A lot of cultural shifts were taking place 40 years ago as evidenced by some anniversaries taking place this year. A couple weekends there were a couple remembrances of the events that took place around June 12, 1982 when over 1 million people descended on the United Nations (UN) Headquarters, marching through the streets of… Continue reading
I can’t even remember how much time it has taken me to create an online account with the IRS. Until recently this was not something I ever wanted to do, because they ask for so much information to establish the account. But there are a few reasons I’ve found it necessary: you can’t get anyone… Continue reading
Every year on May 15, International Conscientious Objection Day, War Resisters’ International (WRI) organizes solidarity with conscientious objectors (COs) and draws attention to their resistance to war. This year, with the ongoing war in Ukraine, they turned their focus on the resistance of conscientious objectors from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, and published statements from the… Continue reading
Uncertainty. Unknowns. Confusion. These aren’t my favorite feelings or states of being. After talking and interacting for nearly four decades with other humans, I feel confident saying a lot of people share my dislike for those feelings. In my experience practicing war tax resistance by filing taxes and refusing to pay or being a non-filer… Continue reading
I have been a war tax resister for many years. I withhold half of my income tax from the federal government and donate that amount to support the victims of war: refugees and veterans. I include a personal “statement of conscience” that explains my beliefs along with each tax payment. The federal government uses tax… Continue reading
Back in December 2021, I wrote a letter to my 2 U.S. Senators—with no expectation—just a need to vent. I had written to both about U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar and Sen. Rand Paul’s joint resolution that would have stopped the arms sale to Saudi Arabia for use in its war on Yemen. I never expect… Continue reading
Some months ago I wrote a blog about how the IRS had improperly applied my estimated tax payments for 2020 to the earliest tax years for which I had an open balance. In that way they wiped out the balance from 2011 and part of it from 2012, thus circumventing the 10 year statute of… Continue reading
[Editor’s Note: This work of creative non-fiction was previously published in Meat for Tea.] You were deafened. The sound was intolerable; it violated your sense of decency, your love of quiet, and your yearning for solitude. Why, on the top of this rather small green hill in southeast Vermont, was there this unholy din? It… Continue reading
For the past 17 years there has been a local tradition of singing holiday songs with a distinctively antiwar theme. Celia’s Yuletide Express makes stops throughout the St. Louis area to bring merriment and joy to union halls, neighborhood associations, bars, and public transit stops. While the past two seasons have been adapted to the… Continue reading
Refusing to pay taxes to avoid complicity in state preparations to commit genocide with nuclear weapons, long time British war tax resister Roger Franklin was sentenced to 28 days in Gloucester Prison (and a further 21 days in 1996). His run-ins with the tax collectors also led to bankruptcy proceedings against him. (From NWTRCC’s History… Continue reading
“What we say to a society of murder and racism is a very simple no. What we say to our brothers across this country and around the world is a very simple word. That word is RESIST!” — David Harris, at a 1960s antiwar protest David Harris is one of the featured draft resisters and… Continue reading
Three letters arrived from the IRS within a week of each other. On the one hand this is rather exciting since the IRS has been quiet for the last few years, and I haven’t had much to report as far as consequences of refusal to pay. At the same time, it could take months of correspondence to sort out what they’ve done.