I’ve always been such a rule-follower. As I look back on life, I realize how much I blindly followed the rules simply because they had been established by some higher “authority.” I was that way throughout childhood and all the way into adulthood. This rule-following behavior included unquestionably paying my taxes without the full knowledge of what I was paying for.

I’m now learning that many aspects of our government have always been a little (or a lot) crazy throughout history. Until recently I’d been in somewhat of a bubble, really not aware of the intricacies of politics and many world issues. However, the absolute insanity of the past few years has really forced me to take a good look at how our government is run, who the key players are, how our history has shaped us as a country, and — importantly — where my tax dollars are going.

The more I learned, the more uneasy I became. In particular, I started to think of war in terms that were no longer just abstract—I started to think about how my actual physical dollars are helping to train someone to kill someone else, or to develop/buy weapons that will kill someone. I also learned how U.S. military endeavors are contributing to environmental destruction—it’s horrifying. I truly started to see human beings all over the world as something more than just statistics on paper, and I started to feel ill. These are human lives, just like mine. Every last one of them. For years, I’ve been playing a part in funding war with my tax dollars. Not anymore. About a year and a half ago, I started the process of figuring out my best strategy as a war tax resister, and I’m still pondering all the details. There’s a lot to learn, but it’s an exciting movement, and one I’m proud to be part of.

I can’t predict the consequences of my tax resistance, but I’m finding that the consequences scare me less as time goes on. I find a lot of courage in the words and writings of well-established resisters. I consistently remind myself these days that despite my past rule-following behavior, I can now start making my own rules on how to live my life based on what’s really important to me. In fact, it feels like my responsibility to ensure that my actions are consistent with what I believe to be morally right without, as Juanita Nelson said, “waiting for 150 million others to concur.”

[Return to List of Headlines] [Return to NWTRCC home ]

The post Starting to Live by My Own Rules first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

The post Starting to Live by My Own Rules appeared first on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

We woke up to black smoky air the day after Labor Day 2020. It was challenging to breathe outside, even with a N95 mask. We could not see the sun. The air quality index was over 500— the extremely hazardous range. Our beautiful Oregon was burning up. The trails we love hiking and the places we love camping and many families’ homes were burning. All over the state fires were burning out of control, including along a major highway following the McKenzie River, only 10 miles from Eugene, Oregon, where I live. In some cases, folks had less than a 15-minute warning to abandon their homes.

Until the wildfires—though we were in the COVID shutdown—we could enjoy hanging out in our yard and taking walks. Suddenly, we were confined to our homes. We had to keep all the windows and doors shut and were sharing air filters with friends to keep the air quality livable inside our homes. People without homes were not as lucky. Due to the pandemic, they weren’t allowed inside public buildings to breathe fresh air, and though a few shelters were open, there was not enough room for everyone who needed shelter from the bad air. We were all scared and glued to the news. We learned the fires might keep burning until the fall rains and winter snow started, and due to global warming the rains might not start for months.

We all packed go bags and had them near our doors or in our cars. We took pictures of family pictures, because there isn’t much room in a car for all the things you might want to save if the fires continued to spread. And we wondered, if we had to evacuate, where would we go? There were traffic jams everywhere as people fled the poor air quality.

Sue Barnhart at Tax Day 2021 Action

One friend who lives in the forest woke up to his house surrounded by flames. Knowing he was on an evacuation alert, he had put things near the door that he planned to take if the fire came close to his house. Sure enough, as he slept the winds whipped up the fires. All he was able to do was rush out the door past his collected belongings, jump in his car and drive through raging bright orange and yellow flames and large darting embers from both sides of the road. He made it out. One of the lucky ones, eleven others did not.

Low humidity and unusually high winds from the east fanned fires already started by lightning, campfires, and electrical wires blown down by the winds. But the major culprit in this historic wildfire season on the West Coast was climate change.

The summer of 2020, an extremely hot, dry one, was precipitated by decades of drought caused by rising world temperatures. The result was massive, sobering destruction in rural Oregon. And what might be the world’s largest emitter of CO2 and therefore the largest driver of climate change? The U.S. military.

Though firefighters worked bravely to put out fires, a bloated military budget funneled off tax money that could have been better spent to hire more firefighters. Many small-town fire departments are run by volunteers. Firefighters stationed in every town who are paid a living wage would be a much better use of our taxes. Unfortunately, Biden is asking for an increase to the military budget, including an increase for more nuclear weapons!

Now those fires are out and eventually the forests will recover, but many magical hiking trails and camping areas have been destroyed. 4,000 homes were lost and Oregon’s homeless population, which is already very large, grew by thousands.

Now it is summer 2021. Usually our autumns, winters, and springs have lots of rain, and I wear my rain gear most days, I hardly wore my rain gear last winter and it barely rained all spring. My neighbors and I are worried about some of our trees and have begun to water them regularly in a hope to save them, something we have never done before.

We already have fires to the North, East, and South of us and occasionally I smell smoke in the air here in Eugene. People closer to the fires have already had to evacuate. We have all begun obsessively checking the air quality and so far it has crept into the moderate range somedays, depending on how the air is blowing. Though I love the cool breeze we get in the evenings, I worry it will whip up one of the fires and increase the spreading.

