NWTRCC will again be participating in the Campaign Nonviolence Action Week offering a War Tax Resistance 101 session on Thursday September 29 at 8:30p Eastern/ 5:30p Pacific. The webinar will be one of more than 4,570 actions worldwide advocating for peace and nonviolence. Pace e Bene has coordinated the week of actions that begins on… Continue reading
Things You Can Do
People Like You
Utah Phillips begins a song: “One of the things you have to do in this world is to keep track of the people you owe.” Much of my understanding of working class struggles and people resisting injustice has come from song. Songs have the power to convey stories in such evocative ways that can elevate… Continue reading
It’s Up to Us to Make Space for Peace
My older brother’s career and expertise is in the fields (literally) of anthropology and archeology. He has done digs mostly in the Midwest, and funding for this work often comes from the civilian (presumably) budget of the Army Corps of Engineers, which is required to have land surveys done before they shift rivers, manage a… Continue reading
Reflecting on the Last 40 Years
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
Finding Peace in A Constant State of Uncertainty?
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
No War, No Warming: Fund Our Future
In these discouraging times for antiwar activists and humanity at large, it was good to be out marching around with like-minded folks and getting encouraging support from passers-by, including tourists from near and far. War tax resistance is a quarterly, paycheck-to-paycheck or even daily act of resistance to war, depending on your method, but it… Continue reading
Pentagon Spending: Efficient at Destroying but Inoperable for Healing Our World
The revolving doors of the Pentagon opened up this week to the 8 largest U.S. weapons manufacturers and the war strategists to come to the table. They were making plans for a war in Ukraine that may continue for years. It was as if a dream that had been brewing for years appeared to be… Continue reading
The Untouchable Pentagon
The bright red slices of pie on War Resisters League’s new “Where Your Income Tax Money Really Goes” flyer have shrunk well below 50% this year. For years we’ve been demanding a budget that prioritizes humanitarian and social needs over military spending. It almost makes us want to celebrate…almost. Biden’s budget proposal for FY 2023… Continue reading
WAR, ENDLESS WAR
I was going to write about something else, but here the world is today facing a dangerous time with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. I am beyond being able to know how it feels for the people in the region, but I know I share a feeling with millions of others of just being sick of… Continue reading
Tax Season 2022 Sign-On Campaign
When we hosted our youth focus groups in 2019 and 2020, it became obvious that the more young activists learned about war tax resistance, the more positive they viewed it as a viable tactic. One question that came out of those sessions was how to initially communicate war tax resistance information with young activists? Already… Continue reading
Knowing is Half the Battle
There is a lot of confusion around taxes in the US, especially around federal income taxes. Many taxpayers are unaware that every year around 50% of taxes goes towards warfare and increased militarism worldwide. And in the wars since 9/11 about half of those tax monies go towards private contractors. Then there is the fear… Continue reading
Unpacking Pandora’s Box: The Tax Gift That Keeps On Giving
Recently there was a conversation about death and taxes on the radio. The conversation was in light of the recently released Pandora Papers, which exposed the hidden finances of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful people. In October, the International Consortium of Investigative Reporters (ICIJ) released over 12 million troves of documents revealing how heads… Continue reading