Public vs. Quiet Resistance
Making your war tax resistance public brings attention to the harm caused by militarism and military spending, can help galvanize others to action against war, and encourages civil disobedience. However, many resisters, for whatever reason, choose not to be outspoken and public about their refusal to pay war taxes. A few months ago, the war… Continue reading
Conscience and History: The WTR Movement Is A Myth
Welcome to another post in the Conscience and History series, highlighting some of the writing in the newsletter of the Conscience and Military Tax Campaign (CMTC), published from 1980 to 1995. So many of the discussions within the war tax resistance community are decades-long. When I first came to NWTRCC in 2008/2009, I got up… Continue reading
Niger Needs Food, Not Drones
Ed and I had an amazing trip twelve years ago to the Sahara Desert in Niger, one of the poorest countries in the world. For those of you who know us, the reason we’ve traveled to some more unusual places is the chance to see a total eclipse of the sun — and it’s true,… Continue reading
Tariffs for War?
I feel fairly good about my twenty years of war tax resistance. At times you might even say I feel smug. With the purpose of promoting a more peaceful world, I have redirected those funds to various people, groups, and movements. But I have not been able to avoid financial support for war entirely. I… Continue reading
Conscience and History: Beit Sahour, Part 2
Read Part 1 of Conscience and History: Beit Sahour Conscience, the newsletter of the Conscience and Military Tax Campaign (CMTC) from 1980 to 1995, covered the Palestinian tax resistance multiple times. Part 1 addressed 1988-1989’s coverage. The next mention of Beit Sahour, a center of such resistance, occurred in “West Bank Town Under Siege for… Continue reading
Conscience and History: Beit Sahour, Part 1
Welcome to the 2nd in the Conscience and History series! In each of these posts I’ll explore a little bit of the Conscience and Military Tax Campaign (CMTC)’s newsletter, Conscience, which was published from 1980 to 1994. The newsletter was continued as Nonviolent Action (1995-2007) by the Nonviolent Action Community of Cascadia (NACC), which ran… Continue reading
Is the IRS Getting More Active?
At NWTRCC gatherings, we always have cards on a back table so attendees can write notes of support to those who are facing garnishment or some other type of IRS action. At our last NWTRCC meeting in May, we mainly signed cards for those regular attendees that could not come due to ill health or… Continue reading
Robert Riversong 1979
IRS, I’m writing this from a prison bus on my way to arraignment for demonstrating against the launching of the first Trident Nuclear Submarine, the world’s most powerful killing machine. Since I was prepared to refuse my body as cannon fodder for the Vietnam War (my lottery number was not called for the last year… Continue reading
Don Timmerman 2018
Dear IRS Friends, I have refused to pay for war for thirty five years, and I am not stopping now. I am a Christian. My belief tells me that to follow Christ, I must refuse to cooperate with a government that believes it is alright to spend 50% of money received on war and weapons… Continue reading
Laugh, Cry, Carry On! Mining NWTRCC’s Archives
As Erica mentioned in her post last week, I’ve been clearing out old war tax resistance files and sorting those that will go to the Swarthmore College Peace Collection. Along with many other peace groups — War Resisters League, National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom — NWTRCC… Continue reading
Conscience and History: NWTRCC News in 1986
Recently, former NWTRCC coordinator Ruth Benn, as part of her ongoing effort to finally clear the NWTRCC archives out of her house, sent me a stack of old issues of Conscience. This was the newsletter of the Conscience and Military Tax Campaign (CMTC), which promoted what was then called the World Peace Tax Fund and ran… Continue reading
Celebrating a Triumph over the IRS, with Redirection
For the first time this year one of my outstanding tax debts hit the ten-year statute of limitations for collection. During those ten years, the IRS sent me increasingly exasperated letters, threatened me with thousands of dollars of interest & penalties, and even seized $469 from my bank account once. But this year the remaining… Continue reading