A few weeks ago, we had temperatures over 110, higher than has ever been recorded in this area. Many elderly people and people with disabilities died. We were lucky to have the resources to escape to the coast, but not everyone is so lucky and we did feel guilty about increasing our carbon footprint. We returned home late at night, and it was still over 100 degrees. And still people deny that there is a climate catastrophe.

I have been a war tax resister since the 1970’s, since I do not want my money supporting murder. Now I am also a war tax resister because I don’t want my money supporting the biggest contributor to the burning of our planet—the U.S. military.

I want my tax dollars to provide for food and homes for all; comprehensive health care that includes dental, hearing, vision, and mental health care for all who need it. Free, excellent childcare and education should be provided for all who need it, children and adults. Finally, I want my tax dollars going toward ensuring a sustainable future for our planet, toward real solutions to the climate crisis.

[Return to List of Headlines] [Return to NWTRCC home ]

The post Funding a Livable Future first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

The post Funding a Livable Future appeared first on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

Decisions, Decisions

It’s a thorny problem when the complications of obtaining health insurance intersect with the desire to remain a nonfiling tax resister. This is exactly where I found myself when my luck ran out on the premium tax credit. As a self-employed freelancer, I have to purchase my own health insurance. For the past few years I was able to prove to the state’s insurance marketplace that my income was low enough to qualify by sending copies of my properly filled out but not filed tax forms. I knew it was a risky move when I started, and after the first year I thought I was in the clear. But now they’ve caught up with me and it’s not enough. Unless I file the tax forms, I can’t get the credit. What to do?

Option One

One option is to give up resisting and come clean with the IRS. I’m sure this is not the first thought that diehard resisters would have, but that’s where my mind went. I had to at least explore the idea, in terms of both logistics and my conscience. I had to push myself to the edge and test my conviction.

After brooding in despair for a while and entertaining the thought of running away to a Buddhist monastery, I called a friend who’s a longtime peace activist. She was a tax resister years ago, for about 10 years, but then chose to stop because she was in a situation where she felt she would be at risk of losing her property. She also said she didn’t have (and wasn’t aware of) the kind of support I’m getting. I called another friend whose perspective I value, and after analyzing the situation, we got philosophical. Her recommendation was to take the path of least resistance. Ordinarily I like that idea, but here, the whole point is resistance.

Reaching Out

I reached out to the NWTRCC community for advice. Some people who saw my messages on the listserv had discussed my situation, and Lincoln Rice emailed me with further questions and useful information, including NWTRCC Practical #7 on Health Care & Income Security, and suggested that I call a counselor, specifically Becky Pierce in the Boston area. I read the booklet and felt even more confused than before. Then Ruth Benn wrote a blog post about “all or nothing syndrome” that I knew was inspired, at least in part, by my admission that I was considering giving up. I knew she didn’t mean it personally, and I took it as a challenge. [Editor’s Note: Ruth’s blog post has also been printed as an article in this newsletter.] The more I agonized over it, the more I realized I didn’t want to surrender. I wanted to keep resisting. So how could I find the path of least resistance within the resistance?

Option Two

Option two would be to go ahead and file, but still not pay. But my income fluctuates — plus, as of this July, it’s considerably higher since I started receiving a portion of my ex-husband’s generous pension. Over the past few years I’ve had to change plans a couple of times due to changing income, and it’s likely I won’t qualify for the tax credit next year and would have to change plans again anyway. Besides, I’d like to stay off the IRS’s radar as much as possible. (Although I am aware that the pension is being reported on the other end.)

Communal Input

Speaking with Becky, I came to the conclusion that I could avoid the whole insurance problem by taking the tax money and redirecting it to my health care. I’ve gone without insurance before, when the precursor to the current ACA came into being in Massachusetts. At that time, there was no federal tax credit, and the insurance premiums were supposedly low enough for people to afford. But they weren’t really, and I was able to get the penalty waived by writing a letter detailing my income and expenses. (I should note that I was still filing taxes at the time.) Even with an emergency room visit one year, my health care costs were significantly lower than if I had been paying a monthly premium.

Becky was very supportive of the idea and helped me find the justification in redirecting the funds to myself under a government that doesn’t take care of its citizens’ health care. But the landscape has changed, and as I dug further I realized that going without health insurance wasn’t going to be an option. It’s financially risky, not just because of penalties, but because there’s no cap on out-of-pocket expenses without coverage. People go bankrupt this way. Even if you have to get a bad policy, or even if you have to pay more than you’d like, you’re much worse off if you don’t have any at all. Plus I’m getting older, I have a creaky knee, and who knows what might happen.

Taking Time to Take it All In

So I reread the NWTRCC health care booklet a few more times, mainly this piece of advice from Robert Randall:
“If the amount of premium tax credit you get but have not used equals or exceeds the amount of income tax you owe, then when you file your tax return you will not owe any income tax and may actually be owed a refund. The way to make that happen is to pay enough of your premium directly to the insurance company, instead of having the feds do it, so that you are owed a sufficient amount back to offset the income tax. In this case you will have redirected your money from the general fund to some insurance company—not the best recipient but much better than the war machine. The caveat, of course, is that most WTRs of low to modest income won’t be able to afford the high premiums monthly. But if WTRs have been setting aside, for redirection, the amount not being withheld from their pay, then it’s a wash. Now they are paying for insurance with it instead.”

