The personal exemption phases out with adjusted gross incomes that begin at $261,500(single) or $156,900 (married filing separately).
You may be able to make significantly more than the amounts indicated above and owe no income taxes. NWTRCC’s Practical #5, Low Income/ Simple Living as War Tax Resistance ($1 from the NWTRCC office), includes information on legal ways to reduce taxable income and owe no federal income taxes. We suggest that nonfilers fill out the forms and keep their receipts for reference in case their circumstances change or the IRS comes calling.
Why the IRS Says It Can’t Collect
“Trends in Compliance Activities through Fiscal Year 2015” is a September 2016 report from the office of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA). The report gives a good indication of how strapped the agency is. Even when shown that there’s money on the table that just needs to be picked up (in this case, high-income people who haven’t filed income tax returns but whom the agency knows about), the IRS complains it doesn’t have enough people to do the picking. They issue fewer levies because they don’t have the personnel to follow up; they say they can’t handle what they refer to as the “downstream work” after sending notices.
However, while the graph above shows the drop in personnel, there are questions as to whether that is the only problem for the IRS. In an article analyzing one aspect of the report, Forbes online contributor Keith Fogg points out that a simple computer programming fix would allow the IRS to more efficiently pursue people who file for an extension and then never file. The IRS still seems to be lagging in automation advancements despite the years spent upgrading their computer systems.
— Thanks to David Gross, The Picket Line, sniggle.net/TPL
Many Thanks
We are endlessly grateful to each of you who has responded to our fall fund appeal and to the “reminder” phone
calls that some of you received.
Special thanks for Affiliate dues payments from:
Nashville Greenlands • Oregon Community of War Tax Resisters • Pioneer Valley War Tax Resistance • War Resisters League
In addition we’d like to extend a special thanks to:
Second Anonymous Fund, Santa Fe Community Foundation
Living Hope Fellowship congregation in Ithaca, New York, for their recent donation after hearing a talk about NWTRCC’s work by field organizer Sam Koplinka-Loehr. If you are part of a faith organization, please consider a donation to NWTRCC or hosting a presentation on war tax resistance.
Network List Updates
The Network List of Affiliates, Area Contacts, Counselors, and Alternative Funds is updated and online at nwtrcc.org, or contact the NWTRCC office (nwtrcc@nwtrcc.org or (800) 269-7464) if you would like a printed list by mail.
Advertise to Activists! See the advertising rates for this newsletter or contact the editor at (800) 269‒7464.
War Tax Resistance Ideas and Actions
WTRs Out and About
- The Veterans for Peace Chapter 099 of Western North Carolina, voted unanimously at its January 2017 meeting to endorse the work of
the NWTRCC in its support of persons who conscientiously object to paying for war, and further, to stand in support with any members in VFP 099 who choose this method of war resistance. - In San Diego, “War Tax Redirection 101: Redirect Your War Taxes to Peace” is co-sponsored by San Diego war tax resisters, Uhuru Solidarity Movement, and 9/11 Truth San Diego. The workshop will be held February 12, 6:30 – 9:30 pm, at the Joyce Beers Community Center. More information is at resistwar.eventbrite.com.
- In Philadelphia, WTRs Sam Koplinka-Loehr and Ari Rosenberg for Philly WTR organized a workshop titled “Escalating Political Resistance: A workshop with Philly Movement Leaders On Tactics for Racial Justice,” that included presentations by Erica Mines of the Philly Coalition For REAL Justice, and Shani Akilah and Abdul-Aliy Muhammad of Black and Brown Workers Collective. It was held January 28, so watch for a report online and in our next newsletter.
- In Brattleboro, Vermont, Daniel Sicken did two WTR tabling events in January. One was at the Brattleboro Food Coop, which invited various activist groups to table inside on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
- 1040 for Peace organizers John Stoner and Harold Penner are reaching out to religious bodies to join in a “Call to Protect All People.” Noting threatening, authoritarian messages accompanying the election of Donald J. Trump “open the way to more radical attacks on human rights and democratic processes,” 50 Christian leaders from across America have called on congregations and assemblies to deepen their engagements in the political and economic health of local communities. The statement and signers are online at forusa.org/blog.php?i=130, and there is a link to an implementation guide.
- In Asheville, North Carolina, Redmoonsong facilitated a January 14 workshop at Firestorm, a local anarchist bookstore. Titled “Why Look for Peace When You’re Paying for War” she helped attendees consider how to organize their lives so as not to pay federal taxes.
Back on the Agenda!
In 2016, Conscience UK marked the centenary of the Military Service Act by calling on the government to extend the definition of conscientious objection to taxation for the 21st Century.
