By Ralph Dolan I runs this high-end chauffeur service, see, and gets this call. Lady on the other end of the line wants a ride across the border into Vermont. Can’t get much of an idea what kind of meeting she could possibly be attending up there in the back woods. I pick her up… Continue reading
Federal Income Tax
Does the Hobby Lobby decision matter to war tax resisters?
As we’ve mentioned before, we got a recording of Peter Goldberger’s talk on the Hobby Lobby decision from our November 2014 meeting. Now we also have a transcript, which I found absolutely necessary for following the course of Peter’s argument. It’s not an overly complex argument, but seeing it in writing helped me a lot…. Continue reading
Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Fukushima, and war taxes
Today marks the 70th anniversary of the US military’s nuclear bombing of Hiroshima, which killed as many as 150,000 people. On August 9, we recognize the 70th anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki, which killed as many as 70,000 people. Nuclear bombs were funded by US war taxes, coming from US taxpayers, and dropped by… Continue reading
“I just can’t pay for murdering other people” – Post-Tax Day News Roundup
Despite the media focus on the Fight for 15 minimum wage protests around the country on April 15, it seemed to me to be a good media day for war tax resistance too. New resisters announced their commitment, while long-time resisters continued to speak up in opposition to military spending, in support of redirecting tax… Continue reading
This Tax Day, A 23-Year-Old Refuses to Pay for War
by Sam Koplinka-Loehr, Philadelphia, PA Since I was born in 1991, the U.S. Government has been in a non-stop state of war, and has spent trillions of dollars on killing people overseas. As a young person growing up in the United States, I saw our schools faltering. I saw income inequality growing. I saw communities… Continue reading
Pi Day 2015: Getting Our Peace of the Pie
For math lovers, 3-14-15 holds special significance. It’s the annual Pi Day, but not just any Pi Day: “In the year 2015, Pi Day will have special significance on 3/14/15 at 9:26:53 a.m. and p.m., with the date and time representing the first 10 digits of π. That same second will also contain a precise… Continue reading
A Good Reason to Refuse to Pay War Taxes
Many of us got involved in war tax resistance because of nuclear weapons. For myself, I heard Dr. Helen Caldicott speak sometime back around 1980. She was passionate — and scary — about the dangers of nukes. The disaster at Three Mile Island led her to leave her medical career, become president of Physicians for… Continue reading
Is War Tax Resistance Elitist?
War tax resister David Gross recently appeared on the Litopia After Dark podcast (discussing some of his countercultural/culture-jamming activities in addition to tax resistance and his book, 99 Tactics of Successful Tax Resistance Campaigns). Co-host Peter Cox repeatedly stated that being a war tax resister was “elitist.” He even said, “Most people can’t do [war… Continue reading
Update on the Affordable Care Act as War Tax Redirection
by Robert Randall Note: This is a follow-up to Robert’s previous post from June 2014. Having now had a chance to further experience the Affordable Care Act (ACA, often called Obamacare) and see how it really works tax-wise, I wish to both correct some errors in my previous post and further expand on its potential… Continue reading
Holiday Notes
We’ll take a blog break next week and come back with a post on January 7. In the meantime, I wanted to draw your attention toward some war resistance and war tax resistance thoughts: This Christmas marks the 100th anniversary of the Christmas Truce of World War I. Learn more about the Christmas Truce. Hanukkah… Continue reading
On Strategy and the Reduction of the Military Budget
One brief discussion I had at our November conference was about what we ought to do to reduce or eliminate military spending. One person argued that we should set some sort of goal for what we wanted military spending to be reduced to, as a starting point for discussion. For example, campaigning to reduce military… Continue reading
Resisting Debt Collectively
Our friends at Strike Debt (who released the Debt Resisters Operations Manual that has a whole chapter on tax resistance) are promoting a new effort called Debt Collective, coming off of their recent Rolling Jubilee forgiveness of $4 million in student loan debt from Corinthian Colleges. Debt Collective is a way for debtors to organize… Continue reading