Tax Confusion—You are not Alone

It’s hard to follow the intricacies of the tax code, so this didn’t make sense to me even after several readings, but after a lot of mental gyrations and many moments of utter despair, I finally got it. My situation is different because I’m self-employed, so taxes aren’t taken out of my pay. I’m the one who pays. So in my situation, if the amount of tax credit I would get is close enough to the amount of tax I would owe, and if I put aside the tax money for redirection, I could use that money to pay for health insurance instead. I can still be a nonfiler, and I wouldn’t have to worry about proving whether I qualify for the tax credit and having the government all up in my business.

I’ve already been denied the credit for 2021, so I don’t know how much it would have been. But looking at the tax credit and tax due from last year, the two amounts are only three dollars apart. So all the money I put aside for taxes, which up until now I’ve been redirecting to local community organizations, I can use for a basic health insurance policy. I’d rather give it to the community, but as Ruth says, it’s not only about the amount of money the IRS doesn’t get, it’s more about the act of resistance itself.

Finding a Workable Solution

Except I won’t be able to match the policy I had. The tax credit allowed me to purchase a mid-level policy rather than the cheapest one. I will have to pay more, either in premiums or in actual medical costs. So the question is, does it make more sense to shell out more per month for better coverage or to face higher co-pays and potentially large bills if I have a serious illness or an accident?
Either way, I’m going to have to keep using the health insurance marketplace. In Massachusetts, it’s the Health Connector—a poorly run, unhelpful, inconsistent system with overly complicated and unclear communication and a hard-to-navigate website. But it’s the only option that’s even close to affordable. Buying health insurance directly on the open market is outrageously expensive. Using a broker won’t make a difference; they only provide what one broker I contacted called “concierge service” for folks who don’t want to deal directly with the marketplace.

Getting a Hand to Get Out of a Corner

This is all rather overwhelming, a moving target with intersecting bureaucracies and lots of room for confusion, triggering anxiety and fear. It took a lot of anguish to get to this point. It hasn’t been an entirely outward-facing resistance against the government. I’ve felt inward resistance, in my head, in my psyche. Mostly the whole thing is aggravating. I resent having to struggle with this balancing act to meet an essential need while maintaining my values; I resent the intrusion into details of my personal business.
Ultimately, bolstered by the wisdom and support of this inspirational community, dealing with all of this has deepened my commitment to tax resistance. Pushed into a metaphorical corner, for my health, my peace of mind, and my conscience, I’m not going to give in.

The post War Tax Resistance, Self-Employment, and Health Insurance first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

The post War Tax Resistance, Self-Employment, and Health Insurance appeared first on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

Lindsey Britt Photo Courtesy of Lindsey Britt

Since I began thinking about war tax resistance I’ve been struggling with the desire to reduce my income to avoid paying taxes for things I find abhorrent and, simultaneously, wanting to transfer more of my power (in the form of money) to organizations and individuals doing good. My mind keeps coming back these questions:

• Should I make less and give less money to good works/people, but also pay less into the war machine?
• Should I make more and give more money to good works/people and hope that my giving outweighs the increase in tax payments?
• If I can’t drastically reduce or eliminate my tax burden then is refusing to pay a portion of what I owe an option for me?
• If I put a bunch of money into a retirement fund that will mostly benefit me (which feels both practical and hoarder-ish) is that better than just paying the taxes on that money and giving it away?
• Am I just being greedy? Should I be able to make less money, give away just as much, and reduce my tax burden? This feels like the holy grail of my tax resistance.

Ethics, Morals, & War Tax Resistance

I love thinking about ethics and morals, but I have to say these ethical questions aren’t my favorites. I think a few factors combine to make these questions especially fraught. First, I’d rather not think about money. I grew up poor, now I have enough to get by, and I’d prefer not to think about money beyond knowing that I have enough and can give some away. Thinking about old age, in particular, brings out the scared money hoarder in me, which is an instinct I’m not happy with despite knowing it’s probably a natural one shared by lots of people. Second, my decisions about money and tax resistance necessarily involve my partner, so thinking about those questions listed above is complicated by being part of a relationship. Money and relationships are often sore points for people and then you put tax resistance on top of that and it seems like a recipe for unpleasantness. Third, the tax system is so hard to understand that I never feel confident when I make decisions. How do I answer my own questions when I’m not sure if I have the parameters right or that they won’t change tomorrow?

I thought resisting taxes wouldn’t be very different from being vegan, which is also part of my resistance to a world of violence. They are both sort of solitary pursuits with occasional opportunities for community and they are both forms of resistance that really seem to raise eyebrows, just a little too far outside the norm for most people’s comfort level. In reality I’ve found tax resistance to be much, much harder than being vegan. This seems strange to me because what I eat comes up as an issue with people way more often than whether I pay taxes. I think the difference is all those factors surrounding money that I discussed above. The first factor doesn’t apply at all: I’m happy to think about food. The second factor is somewhat relevant, because my food decisions do involve my partner, but he’s glad to eat what I cook so the relationship aspect becomes a non-issue. The third factor also doesn’t apply, because the concepts of veganism are way more straightforward than the tax system. Yes, there are nuances that people quibble over, but there isn’t a government body that can harass, fine, or jail you for disagreeing.

