The Choice Seems Obvious
by Rev. Bucky Beach It was over 20 years ago that I started nonpayment of taxes owed to the IRS. I was scared, but youth breeds a sense of immortality, which was accompanied by a bit of a chip on my shoulder and a desire to be faithful to what I believed. I did some research and… Continue reading
Debra Valov
Internal Revenue Service Fresno, CA 93888-0102 Dear Internal Revenue Service Person: March 4, 2005 Today I sent in my completed 1040 and check in a separate envelope. I am writing to explain why I have withheld payment of $22.61 from the check in a symbolic act of war tax resistance, even though this amount by… Continue reading
Don Kaufman
Letter to phone company . RE: CREDIT FOR MILITARY-RELATED TAXES From 1968 to the present time my wife and I have declined to pay the Federal excise tax on telephone service. Your company has almost always honored our dissent from this dubious tax which can be traced back to the War Tax Revenue Act of… Continue reading
Steve Anderson
As best as I can remember, this is a copy of the letter I sent to the IRS in lieu of a tax return in 1992. The section in italics was added more recently. To whom it may concern, As a conscientious objector to war, I refuse to participate in the carnage committed by the… Continue reading
Evan Weissman
To Whom It May Concern: I’m not a naturally rebellious person. I recognize and respect the need for rules, laws and participation in any community (whether that be a classroom, city, country, or globally). It is precisely this understanding that leads me to my decision to withhold some of my federal tax payment. I’ve realized… Continue reading
Chris Toussaint
Why I am refusing to pay my income tax As April 15, 2004 approaches I have decided to file a 1040 tax return but to withhold sending the IRS any money for taxes I may owe. This decision was not made hastily or without a lot of thought. Over the years, and especially the last… Continue reading
Manuel Shah (2004)
Los Angeles, CA 90013 15 April 2004 Dear Internal Revenue Service of United States Government I vehemently oppose the current U.S.-led attack and occupation of Iraq and the use of our military in Afghanistan. Roughly 50% of our income tax dollars are spent on the military. This expenditure of federal tax dollars drains resources from… Continue reading
Peter Meyers
Pete Meyers April 15, 2004 Internal Revenue Service Andover, MA 05501-0002 Dear Internal Revenue Service Person: I enclose this letter with my completed tax form as an explanation about why I cannot, in good conscience, pay the tax money that is demanded of me by the I.R.S. and the United States government, $1,655.25, for the… Continue reading
David Meyers
April 15, 2004 Dear IRS: Another year has passed, and I notice that your work is still primarily to collect money to buy weapons to conduct wars and brutalize people all over the world. Even the money you collect that is not directly earmarked for war is most often used for nefarious activities, including for… Continue reading
My War Tax Resistance Journey
by Carol Moore In 1975, while living in New York City, I was involved in radical feminism and political comedy, song-writing and play writing. I started supporting myself working off the books. Come April 15, 1976, I found that I owed the IRS more than $1000. I worked double shifts for two months to raise the money…. Continue reading
Conscientious Objection and Encounters with the IRS
James Satterwhite, 1946 – 2016 “If we could read the secret histories of our enemies, we should find in each man’s life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility.” —Henry Wadsworth Longfellow In 1969, as I was graduating from college in Florida at the height of the war in Vietnam, I faced a dilemma…. Continue reading
Tamika Beyer 2003
The Hand April, 2003 This is a protest poem but I’m not sure to whom I should register my complaint. I would like to protest the dismembered hand draped across a tree branch close to a market in an old neighborhood of Baghdad bombed during its evening peak: packed with women vying for the few,… Continue reading
