Sixteen years ago, the 3rd Circuit of the US Court of Appeals ruled against Priscilla Adams. She asserted that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) should accommodate her refusal to pay taxes that would go to war. However, the court maintained that mandating universal compliance with the tax law was the “least restrictive means” under… Continue reading
Real Life Stories
“One of the most important spiritual directors in my life has been the Internal Revenue Service”
Kathy Kelly is a long-time peace activist and the co-founder of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, a NWTRCC affiliate. She has been a war tax resister since 1980, and while she hasn’t gone to jail for her war tax refusal, she has been arrested dozens of times for civil disobedience actions. Through her work, she has… 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
Individual Choices and Movement Building: Shall the Twain Meet?
War tax resisters do not tend toward weeping over the latest news that the IRS budget is declining, that it is short staffed and has lots more work to do thanks to the Affordable Care Act. As a resister with ten years of tax debt myself, I’m not in a big rush for them to… Continue reading
David Zarembka on US Militarization of East Africa
Listen to an audio recording (opens a new tab) of a workshop presented by David Zarembka, Coordinator of the African Great Lakes Initiative of the Friends Peace Teams in East Africa. David spoke at the war tax resistance gathering at Earlham College School of Religion, November 8, 2014. While you are listening to his talk,… Continue reading
The Road to Social Change: Theory to Practice
“War Tax Objection for Peace and Justice Conference” was held over the weekend of November 7-9, at the Earlham School of Religion in Richmond, Indiana. NWTRCC sponsors twice-yearly gatherings (May and November) with local hosts to convene the National War Tax Resistance “Coordinating Committee” for a business meeting, but over the years the weekends have… Continue reading
It Is Our Duty to Withhold Our Cooperation
The following is the text of the speech given by Clare Hanrahan of the Taxes for Life! group in Asheville, NC, at the Day Without a Pentagon action in Washington, DC on October 19, 1998. Reprinted from the December 1998 More Than a Paycheck newsletter. Greetings from the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee and… Continue reading
In Memoriam: Karen Brandow
Ruth recently shared on the wtr-s discussion list: Many of you have met or heard Karen Brandow over the years. She partnered with Charlie King some years back and the two of them toured and sang together for many years. They were mainstays at the School of the Americas Watch vigil weekends. Karen died on… Continue reading
Spanish Tax Resisters Take Collective Action: An Interview with Enric Duran
On October 1, 2014, I had a Skype chat with Enric Duran, an extremely active organizer in the Spanish tax resistance and collective economy movements. Enric is a key organizer of Derecho de Rebelión (Right of Rebellion), a movement about which David Gross has reported to us before. Derecho de Rebelión arose in response to… Continue reading
Supporting Each Other
by Peg Morton, Eugene, Oregon It is a joy to discover that someone I have admired for a long time is a war tax resister. This came to my attention through a mailing from the War Tax Resisters Penalty Fund, which is also supported by the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee. Through the Fund, we… Continue reading
Marching Into the Future
I was in the Cascade Mountains in Washington state in August. How lucky to be able to take a hike in the wilderness and leave behind the rush of daily life in New York City and the news of endless war and crisis after crisis somewhere in the world. And yet when I asked a… Continue reading
Give Your Taxes to the Solidarity Economy
by David M. Gross In mid-April, people across the United States struggle to fill out their federal income tax returns. This shared calamity has created something of an inverted holiday season — with grumbling about paperwork and frustration towards government bureaucracy replacing the “peace on earth, goodwill to men” of the Yuletide. But at a church in… Continue reading