This cause was taken up by Ruth Cadbury MP who, with the support of her Parliamentary colleagues, arranged the first reading of a Taxes for Peace Bill in the House of Commons in July 2016. A debate scheduled for December 2 was cancelled, but now Conscience reports that the Taxes for Peace Bill debate has been rescheduled for March 24, 2017. With enough pressure on MPs the group is hopeful that the debate will proceed. Find updates at conscienceonline.org.uk.
A Widening Agenda for Tax Resistance
From Standing Rock
During a ceremony with Native American tribes at Standing Rock on December 4, 2016, veterans, with spokesperson Wesley Clark Jr., asked for forgiveness for the genocide and war crimes committed by the U.S. military against Native Americans. WTR Randy Kehler watched the moving ceremony on YouTube and was excited to hear Chief Leonard Crow Dog of the Sicangu Lakota Tribe say at the end of his response:
We’re gonna take it to the Foreign Relations Committee, that we must be honored. 1868 Treaty. 1851 Treaty. 1889 Treaty. June 24, 1924 — that we are come to be a citizen of the United States…They make us live a lie, accept something [that] was not our dream, our vision. …We’re gonna take some steps illegally. All you taxpayers, tell the Internal Revenue, long as you do not honor the Lakota Nation, of all tribal nations, 564 tribes — honor them. If you don’t honor them, we ain’t gonna pay no taxes any more to Internal Revenue.
In Defense of Women’s Health Care:
Gloria Steinem, who is among other things a veteran of the war tax resistance movement of the Vietnam War era, had this to say if the Trump administration and Republican Congress manage to strip public funding of Planned Parenthood:
“What I see in the streets and online and in all kinds of ways is that people are taking power unto themselves,” she said. “There are a lot more of us than there are of him [Trump].”
Steinem went on: “In this case, we can say ‘I’m sending the part of my income tax that should go to Planned Parenthood, I’m sending it directly to Planned Parenthood. Come and get me.’”
—The Picket Line, Dec. 10, 2016, sniggle.net/TPL, Reuters World News, Dec. 9, 2016
Against the Border Wall
On the actress’s twitter account, @Mia Farrow, she tweeted on January 27: “I refuse to pay a penny of my taxes toward Trump’s insane, insulting wall. #IstandwithMexico.” On social media the response to the administration announcement that U.S. taxpayers would have to front the money for the border wall “is trending” as they say. NWTRCC’s Social Media Consultant Erica Weiland reports great response to her tweet about tax resistance and the border wall.
Resources
Gifts Galore cafepress.com/nwtrcc
“Don’t Buy War by NWTRCC” is our new store on the website CafePress. Now you can advertise your refusal to pay for war on shirts, mugs, stickers, magnets, buttons, cloth shopping bags — and more! You’ll find items with the bomb in a shopping cart logo and “I’m not buying it”; the “Divest from War, Invest in People” slogan; NWTRCC’s longtime canon logo “If you work for peace stop paying for war”; and a dove image with that same slogan. Shop for yourself or for gifts at cafepress.com/nwtrcc.
Free Organizing Packet
“Divestment” is used for many different campaigns, and NWTRCC is promoting “divest from war, invest in people.” On our website and in print, NWTRCC has an organizing packet with sections covering What do we mean when we say divest from war, invest in people; Does divestment work: How to divest; Where we reinvest; plus organizing stories and ideas, and a list or links to resources. Online you will find Powerpoint slides or an infographic that you can use on your websites or send to others. Look for the link on our homepage or directly at nwtrcc.org/programs-events/action-ideas/divest-war-invest-people. If you would like a packet mailed to you, please call the NWTRCC office at 800-269-7464 or email nwtrcc@nwtrcc.org.
Money, Free Materials and Action Ideas
NWTRCC is pleased to be able to offer tax season organizing grants to affiliate groups. We have $2,000 in the budget; last year groups received about $250 to help cover expenses of workshops, signs, or literature for local organizing related to war tax resistance.
NWTRCC still offers a free “lit kit” for WTR organizers that includes pie charts and palm cards and a description of how to set up a penny poll — always a good outreach tool for new audiences.
To apply for an organizing grant or receive a lit kit, please contact NWTRCC, PO Box 150553, Brooklyn, NY 11215, 800-269-7464 or email nwtrcc@nwtrcc.org.
Our website includes lots of action ideas at nwtrcc.org/programs-events/action-ideas, and publications under the “Resources” and “Store” menus at nwtrcc.org, or ask us for a resource list by mail.
