Speaker’s Bureau

War tax resisters from around the country are available to speak or lead a workshop in your classes or to your church group or organization.

Speakers in our network are deeply involved in peace and justice issues. Their convictions have led them to risk the wrath of the IRS or change their lifestyle to end their complicity with funding the U.S. war machine.

Click here to request a speaker for a talk, workshop, or film showing in your area.

We have speakers in many regions of the country who can offer presentations on topics including: Thoreau and “Civil Disobedience”; Conscientious objection; Nonviolence direct action; Famous war tax resisters; Living with integrity in a militarized world; Taking risks for change; Federal budget priorities; and many more.
Consider a speaker actively engaged in nonviolent action!

Some of our speakers:

Ruth Benn (Brooklyn, N.Y.) was the Coordinator of the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee, and is a co-editor of War Tax Resistance: A Guide to Withholding Your Support from the Military. She has been a war tax resister since the early 1980s. Read more

David Gross (San Luis Obispo, Calif.) started resisting in 2003. He’s the author of 99 Tactics of Successful Tax Resistance Campaigns and edited the anthology American Quaker War Tax Resistance. Read more

Clare Hanrahan (Asheville, N.C.), a conscientious objector to paying for war, has been speaking out for decades for peace, human rights and global & environmental justice. Read more

Ed Hedemann (Brooklyn, N.Y.), a war tax resister since 1970, is the author of War Tax Resistance: A Guide to Withholding Your Support from the Military and, in 1982, was a founder of NWTRCCRead more

Randy Kehler (Colrain, Mass.) has been actively engaged for the past 40 years in research, writing, organizing, and advocacy regarding a range of public policy issues including energy and land reform, electoral democracy, and nuclear disarmament. Read more

Bill Ramsey (Bangor Pennsylvania) staffed the Conscience and Military Tax Campaign Escrow Fund which held resisted taxes of war tax refusers and invests them in community economic development. Read more

Kathy Kelly (Chicago, Ill.) co-founded Voices for Creative Nonviolence, a campaign to end U.S. military and economic warfare. She has made more than fourteen trips to Afghanistan since 2010, bringing the stories of the people back to the U.S. Read more

Sam Koplinka-Loehr (Philadelphia, Penn.) was the Field Organizer and Outreach Consultant of the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee. They have been a war tax resister since the late 2000’s and actively involved in campaigns for racial justice, ending mass incarceration, and environmental justice. Read more

Karl Meyer (Nashville, Tenn.) is one of our country’s most knowledgeable counselors and practitioners of strategies and methods for maximizing war tax refusal, while minimizing negative consequences, such as job loss, seizure of assets, or criminal prosecution. Read more

Geov Parrish (Seattle, Wash.) has been a conscientious objector to military taxation for over 30 years, and spent over a decade as the Director of the Nonviolent Action Community of Cascadia. Read more

Lincoln Rice (Milwaukee, Wis.), a member of the Catholic Worker, has been a war tax resister since 1998 and participated in a number of actions at the Milwaukee IRS office on tax day that have resulted in his arrest. Read more

Larry Rosenwald (Wellesley, Mass.) is a member of New England War Tax Resistance. He is faculty emeritus Wellesley College and taught a class on Thoreau. Read more

Pat & John Schwiebert (Portland, Ore.) have been refusing to pay some or all of their Federal Tax in protest against military violence for more than 35 years. Read more

David Waters (Birmingham, Ala.) was born in Alabama in 1946; grew up in six deep south states; was in the Army Special Forces during the Vietnam War. He became a war tax resister after the invasion of Iraq. Read more

Daniel Woodham (Kingston, N.Y.) started resisting in 1991 during the outbreak of the first Gulf War when he heard a WTR person speaking of their resistance on community radio in Portland, Oregon. Read more


If travel, meals, or overnight stays are involved, the host group should cover those expenses and offer housing. If an honorarium is provided, it would be helpful if a portion is contributed to NWTRCC. However, this is up to each speaker. There are a number of resources available to reduce costs of events with speakers.

Please use the form or email us to request a speaker.