Not Having All the Answers

Returning to my initial questions, I don’t have the answers for most of them yet. This year I chose to refuse to pay a portion of my income taxes, but going forward my partner and I have decided that reducing income is the strategy that most works in our relationship. This was a tough compromise for me, because I’m okay with the potential consequences of refusing to pay (my partner isn’t) and refusing to pay seems easier to me than doing all the calculus around reducing my income tax burden. Ironically, my income went up this year. We bought a home, which feels like a good thing to have in these uncertain times, but it also came with the knowledge that we needed to transfer some of our wealth to those who have been historically excluded from land ownership and to those from whom this land was taken. It was difficult to say no to contract work that would allow us to pass money on to those communities.

So can I be at peace with paying more in taxes but also giving away more? In the long term my answer would be no, but for now my answer is that my resistance is a work in progress, but at least I’m doing the work. I became a pescatarian when I was 15 years old, then when I was in my early 30’s started moving towards veganism and finally several years later I went completely vegan. When I start moving in a direction it is usually deliberate and for the long run, so I’m confident it will be the same with war tax resistance. I feel the urgency of this form of resistance—2020 has made it clear beyond a shadow of a doubt that the militarization of the police and climate change are both at crisis points thanks in part to our tax dollars—and I think that will carry me forward. I always tell people considering veganism to be kind to themselves, so I’ll keep my own words in mind as I struggle with how to best practice tax resistance.

Lindsey Britt is a non-profit administrator, traveler, and amateur ethicist whose activist work is focused in the climate justice and animal rights movements.

The post Taxes, Relationships, and Competing Priorities first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

The post Taxes, Relationships, and Competing Priorities appeared first on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

By Sylvia Shirk – August 2020

Tax Day, April 15, has become one of my favorite annual events. It is a day of peacemaker empowerment. I smile as I write checks and send online donations to support peace and justice organizations that I care about. I hum on my way to mail the United States Treasury a payment that covers only 53% of my tax assessment, and post a letter to the President in the White House telling him what I am doing and why I choose not to pay for war. (Text of my letter is below.) I enjoy standing with other peacemakers at a sidewalk demonstration to sing prayers for peace, and voice outrage at the nearly $1,000 billion dollars allocated for the military in the U.S. national budget.

From my U.S. American father who refused military service and French mother who survived World War 2, I learned at a young age that peacemaking is important and war is horrific. My French uncle, in his nineties, retold with horror that in December 1944, the U.S. military burned down the family home. Thirty years after the fact, I heard my French grandmother cry over her adolescent son who was killed in a war accident. And then I remembered the courage of my father who as a U.S. high school student braved the taunts of his peers to choose not to fight for Uncle Sam, but to serve the nation as a Conscientious Objector. His post-war volunteer stint took him to my mother’s community in France where he participated in rebuilding what war had destroyed.

Having been nurtured in a peace church community, I was troubled for many years about my financial participation in war-making. During my college student days, my housemates and I resisted the war tax that was levied on our phone bill. I joined numerous peace groups and public demonstrations over the years. As a parent of three young children, I struggled to model peaceful resolution of conflict at home. Later, in my work as a pastor I taught peace and non-violence.

“If you pray for peace, why pay for war?” is the slogan that finally convinced me to become a war tax resister ten years ago. I wanted to follow my peace prayers with action. Earlier, I had met Marian Franz, executive director of National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund (peacetaxfund.org), who lobbied the U.S. Congress, promoting the religious freedom of people of faith to oppose war taxes. I was also fortunate to meet up with a local group of war tax resisters with the National War Tax Resisters Coordinating Committee (NWTRCC) in New York City, who made a presentation in my church, Manhattan Mennonite Fellowship. I decided my moment for action had come. NWTRCC counselors provided expert guidance for me as I waded with some trepidation into the waters of this new venture. They answered my questions and assured me that the many experienced war tax resisters in the network would provide support along the way.

Letter after letter from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) began to show up in my mailbox. I came to see that I would have a number of choices about how to respond. I learned that the IRS would attempt to collect money from me and that I could again decide whether I wanted to resist that collection. When they scooped out my bank account, levied my wages, and skimmed off my Social Security check, I chose to acquiesce.

My prayers for peace continue. And now more than ever, it is important to me that I act out my prayers by saying “NO” to paying for war.

Text of my letter to the White House:
Greetings President TRUMP:

Today I am sending 47% of my tax dollars to organizations that work to build peace locally and globally. As a war tax resister, I have decided to publicly register my opposition to military spending. I have chosen to redirect the amount of my tax that would have been spent on the U.S. military budget, spending it instead for peace building.

As a long-time member and a pastor of the Mennonite Church USA, I have been active in praying and working for peace for many years. Resisting war taxes is an expression of my faith in the God of love and hope and redemption.

Historically, Mennonites, Quakers, Church of the Brethren, and other people of conscience have maintained a stance of conscientious objection to participation in war in any form. This has been most evident in our refusal to join military forces. Support for the military conflicts with our Christian peace testimony.

Thank you for your part in the good things that the United States government is doing with the other 53% of my tax dollars.

