Susan Lee Barton 2019
To the Internal Revenue Service Copies to : Rep. Dwight Evans, Senator Bob Casey, Senator Patrick J. Toomey, President Donald Trump To my government representatives, My 2018 tax return says that I owe $215 in taxes. I am once again writing to explain why I will not pay the amount I owe to the federal… Continue reading
Jennie Kogan 2019
Dear Congressman Himes, Senators Murphy and Blumenthal and Mr. President, I am going act in accordance with the Article 1 in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, join the movement of conscientious objectors and refuse to pay 24% of my federal taxes this year. Instead, I will redirect that money to supporting human rights because… Continue reading
Tax Day 2019 Report Back
Like many, I awoke Monday morning with anticipation for Tax Day. My excitement was related to thinking of the many throughout the US who would be resisting giving money to pay for war and raising the issue of bloated military spending to the general public through leafleting, holding vigils and marches. NWTRCC had been busy… Continue reading
Terrible Taxes in History
Tax Day in the United States is Monday April 15 in most states (April 17 in Maine & Massachusetts). So I thought a post on terrible taxes in history would be appropriate. Back in December, HistoryExtra.com published an article about ten terrible taxes. (HistoryExtra is the official website for BBC History Magazine and BBC World… Continue reading
Tom Haws 2019
Dear IRS Employee, As a conscientious objector to war, I will not pay my 2018 income tax. I believe war killing is wrong and therefore I cannot pay for it. There are other ways for nations to resolve their conflicts with one another besides through war killing. The U.S. government spends nearly half its budget… Continue reading
David and Jan Hartsough 2019
Dear Friends at the IRS, We cannot in conscience pay for the killing of other human beings or pay for war and preparations for war. Human life is too precious to drop bombs on people because we do not like their governments. Developing a new generation of nuclear weapons which could put an end to… Continue reading
King’s Bay Plowshares/ MLK Anniversary
TODAY is April 4th, the 51st anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It is also the first anniversary of the action of 7 Catholic peace activists to symbolically disarm nuclear weapons at the Trident Submarine Base at Kings Bay, Georgia. Most, if not all, of the Kings Bay Plowshares… Continue reading
RIP Joffre: A tireless resister — who could try patience
Joffre Stewart died in his hometown Chicago at age 93 on March 12. He became a dedicated nonviolent resister to war and injustice out of a short stint in the military during WWII when he went to prison for going AWOL. Early on he found his political home with the revolutionary pacifism and direct action… Continue reading
The Continual Crossroads of Nuclear Weapons
History of the Nuclear Testing in the Marshall Islands After World War II the United States seized the Marshall Islands, a 1,800 mile chain of islands in the Pacific Ocean. Prior to that the Japanese had occupied the territory as an outpost for their military interventions. One Sunday in February 1946, the island’s US military… Continue reading
Increasing “Lethality” of Drones
There have been a couple news stories in March about American military drones. On 6 March 2019, Trump signed an executive order ending the requirement that CIA officials “report civilian deaths in drone attacks outside active war zones.” Trump referred to the requirement as a distraction. Obama put the requirement in place in 2016, during… Continue reading
Why I am a Cop Watcher… for the same reasons I resist war taxes.
Sunday, Feb 24 – Since Cat was nowhere in sight, and not responding to texts, Julie and I headed over to check out the nearby AJA Project while we waited. Located in the City Heights neighborhood, the young artists at AJA Project use art as the medium for young people dealing with systemic oppression to… Continue reading
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