NWTRCC News
Remembering Ed Pearson, CMTC Founder
By Larry Bassett
May 1983 NWTRCC meeting with (l to r) Kathy Levine, Mike Baum, Ed Pearson, Lisa Hicks, George Rodkey, Bob Bady, Mandy Carter, and Frances Schwab. Photo by Ed Hedeman
Editor’s Note: We belatedly learned that longtime peace taxpayer and early NWTRCC supporter Ed Pearson died March 4, 2016, at age 87 at his home in Faber, Virginia. He last stopped by a NWTRCC gathering in 2009 when we met in Harrisonburg, Virginia. His wife, Georgia Pearson survives him.
Ed Pearson was a well-known member of the peace movement, especially in the 1970s on into the 1990s. He was a staunch supporter of the World Peace Tax Fund from its early days. He and his wife Georgia invented the Conscience and Military Tax Campaign, called the CMTC, as a way to try to get the Peace Tax Fund legislation passed through Congress. The idea was that 100,000 people would commit to resisting their federal income tax once the goal of 100,000 was reached. An escrow fund was also established to hold resisted taxes that would be turned over to the government when the Peace Tax Fund bill was passed. This fund ultimately contained hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Education was one of the major contributions of the CMTC through a regular newsletter. Some of you will remember the name KEGL. This name was the initials of the CMTC staff: Kathy, Ed, Georgia, and Larry. Ed and Georgia always worked for free. Kathy and Larry were paid low peace movement wages and given a place to live in a house owned by the Pearsons. Ed had somewhat of a combative personality and was well known for his dislike of the term “resisters,” which he felt was too negative and did not attract supporters. He and I had our disagreements during the time I worked for the CMTC. He thought I was quite bold to criticize him while Kathy and I lived in his house. The CMTC office was in a converted garage behind the house.
The CMTC was one of the founding groups of NWTRCC, and Kathy and Larry left the CMTC when Kathy became the first coordinator of NWTRCC. Ed and Georgia continued with the CMTC for a while before it was transferred out to Seattle, and Ed and Georgia moved to Virginia to settle in an alternative community.
Larry Bassett worked for NWTRCC in the 1980s and is an active WTR counselor who lives in Lynchburg, Virginia.
I first met Ed when CMTC was going strong on Long Island. It was due to that initial contact that he inquired about Seattle as a new location for CMTC when it was time to move on. He came out to Seattle for an exploratory trip, which was a success. After the move, he reached out to CMTC under its new “management,” sometimes just to check in, and other times to object to some new directions we were taking including more emphasis on resistance and less on passing the peace tax legislation. All in all, we inherited a great escrow fund, managed it for over 15 years here in Seattle, and then passed it successfully to Bill Ramsey, now in North Carolina. The CMTC escrow fund is one of the WTR movement’s enduring institutions, and that’s saying a lot for Ed, Georgia, Larry, Kathy and their vision.
— Carolyn Stevens lives in Seattle, Washington, and was NWTRCC’s Coordinator from 1987-1991.
CMTC continues to hold resisted tax money and welcomes donations. Around tax day each year the board makes grants to a variety of humanitarian organizations. Contact them at CMTC, PO Box 2096, Mars Hill, NC 28754, or see the website nwtrcc.org/cmtcea.
Condolences
Sincere condolences to Cindy Sheehan, whose sister and fellow activist Dede Miller died of metastatic breast cancer on January 22, 2017, at the age of 58. In the obituary Cindy wrote that after Dede’s nephew Casey was killed in Iraq in 2005, “Dede became a fulltime activist eschewing the ‘American’ way of consuming and wasting to become a war tax resister, and the IRS hounded her, but she never gave in. She, like me, refused to pay for war and empire, and she was such a brave role-model until the end.”
Help NWTRCC Grow in 2017
AdComm Nominations Needed
We’re a small organization, with three part-time consultants all in home offices. Volunteers have been the heart of NWTRCC’s work since its founding in 1982. The Coordinating Committee is made up of those who attend or participate virtually in the business meetings in May and November. The volunteers who make up the Administrative Committee (AdComm) keep us going between meetings. The AdComm gives oversight to business operations, helps plan the two gatherings each year, keeps in touch with consultants, and meets face-to-face or by phone four times a year. New members will be selected from nominees at the May 2017 meeting and serve as alternates for one year and full members for two years. For more information, contact the NWTRCC office (800-269-7464) or nwtrcc@nwtrcc.org. Deadline for nominations is March 17, 2017.