Sincerely, Sylvia E. Shirk

The post I Act Out my Prayers by Saying “NO” to Paying for War first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

The post I Act Out my Prayers by Saying “NO” to Paying for War appeared first on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

During the Vietnam War, I joined Friends (Quakers) and other peace activists at the Post Office on tax day to pass out War Resister
League pie charts showing how much of our national budget was spent on war. In the late 1970’s, I heard Richard Catlett and Bruce Chrisman speak about their war tax resistance at a Friends gathering and was inspired by their witness.

Getting through medical school gave me the courage to begin resisting payment of war taxes. As an employee, I have inflated my withholding allowances. When I was in family practice, I lowered my salary to below the taxable income level to prevent collection. As a contract physician, I paid what I owed in self-employment taxes (SET) every year, but “redirected” all of my federal income taxes (FIT) to peace / justice groups and organizations that meet basic human needs.

The IRS has seized my car and checking account funds and has repeatedly levied my wages. My strategy has been to work several jobs, so that if a permanent levy were placed on my wages at one work-place, I could either reduce my hours at that job or quit and still have a backup job. When I’ve had the money, I’ve paid rent, health insurance, and food bills in advance.

I have met four times with IRS representatives over the years. When IRS revenue officers asked me where I worked, I simply told them to check my income tax returns, since I file yearly. Recently, I received an intent to levy notice and a letter saying that IRS revenue officers wanted to visit me in my home. A home visit seemed a bit intimidating, but I thought a face-to-face visit with the IRS revenue officers could humanize them and me. The meeting was set for November 5, 2019.

When Justin and Ryan arrived, I explained why I have been a war tax resister. I gave them a copy of a National Priorities Project pie chart showing that over 50% of our 2020 discretionary budget is allocated for “defense” spending and a flier about the National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund. I also gave them an article I wrote about my war tax resistance for the local newspaper.

I told the revenue officers that I have always paid what I owed in self-employment and state income taxes. But I have donated all of my federal income taxes to groups which sustain, not destroy life. I gave them a record of my donations for the last 10 years which have equaled what I owed in federal income taxes.

They briefly perused the materials I gave them. Ryan saw the word “Quaker” in my article and said he had heard it was a peace church. They both said I was the first war tax resister they had ever met! Then they got down to business and asked me about my income, where I work, and what my assets and liabilities are. I told them to check my 2018 tax return for employers and income. I told them my
main assets are my wages, car, and life insurance. I have no retirement funds or investments. I also gave them a rough summary of my monthly expenses.

They then asked me to fax them copies of my life insurance policy, bank and credit card statements, health insurance and other bills, so they could decide how much “I could afford to pay.” This felt like an invasion of privacy, plus the information could aid them in the collection process. And any payment plan would require a promise from me to pay all future income taxes! So I told them I would probably not comply with this request.

I asked if they were planning to seize my car. They said they do not normally seize cars and were surprised to hear my car was seized in the mid-1980s. They asked me how much I drive for work (I work in rural Wisconsin hospitals) and they acknowledged that my car appeared necessary for the work I do.

Jerry Chernow, a long time war tax resister, accompanied me during the interview. Just having his knowledgeable and feisty self there was a huge support. It takes another war tax resister to understand what it is like to challenge the IRS.

After the visit, I received a letter from the IRS notifying me that their revenue officers plan to speak with my neighbors, employers, and bank. My bank and employer already know about my WTR, but I am also going to speak to them again as well as my neighbors.

[Editor’s note: Paula was mailed a letter by IRS revenue officers asking to meet, making this a voluntary meeting. This is very different from an IRS summons, which would have legal ramifications for declining. Meeting voluntarily with IRS revenue officers does not necessarily increase or decrease one’s chances of later receiving a summons. In both instances, the IRS is hoping to obtain information about one’s assets that would aid them in the collection process.]

The post A Visit with IRS Revenue Officers Justin and Ryan first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

The post A Visit with IRS Revenue Officers Justin and Ryan appeared first on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

What was your initial motivation for becoming war tax resisters?

We were becoming an active part of the peace movement of the late 1970’s which was focused on abolition of nuclear weapons. Through the witness of Quakers from the Cambridge Friends Meeting, where we were regular attenders, we became inspired to tax resist. Tax resistance became axiomatic morally and spiritually if we were to consider ourselves disciples of a nonviolent love of life, rooted in the gospel truth of Jesus and an authentic nonviolent way of life. We could not, in conscience, pay for killing of any kind, but primarily the killing in war. We hold the belief that all life is sacred. Meeting Hibakusha, survivors of the American bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, in Boston during the 70’s gave a human face to the ravages of nuclear war and the tax money allocated for MAD, Mutually Assured Destruction, of which we refused to be a part.

In the book, you mention meeting longtime civil rights activists and war tax resisters Wally & Juanita Nelson. Can you speak about meeting them and the influence they had on you?

Wally and Juanita were leading the tax resistance movement in the Pioneer Valley in Western Massachusetts when we moved Agape to that region. Wally and Juanita were frequent visitors to Agape, Juanita often speaking at our annual gathering, Francis Day, named after St. Francis of Assisi, where she spoke her truth with incisive eloquence and never wavered on any topic dealing with tax refusal. They were both good and loving people, nonviolent mentors to the core. Their commitment to the truth of nonviolence, to the refusal to pay war taxes, and their residence in a tiny cabin called The Bean Patch, without electricity or running water, were motivational in our sustainable, simple life style at Agape. They were unwavering, resilient, authentic leaders by example. They often supported us financially, with their widow’s mite, sending 30 dollars they felt they did not “earn” for giving a talk. We treasure them always.

