Though rare, the IRS has seized property — usually in the form of vehicles and houses, and sometimes even bicycles — of war tax resisters for unpaid taxes, especially unpaid telephone taxes during the Vietnam War. The other period of unusual property seizures was in the 1980s. Often these seizures (and threats to seize) appear to be intended as blatant attempts at intimidation (to force the resister into cooperating or revealing sources of other assets) than to actually collect money.
[Click for a list of war tax resisters taken to court by the government.]
The shortest column represents one person (or family) and the tallest is ten people (or families) who had property seized by the IRS for refusing to pay war taxes. The year is when the property was seized, though an auction may have happened in a subsequent year. (Data is as of October 2024.)
| 1949 | Miriam Keeler | Washington, DC |
| gold watch | seized from safe deposit box; returned the next day | |
| 1950 | Ammon Hennacy | Phoenix, AZ |
| picket sign | seized outside IRS office; later sold for $5 | |
| 1951 | Walter Gormly | Mt. Vernon, IA |
| car | IRS seized and auctioned car for income taxes | |
| 1951 | Art/Caroline Emery | Earlham, IA |
| car | IRS seized and auctioned for $145 for income taxes | |
| 1957 | Ray Olds | Yellow Springs, OH |
| truck | IRS seized truck for income tax refusal | |
| 1957 | Ray & Jean Olds | Yellow Springs, OH |
| house | IRS seized home for $160 in refused income tax | |
| 1959 | Hank Dyer | Yellow Springs, OH |
| house | IRS seized house; bought back by the Dyers | |
| 1967 | Neil Haworth | New London, CT |
| car | IRS auctioned car for $50 | |
| 1968 | Gordon Christiansen | New London, CT |
| cars | two cars impounded by IRS for refused taxes; bought back after paying taxes | |
| 1968 | Karl North | Rochester, NY |
| car | North rescued car during IRS attempt to tow it for $11.29 in unpaid telephone tax | |
| 1968 | Ashton/Marie Jones | Vista, CA |
| car | seized for $17 telephone tax; auctioned to used car dealer for $550 | |
| 1969 | Philip K. Dick | Berkeley, CA |
| car | seized by IRS for tax refusal; 1967 Writers & Editors War Tax Protest signer | |
| 1970 | Margie McFadden | Kansas City, MO |
| car | McFadden rescues car during IRS attempt to seize it for unpaid telephone tax | |
| 1970 | Margie/Ellis Rece | Augusta, GA |
| car | IRS tries to tow car for unpaid telephone tax but seizes bank account instead | |
| 1970 | David/Janet Hartsough | Washington, DC |
| house | IRS seized house for $38.22 tax refusal; house later returned | |
| 1970 | Bob Marcus | Boulder, CO |
| car | IRS seized car for $1.25 unpaid telephone tax; auctioned for $277 | |
| 1970 | ? | New York, NY |
| car | IRS auctioned car of war tax resister | |
| 1971 | Loran Segal | Seattle, WA |
| car | seized for $26 unpaid telephone tax; aucitoned for $400 to WTR group | |
| 1971 | Howard & Paul Cell | Germantown, PA |
| car | seized for $47.05 refused taxes; eventually returned | |
| 1971 | George & Lillian Willoughby | Philadelphia, PA |
| car | seized car for telephone tax refusal; auction to Philly WTR for $123 | |
| 1971 | Martha & Chester Brickett |
Laconia, NH |
| car | car seized for $522 in refused taxes but auction fails because bids too low | |
| 1971 | Charles Hastings |
Seattle, WA |
| truck | seized for $17.44 unpaid income and telephone taxes | |
| 1971 | Wally & Juanita Nelson | Ojo Caliente, NM |
| cars | IRS attempts to seize 2 cars but Juanita removes stickers while Wally sits between tow truck and car | |
| 1971 | Margie McFadden |
Kansas City, MO |
| house | seized for $300 in unpaid income tax | |
| 1972 | Alfred & Connie Anderson |
Berkeley, CA |
| house | seized for $36,000 in unpaid taxes; auctioned for $1500 to friend who returned it to the Andersons | |
| 1972 | Joe Gerson |
Tempe, AZ |
| van | seized for $19.31 in telephone tax; demonstrators unsuccessfully try to block tow truck | |
| 1972 | June Gill |
Rochester, NY |
| car | seized for $8.06 unpaid telephone tax | |
| 1972 | David Janzen |
Newton, KS |
| car | seized for $31.32 unpaid telephone tax; auction to friend for $501 | |
| 1972 | Allen Zeitlin | Salt Lake City, UT |
| car | car seized; briefly blocked; later redeemed for $50 | |
| 1972 | ? | Austin, TX |
| car | IRS attempts tow for telephone tax but neighbor pays them off instead | |
| 1972 | Arnold Cuba | Austin, TX |
| car | car auctioned for unpaid $2.44 telephone tax but later freed when bank account seized instead | |
| 1972 | Franklin Zahn | Pomona, CA |
| car | car seized by IRS for unpaid $8.68 telephone tax but bank account levied instead | |
| 1972 | Nancy Moore | Austin, TX |
| car | IRS sezies car for telephone tax but Moore pays them off before towed | |
| 1972 | Jim Glock | Austin, TX |