Mark Your Calendars
Mark your calendars for the next gathering, May 5 – 7 2017, in St. Louis. As you can tell by this newsletter, there is a lot to discuss as the Trump Administration enacts their promised agenda and activism explodes. Watch our website for more information or contact the office in March for program and registration information.
PROFILE
We Marched: Now Let’s Take the Next Important Step
By Kayla Starr
Courtesy of Kayla Starr, starbotanicals.com
In my 75 years, 30 of which as a war tax resister, I have known of no other time when an economic boycott of the federal government was more crucial. Now more than ever, as a grandmother of three beautiful grandchildren, I fear for the futures of the next generation if our country continues on the destructive path it has been following.
I firmly believe that we cannot change our deeply corrupt government by voting alone. I have supported progressive candidates, voted in each election, but over the decades it became crystal clear to me that our national elections are carefully rigged to allow only candidates who support the status quo to be elected. The way Bernie Sanders’ campaign was squelched is a glaring example. The corporate press ignored him, primary voting processes were flawed, legitimate voters in progressive districts were told they were not registered, millions of votes on “provisional” ballots were never counted, etc. Trump ran as an “outsider” and despite his ignorance, bigotry, and delusions of grandeur, got the votes of many millions of disaffected, less educated people who were desperate for change, enough to win the electoral college vote and be sitting in the White House Oval Office today. Only by resisting in every way we can, including, refusing to pay for it, can we hope to turn this evil empire around. This must become a mass movement now.
I have been a practicing massage therapist for over 30 years, while raising two daughters after a divorce. I’ve been an activist since I was a student at University of California Berkeley during the Free Speech Movement in 1964 and protested the Vietnam War and all the wars the U.S. has engaged in since then. I’ve worked for equal rights for women since the early ‘70s and protested nuclear power plants, drone warfare, the Iran Contra drugs for weapons program, U.S. involvement in oppressing Palestinians, fossil fuel companies, clear-cutting our
forests in South Oregon where I’ve lived for 30 years, stopping GMO crops in my county. I’ve been a member of Code Pink and Greenpeace and Peace House in Ashland, Oregon.
For over three decades, I have redirected my owed federal taxes to peace, justice and environmental protection organizations. I also deposited owed taxes in one of the many war tax escrow funds during years when I owed larger amounts. Each year when I sent in my accurately completed federal income tax forms, I enclosed a letter to the IRS explaining that I would be happy to pay my taxes if they would assure me that my money would not be used to pay for wars and nuclear weapons. I also explained that I was using my owed taxes to support local peace organizations. I sent copies of my letters to my representatives in Congress. Now I scrape by on a meager Social Security retirement check and Medicare, so I’m no longer required to file the IRS forms.
I began receiving letters from the IRS after the first year, imposing interest and penalties increasing what I owed. I wrote back each time with copies of my letters stating why I was not paying. After several years, the IRS agents began to call me with their threats. I enjoyed having long conversations with the agents explaining exactly why I was doing this, and even attempting to recruit them to the cause. After a year of these calls, they stopped, and also stopped sending the threatening letters. Had I convinced them? No way to know why they gave up on me.
I made sure that I filled out my W-4 forms listing several allowances, so IRS $ would not be subtracted from each paycheck. I kept only enough in my bank account to pay my monthly bills. I never received threats to take my home or had my wages or bank account garnished. I believe this was due to the understaffing of the IRS collections department, which I understand only goes after about 50% of tax resisters.
I helped organize tax day demonstrations at my local post offices, wrote articles for local papers and newsletters, and I talk with anyone who shows any interest in how and why I do this, to encourage others to join this campaign. The U.S. already spends far more on the military than any other country. At least 50% of federal income tax goes to the military, and an unknown amount to nuclear energy, subsidies to fossil fuel companies, bail-outs for criminal bankers. The U.S. has more prisoners, many in private jails, and disproportionately people of color, than any other nation. Our government builds more prisons than schools. We need to use tax dollars to mediate climate disaster, properly educate our children, provide decent health care to our citizens, repair crumbling infrastructure, and fund a livable retirement income to our elders. All these concerns are about to get much, much worse under the new regime in DC.
Most people I talk to about tax resistance are afraid they will go to jail, or lose their property. It is fairly easy to explain that almost none of the thousands of tax resisters we know of have ever gone to jail for refusal to pay income tax per se. It is far more complicated to discuss the possibilities of losing property, having bank accounts and salaries garnered. This is where NWTRCC information and tax resistance counselors are so important. Without the information and support of NWTRCC, I might never have had the courage to follow my deepest beliefs and become a war tax resister. I hope and pray that the example set by war tax resisters such as myself will encourage millions of people to join this campaign NOW.
