WTRs in the Era of IRS Budget Cuts
The poor, underfunded IRS has been ignoring me lately. I get the usual two or three letters a year asking for payment or threatening levies, but I’m not getting enough personal attention to write about my own case in a monthly blog. However, I do know some others who have the long arm of the… Continue reading
Trump’s State of Emergency Lies Like a Loaded Weapon
77 years ago on February 19th 1942, Executive Order 9066 was issued. The Order directed the army to create military zones and to remove all residents of Japanese ancestry during World War II. It also created the War Relocation Authority which forcibly relocated over 110,000 citizens to internment camps. Last week,, the president declared a… Continue reading
Gambling with our Future
A recent headline, Cost to taxpayers to clean up nuke waste jumps $100 billion in a year brought home the tragedy of the nuclear weapons legacy. NBC reported that 80% of the increase was related to the Hanford site in Washington state where the plutonium was processed for nuclear weapons during the Cold War. David… Continue reading
Chinese Tariffs for War Continue…
The trade war with China continues to fund real wars. Back in September, I wrote a blog post about the tariffs the United States has imposed on Chinese-imported goods. I have been reticent to write about this in the newsletter because the situation is in constant flux, which could make a newsletter article obsolete by… Continue reading
War Tax and Vortex: It’s a Matter of Priorities
While I have been involved in War Tax Resistance(WTR) for the past 20 years, I have paid property taxes to the City of St. Louis. Five years ago I bought a house at one of the many tax sales where the city sells houses for the back taxes owed after not being paid for 5… Continue reading
Fred Burks 2019
Dear friends in the IRS and others concerned about integrity in government, I am withholding 12% of my taxes again this year as I cannot morally or spiritually support the indiscriminate killing of many thousands of innocent civilians by the US military in recent years. If another country’s military were to kill US civilians, there… Continue reading
Larry Bassett 2019
Dear Sirs: I am sending this annual letter to Mr. Trump and Mr. Warner and Mr. Kaine and Mr. Cline. You bring to mind the founding fathers – white men. And also the often quoted phrase about how all MEN are created equal. We conveniently ignore the historic denigration of women, blacks and Native Americans…. Continue reading
To Owe or Not to Owe: Tax Time 2019
For the first time in decades I find myself in danger of not owing federal income tax. As a resister/protester, this is unacceptable! I am self-employed, so I usually do a rough run-through on my taxes before the January 15 deadline for sending in last quarter estimated taxes. As a war tax resister I have… Continue reading
It’s Definitely More Than a Paycheck
I am incredibly excited to have this opportunity to work with NWTRCC in the role of Outreach Consultant. The position involves strengthening and publicizing War Tax Resistance through social media and field organizing. War Tax Resistance has been more of a focal point since joining the Administrative Committee in 2016 and hosting the May gathering… Continue reading
U.S. Troop Withdrawal from the Middle East
In the latter half of December, President Trump announced the withdrawal of all 2,000 U.S. troops from Syria along with an additional withdrawal of 7,000 troops (a 50% reduction) from Afghanistan. Originally, Trump gave the military thirty days to remove troops from Syria, but now has extended the deadline to four months. One would think… Continue reading
Military Operations on the U.S./Mexico Border
I never had enough time in 2018 to write the post I wanted to write about escalating militarism on the U.S./Mexico border. Now I’m shifting out of my role as NWTRCC blog curator. While I don’t have much time to cover the issue, I want to at least bring it up again to our WTR… Continue reading
Resistance and Witness at the Cleveland National Air Show
At long last, here’s the video from our Friday night event in Cleveland. Maria Smith hosted the evening with Mike Fiala from Cleveland Catholic Worker and other speakers! Unfortunately there’s no closed captioning or transcript at this time – if someone is available to take that task on, please let us know!