In what ways does the Agape Community promote and support war tax resistance?

Suzanne and I, as Agape co-founders, have refused all payment of taxes since our inception as a community in 1982 by living on donations which are not taxable. All who come to Agape and who support us in a myriad number of ways, are made aware of our witness. We join with the Pioneer Valley War Tax Resistance group when they have retreats and have, on one occasion, hosted a PVWTR retreat here at Agape.

In the book, you share how a lien was placed on a house that you owned, which the IRS collected on when you sold the house. Having a lien put on your house is a common fear among war tax resisters, what was the experience like for you?

The lien was an unknown for us. I believe we had a $5,000 debt to the IRS. We met with a revenue officer who said that he respected our convictions, but that we had broken the law and we had to pay for this. The officer also said that he was going to file our case under
“uncollectible” until such time as we made a taxable income, when the debt would then be enforced. No further fines were to be levied on the initial $5,000.

When we sold our house, the IRS collected our debt of $5,000, plus $1,000 in fines. It was not the cleanest and clearest of refusal stands, and it wasn’t a catastrophic loss, as we did not lose the house itself. The IRS did get our money, but we carried the witness to its conclusion without blood on our hands, so to speak.

In what ways has war tax resistance positively and negatively affected your life?

As Juanita Nelson said: “Tax refusal will change everything you do and every way you live.” And so, we soon learned that simplicity is a requirement, doing without luxuries, and not having a great amount of discretionary income. This nonconformity, however, and the changes it requires are a blessing and a necessity of this age that we are living in. Our association with tax resisters has meant that we have met and been inspired by some of the most creative and courageous people on earth!

We feel morally and spiritually centered in our decision to refuse paying for taxes for humans to kill humans while destroying the earth’s ability to support life. There are really no negative moral and theological effects; there is sometimes a financial struggle. However, we would say that the major negative may be that we haven’t spread the message of tax refusal as far and wide as this form of witness deserves.

To purchase a copy of Loving Life on the Margins, go to agapecommunity.org/loving-life-on-the-margins-the-story-of-the-agape-community/. If you would like Suzanne & Brayton to come and speak in your area about their new book and war tax resistance, feel free to contact Suzanne & Brayton at peace@agapecommunity.org

The post An Interview with Suzanne Belote Shanley & Brayton Shanley first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

The post An Interview with Suzanne Belote Shanley & Brayton Shanley appeared first on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

Redmoonsong left on a panel at Action South nonviolence training. Photo by Clare Hanrahan

By redmoonsong – April 2019

I call myself redmoonsong (having chosen that name 22 years ago). Not supporting the fed with my money has been a way of life for 50 years or so. Back in the 80s, I began to realize that as a European-American, I was a thief. I lived on indigenous land which had been developed with stolen African labor. So, what is my responsibility to all those who have been denied justice in my name (both past and present)? Seems like Native land rights and civil rights are two of the most important areas for me to begin to acknowledge my part in the injustice we call “American society.” By reading books about African peoples and Indigenous peoples, and supporting their actions for liberation, I have been able to realize just where my redirection monies could be most useful. In 2016, I started to form a bibliography of books in which I had read about black, brown, and red peoples (any people of color, really). When one considers just how much time and energy we put into white folks’ affairs at every level and then realize that there’s at least that much going on with people of color, we begin to see what we’re missing. The thing about these bibliographies is that even if you don’t read the books, just reading the titles is eye opening. And let’s face it, us white people need our eyes opened!

[Here is an excerpt from redmoonsong’s reading list. The order is based on the order in which she read the books, not importance.] The Other Slavery: The Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in America (2016), Witness to the Revolution: Radicals, Resisters, Vets, Hippies, and the Year America Lost Its Mind and Found Its Soul (2017), Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II (2009), Thomas Jefferson Dreams of Sally Hemings (2016), Faces At The Bottom Of The Well: The Permanence Of Racism (1992), My Own Country: A Doctor’s Story (1995), Cutting for Stone (2009), The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness (2010), The Known World (2006), Between the World and Me (2015), The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks about Race (2016), The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration (2010), The Defender: How the Legendary Black Newspaper Changed America (2016), An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States (2014), Our Black Sons Matter: Mothers Talk about Fears, Sorrows, and Hopes (2016), The New Odyssey: The Story of the Twenty-First Century Refugee Crisis (2017), Stand Your Ground: A History of America’s Love Affair with Lethal Self-Defense (2017), Empire of Cotton: A Global History (2014), Why the Vote Wasn’t Enough for Selma (2017), The Thin Light of Freedom: The Civil War and Emancipation in the Heart of America (2017), Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI (2017), At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance–A New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power (2010), The American Slave Coast: A History of the Slave-Breeding Industry (2015), Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America (2016), When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir (2018), My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies (2017), A More Beautiful and Terrible History: The Uses and Misuses of Civil Rights History (2018), This Little Light of Mine: The Life of Fannie Lou Hamer (1993).