| bicycle | IRS seized bike for $13 in unpaid telephone tax; auctioned for $50 (1973) for tax & Bekins storage costs | |
| 1974 | ? | Tempe, AZ |
| motorcycle | seized for $6 in unpaid telephone tax | |
| 1974 | Ellen Waters | Seattle, WA |
| car | seized for $12 telephone tax; returned after $106 seized from bank; excess over $12 eventually returned | |
| 1974? | Maris & Susan Cakars | Rifton, NY |
| car | car driven into woods to avoid IRS, which eventually seizes it on a return visit | |
| 1975 | Gano Peacemakers | Cincinnati, OH |
| house | mistakenly seized by IRS; auctioned for $25,000; eventually returned after IRS admits error | |
| 1975 | Paul & Addie Snyder | Fremont, MI |
| house | house and veterinary clinic/kennels sezied for $3000 unpaid taxes; auctioned to friends for $8450 | |
| 1976 | Laura Negronida | Palo Alto, CA |
| car | seized for $1854 in refused income taxes; auctioned to towing company for $950 | |
| 1976 | Meg Bowman | Philadelphia, PA |
| car | auctioned to friends for $750 | |
| 1982 | Larry & Lisa Kuenning | Oreland, PA |
| car | first car seizure of war tax resister in 6 years | |
| 1983 | Barb & Jim Dale | Bedford, IA |
| car | IRS seized car (July) but redeemed before auction | |
| 1983 | Phyllis Good Senesi | Kalamazoo, MI |
| car | IRS seized car; but no bids at auction | |
| 1983 | Rev. Cosmas Raimondi | Indianapolis, IN |
| car | IRS lien for $604 in Nov., then seized car when parish council refused to pay | |
| 1984 | Robert & Linda Randall | Woodstock, GA |
| house | bought back for bid amount from “winning” bidder | |
| 1984 | Robert & Linda Randall | Woodstock, GA |
| pickup truck | returned by IRS after house auctioned | |
| 1984 | Donna Johnson | Colorado Springs, CO |
| house | seizure notice removed because of uncertain title | |
| 1984 | John & Ruth Affolter | Renton, WA |
| house | auction cancelled at last minute & money seized from bank | |
| 1984 | Michael McConnell | Chicago, IL |
| house | ⅙ share of communal house; due to protests, auction abruptly cancelled last minute | |
| 1984 | Jerry Hardt | Salyersville, KY |
| farm | auctioned to supporters | |
| 1985 | Craig MacDonald | Wappingers Falls, NY |
| truck | seized then returned by IRS after bank account levy | |
| 1985 | Miriam Redstone & David Dillman | Santa Rosa, CA |
| car | seized then auctioned for $105 | |
| 1985 | Karl Meyer | Chicago, IL |
| vehicles | station wagon and trailer sold for $1,020 | |
| 1985 | David Pascale | Atlanta, GA |
| house | seized then returned after bank acct. levy; seized again and sold for half minimum bid | |
| 1985 | Maureen Flannery & Peter Reilly | Hindman, KY |
| car | IRS tried but failed to tow car; rescued by owner | |
| 1985 | John & Pat Schweibert | Portland, OR |
| house | unbeknownst to Schweiberts, house redeemed from IRS by a friend for $3300 | |
| 1985 | Eric Skalwold | Ithaca, NY |
| car | IRS seized car [ultimate disposition unknown] | |
| 1987 | David Pascale | Atlanta, GA |
| house | paid $701 minimum bid to redeem house | |
| 1988 | Anne Johnston | Seattle, WA |
| house | Feb. 26 IRS delivered seizure notice, later released in favor of a retirement account | |
| 1988 | Phillip & Louise Baldwin Rieman | Grundy Ctr., IA |
| car | IRS seized and auctioned for $2500; not redeemed | |
| 1988 | David Pascale | Atlanta, GA |
| house | seized 3rd time; auctioned, then redeemed from winning bidder | |
| 1989? | Mary Gleysteen | Kingston, WA |
| barn | IRS seizes house but released when retirement acct. levied instead | |
| 1989 | Randy Kehler & Betsy Corner | Colrain, MA |
| house | after 18 mos. of struggle, buyers leave house at end of 1993 | |
| 1989 | Bob Bady & Pat Morse | Colrain, MA |
| house | buyer never took possession; buyer eventually given money to settle claim to house | |
| 1989 | David Pascale | Lama, NM |
| car | auctioned for $3,100; bought by friend at auction | |
| 1990 | Paula Rogge | Austin, TX |
| car | sold to used car dealer for $585 | |
| 1991 | Betsy Wright | Springfield, MA |
| car | IRS auctions car for $451 | |
| 1992 | Meri Furnari | Oakland, CA |
| car | redeemed before auction | |
| 1994 | Pat Washburn | Estes Park, CO |
| car | IRS nets $67 out of $500 in taxes owed | |
| 1996 | Art Harvey & Elizabeth Gravanos | Hartford, ME |
| house | house sold to Eliz. mother and returned to them; blueberry land sold but still leased for blueberries | |
| 1999? | Joan & Chuck Wittreich | Center Moriches, NY |
| house | final IRS settlement allowed family member to buy house & continue to live there | |
SOURCES: The Peacemaker, Peacemakers, 1949–1992; Handbook on the Nonpayment of War Taxes, Peacemakers, 1983; Tax Talk, National War Tax Resistance, 1969–1975; Center Peace, Center on Law & Pacifism, 1981–1985; Conscience, Conscience and Military Tax Campaign, 1982–1994; Network News, 1984–1994, NWTRCC; More Than a Paycheck, 1994 to present, NWTRCC
