Taking Responsibility
By Lauren Tepper “I believe that we must consciously develop a greater sense of Universal Responsibility. We must learn to work not just for our own individual self, family, or nation, but for the benefit of all humankind.” —H.H. the XIVth Dalai Lama “A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.”… Continue reading
Out on a Limb
By Dee Logan, Cleveland, OH I’ve kept my wages below taxable limits so as not to be required to pay income (war) taxes. And now, due to health issues, I am not employed. However, the year my mom passed on (2002), I did receive some inheritance. Although the financial person said it was not taxable,… Continue reading
Jump On Board
By Rod Nippert I am 61 years young. I live in an intentional community in southeastern Ohio. I have been a war tax resister (WTR) since the early 1970s. I believe being a WTR has profoundly affected my adult life. I do not feel that I am in any way uniquely suited to be a tax resister…. Continue reading
Seth Berner
April 11, 2011 Internal Revenue Service P.O. Box 37008 Hartford, CT 06178-0008 Re: Seth Berner, 2011 Form 1040 Dear People: When George Bush took the White House he inherited a budget surplus and relative peace in the world. Eight years later this country had the biggest deficit on record, the greatest degree of public unrest and uncertainty… Continue reading
Lauren Tepper
April 3, 2011 Dear IRS Personnel: I am thankful to live in a country that allows freedom of speech. For years I have been exercising my right of free speech by protesting the United States’ aggressive militarism. However, it seems that my voice and the voices of so many others who abhor war have gone… Continue reading
David and Jan Hartsough (2011)
March 30, 2011 Dear Friends at the IRS: As we approach April 15 and are again asked to contribute close to half of our tax dollars for the military and wars – past, present and future – we have to ask ourselves whether this is really how we want to spend our hard earned money. Our… Continue reading
Striving for 100% CO
Tim Pluta While serving in the military, it finally occurred to me one day that I might be called upon to kill somebody. I didn’t like the idea very much, so I ended up applying to get out as a conscientious objector (CO). Following a lengthy investigation, the U.S. armed services considered my beliefs to… Continue reading
Choose Life or Death
By Patricia Tompkins I just heard on National Public Radio this quote from a Chinese entrepreneur who became an organic farmer. “By chasing after money, we have forgotten the essence of life.” For me, the essence of life is connection to the land and to each other because without the first we cannot live and… Continue reading
War Tax Resisting
By Heather Snow, Durango, Colorado When I was a young girl around the age of 10, I already understood what a corrupt world we lived in. I had a deep distrust for society and mostly government. I had a few jobs when I was 17, and decided not to pay my taxes as a statement… Continue reading
Robert Stenger
August 17, 2010 Dear Internal Revenue Service, I am writing in response to a tax return overdue notice sent to me on May 24, 2010, regarding my “US Individual Income Tax Return” for the tax period of “12-31-2008.” It is my intention to decline to submit a tax return for the aforementioned tax period, or… Continue reading
Douglas and Maureen Mackenzie
April 18, 2010 Dear IRS employee: IRS rules indicate that we owe the IRS $573. Tax receipts extorted by the IRS from the American people under violence and/or threat of violence are used by the U.S. government and its armed death forces to pay interest on the debt incurred to wage wars of aggression for the benefit… Continue reading
Jordan Taylor and Mariana Garrettson (2010)
April 14, 2010 Department of the Treasury Internal Revenue Service Center Atlanta, Ga 39901-0102 To Whom it May Concern: My wife and I are filing our form 1040 but cannot in good conscience comply with the payment instructions. We were both raised Quaker (The Religious Society of Friends), one of the three traditional Peace Churches,… Continue reading