The post Redirection Reflection first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

The post Redirection Reflection appeared first on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

I am incredibly excited to have this opportunity to work with NWTRCC in the role of Outreach Consultant. The position involves strengthening and publicizing War Tax Resistance through social media and field organizing. I wanted to introduce myself before I start reaching out to all of you! War Tax Resistance has been more of a focal point more me since joining the Administrative Committee in 2016 and hosting the May gathering in St. Louis in May 2017. I look forward to expanding NWTRCC’s focus of anti-oppression work and collaborating with liberation oriented groups especially in our redirection efforts. In the rest of this article, I would like to share with you some of my background.

It was NWTRCC’s literature and presence at the School of the Americas in November 1998 that led me to the path of war tax resistance while I was still in college. A month after I returned from that pivotal journey, I decided to move into St Francis Catholic Worker community in Columbia, Missouri. The community had a strong tradition of direct action against militarism while also tending to those impacted by war—veterans struggling with mental health and substance abuse issues. While living in a community of shared resources, I began to learn of the many people who had been resisting systems of exploitation and were devoting their energies to life enhancing structures of mutual aid.

After a few years at St. Francis house, I returned to my hometown of St. Louis to pursue a social justice organizing position. A few days before September 11th, 2001, I began working the Peace Economy Project, a group working on disarmament issues. That position turned into a more permanent one as we increased local peacemaking efforts with the creation of the “Instead of War” coalition. I began working more closely with Voices in the Wilderness to better understand the human impact of war and was invited to join their delegation to Iraq in conjunction with Veterans for Peace’s Iraqi water project in May 2002.

Upon my return, I helped organize many public events, spoke of my experiences in Iraq, and organized direct action campaigns at Boeing, which was operating around the clock to replenish the “smart bomb” supply that was being used in Afghanistan. I also invested more of my time and energy in creating the alternative structures by helping start the Carl Kabat Catholic Worker House to support resistance work in St. Louis. I initiated the first Midwest Catholic Worker Resistance Gathering at Boeing, which happened 3 days into the “Shock and Awe” campaign.

Later that year, I traveled to Palestine and on returning to the U.S., joined the Wheels of Justice bus tour, speaking about the realities of war in the occupied territories of Iraq and Palestine. In 2004, I worked on the creation of the “Merchants of Death” speaker series, a project of the War Resisters League.

My commitment to War Tax Resistance continued to be a major influence on decisions I made of where I put my time and energy. I was inspired to invest more in life supporting structures and pursued organic farming and permaculture. In June 2014, I purchased a home to create the Dick Gregory Catholic Worker to honor the St. Louis native who incorporated humor in his approach to resistance. In August, so much dramatically changed with the killing of Michael Brown in the neighboring suburb of Ferguson. Many of us, who had been engaged in organizing work, began to understand the necessity of doing community building in a radically different way. NWTRCC has been growing into this wider community building by making explicit that many of the ills of society are an extension of our militarized culture. I am grateful for Sam Koplinka-Loehr’s previous work to push WTR outreach for NWTRCC. I am extremely excited to be taking on this work at this time with all of you as we seek ways to collectively expand our networks with others who are creating the world in which they want to live. I look forward to working with all of you in this pursuit!

Please feel free to reach out to me at outreach@nwtrcc.org or 1.800.269.7464.

The post It’s Definitely More than a Paycheck first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

The post It’s Definitely More than a Paycheck appeared first on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

To the War Resisters’ League, Erica Leigh at NWTRCC, Cale Weissman, who wrote a great article on war resistance for The New Republic, the good folks over at Popular Resistance, and, across the Pond, the same at Conscience Online:

Good evening. I hope this finds you all keeping well. My name’s Joshua Weresch; I’m a song-writer and settler, born and living here in Hamilton, Ontario on Anishinaabeg land with my wife, son, and daughters. My wife and I and family are members at Central Presbyterian Church, here in town, and I’ve written a few letters to the governing church body’s newspaper, the Presbyterian Connection, and to my local church, asking that its padres resign, that it take down its national and military regimental flags.

I wanted to write to you and thank each of you for what you’ve done and are doing in the way of war tax resistance. A few years back, I withheld the portion of my federal tax (as a public-school supply-teacher) that was heading toward national defence and re-directed it toward a peace tax fund that was and is being maintained by Conscience Canada. The year after that, the Canada Revenue Agency simply took the amount it was ‘owed’ from my subsequent return’s balance. It slowed things down, which was alright, and I did get a chance to write to the Finance Minister, Bill Morneau, at the time and hear from him how I had to pay income tax and could not re-direct my taxes without the support of a law from Parliament.

I will continue, I believe, to exercise this tactic in the coming year, as the $15-billion arms deal between Canada and Saudi Arabia has not yet been cancelled, at the very least, and we continue, on a national level, to be seemingly unaware of how to ‘love our enemies’. Perhaps it is impossible for institutions to ‘love’ and it can be the province only of persons to love one another, deeply and from the heart.

Keep on writing and fighting and loving and praying for one another, especially for one’s enemies. Thanks, again, for all you’re doing, however small it may seem.
Kindly,
Josh

The post However Small It May Seem first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

The post However Small It May Seem appeared first on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

For the first time this year one of my outstanding tax debts hit the ten-year statute of limitations for collection. During those ten years, the IRS sent me increasingly exasperated letters, threatened me with thousands of dollars of interest & penalties, and even seized $469 from my bank account once. But this year the remaining $3,226 I owed slipped permanently out of their reach, and the interest & penalties evaporated too.

