Manuel J. Shah
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Los Angeles, CA XXXXX
17 April 2006
Dear Internal Revenue Service of the United States Government:
I vehemently oppose the ongoing US led military occupation of Iraq and continued operations in Afghanistan. Approximately 30% of our income tax dollars are spent on today’s military. This expenditure of federal tax dollars drains resources from education programs, infrastructure and other basic needs. My conscience will not allow me to silently fund our government’s acts of violence.
For such reasons, I have withheld payment of $214.03 (10.40% of the $2,058 your Form 1040 calculations believe I “owe”) for my 2005 federal taxes. This 10.40% is a symbolic gesture of my opposition towards my tax dollars being used to pay for US military aggression. Based on federal fund figures outlined in the Budget of the United States Government FY 2007, as charted by the War Resisters League, current US military spending is roughly at 30% (or $675 billion of total federal fund outlays), this includes a conservative estimate of $100 billion for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars (this is often an underestimate as the current administration does not include the cost of war in the budget it submits and instead seeks funds via supplemental appropriation requests).
I am redirecting the amount of $214.03 to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, in particular to their Iraq: Humanitarian Emergency fund. This is in response to their appeal to raise $12 million in order to assist 60,000 Iraqi families devastated by the recent soaring inflation, cost of food and an unemployment rate over 50% that have all occurred since the invasion in 2003.
I understand this act is a willful violation of laws that demand I pay for war and the IRS may use its enforcement procedures to attempt collection. However, I hope instead that you would consider joining me in a refusal to pay for war. Not only have I included this statement with my return but I also intend to circulate it to the offices of my Congressional representative and United States senators as well as to my friends, family and local media.
Sincerely,
Manuel J. Shah
CC: Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, Congresswoman Diane Watson (CA-33), LA Weekly, LA Times.
