Happy New Year! Want to Be a War Tax Resister?

In 2017, many people discussed and organized around tax resistance to the Trump administration or to its policies (such as nuclear antagonism, the recent tax bill, and attempts to overturn the Affordable Care Act). War tax resisters were the subject of a lot of media attention too! However, we didn’t get a lot of visible growth in the number of resisters. But it takes time for folks to become comfortable with the idea. 2018 is a new year!

One of the biggest reasons to be a tax resister is the reason the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee has been around since 1982. Namely, the toxic militarism that persists no matter who is president. The waste of lives, dollars, and resources continues largely unchanged, with a different face and a different tone to the words.

Of course, there have been many specific and serious foreign policy issues raised by the current administration too.

So this is a call to you: are you ready to bring your life in line with your beliefs in the new year? Do you still pay taxes while you are:

• horrified by Trump’s persistent nuclear antagonism of North Korea?
• disgusted by Congress’ endorsement of an enormous military budget increase?
• worried about the impacts of moving the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem?
• opposed to the US’ involvement in the Saudi-led war in Yemen?
• opposed to drone strikes under Obama and continue to be concerned about this issue?
• concerned about increasing border militarization and immigrant detention?
• struggling against climate change and environmental destruction? (the US military is the largest user of fossil fuels in the world)

You can take any number of small, easy steps today to start refusing taxes for militarism, including:

• writing a letter to enclose with your tax return (even if you choose to pay, or are getting a refund),
• adjusting your W-4 to reduce your withholdings for next year,
• refusing to pay the telephone tax on long-distance landline service, or
• refusing to pay a token amount of your income taxes on your 2017 return.

I’m looking forward to seeing who joins this movement in 2018, and what new energy and perspectives you bring to this work.