I called their bluff, waited them out, and won (well, except for that $469).

(Note: this statute of limitations does not apply to people who refuse to file returns, or if the IRS can show that you did not file honestly, correctly, and completely. It only applies if you file but don’t pay.)

I didn’t make things easy for the IRS. I followed some of the advice in NWTRCC’s Practical War Tax Resistance pamphlet #3 (“How to Resist Collection, or Make the Most of Collection When It Occurs”).

But I didn’t go to extraordinary lengths to hide my assets or drop into the underground economy. I’m certain the IRS knows of some things they could seize. I guess they’ve just been too busy to get around to it.

I Joined the Redirectors

This is also the first year I’ve redirected my taxes. In the past I’d been afraid that if I redirected my taxes and then the government also seized them from me that I’d go broke by paying double. (At least, thanks to the War Tax Resisters Penalty Fund (wtrpf.org), I don’t have to worry about going broke from the interest and penalties!) But this year, because I got away with it for the most part, I can redirect the successfully resisted money without concern.

I sent my $3,226 to the Prisoners Literature Project (prisonlit.org), an all-volunteer group that sends free books to prisoners throughout the United States. My donation will pay for the postage on hundreds of packages, and for the purchase of dictionaries and other such high demand books.

I made sure to let the Prisoners Literature Project know that the donation was coming from redirected taxes. And I informed our local war tax resisters’ alternative fund—the People’s Life Fund (nowar.tax)—about my donation so they can add it to their tally (they’ve already given away over $65,000 in resisted war taxes this year, joining several other such funds that coordinate war tax redirection).

And I Made Some Noise

I also took some time to crow on social media about what I’d done so that news of my triumph over the IRS might spread. I hoped my example might encourage more people I know to consider resistance, and so I looked the example of another war tax resister I respect who opted “to brag as lustily as Chanticleer in the morning, standing on his roost, if only to wake my neighbors up.”

It’s been a joy to join the redirectors. I’ve long been envious of that path of war tax resistance, and I’m delighted to finally feel able to participate. l

The post Celebrating a Triumph over the IRS, with Redirection first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

The post Celebrating a Triumph over the IRS, with Redirection appeared first on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

Paula Rogge Protesting the F35 in Madison. Photo courtesy of Paula Rogge.

During the Vietnam War, I joined Friends (Quakers) and other peace activists at the Post Office on tax day to pass out War Resister League pie charts showing how much of our national budget was spent on war. In the late 1970’s, I heard Richard Catlett and Bruce Chrisman speak about their war tax resistance at a Friends gathering and was inspired by their witness.

Getting through medical school gave me the courage to begin resisting payment of war taxes. As an employee, I have inflated my withholding allowances. When I was in family practice, I lowered my salary to below the taxable income level to prevent collection. As a contract physician, I paid what I owed in self-employment taxes (SET) every year, but “redirected” all of my federal income taxes (FIT) to peace / justice groups and organizations that meet basic human needs.

The IRS has seized my car and checking account funds and has repeatedly levied my wages. My strategy has been to work several jobs, so that if a permanent levy were placed on my wages at one work-place, I could either reduce my hours at that job or quit and still have a backup job. When I’ve had the money, I’ve paid rent, health insurance, and food bills in advance.

Photo by Lukas from Pexels.

I have met four times with IRS representatives over the years. When IRS revenue officers asked me where I worked, I simply told them to check my income tax returns, since I file yearly. Recently, I received an intent to levy notice and a letter saying that IRS revenue officers wanted to visit me in my home. A home visit seemed a bit intimidating, but I thought a face-to-face visit with the IRS revenue officers could humanize them and me. The meeting was set for November 5, 2019.

When Justin and Ryan arrived, I explained why I have been a war tax resister. I gave them a copy of a National Priorities Project pie chart showing that over 50% of our 2020 discretionary budget is allocated for “defense” spending and a flier about the National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund. I also gave them an article I wrote about my war tax resistance for the local newspaper.

National Priorities Pie Chart.

I told the revenue officers that I have always paid what I owed in self-employment and state income taxes. But I have donated all of my federal income taxes to groups which sustain, not destroy life. I gave them a record of my donations for the last 10 years which have equaled what I owed in federal income taxes.

They briefly perused the materials I gave them. Ryan saw the word “Quaker” in my article and said he had heard it was a peace church. They both said I was the first war tax resister they had ever met!

Then they got down to business and asked me about my income, where I work, and what my assets and liabilities are. I told them to check my 2018 tax return for employers and income. I told them my main assets are my wages, car, and life insurance. I have no retirement funds or investments. I also gave them a rough summary of my monthly expenses.

They then asked me to fax them copies of my life insurance policy, bank and credit card statements, health insurance and other bills, so they could decide how much “I could afford to pay.” This felt like an invasion of privacy, plus the information could aid them in the collection process. And any payment plan would require a promise from me to pay all future income taxes! So I told them I would probably not comply with this request.

I asked if they were planning to seize my car. They said they do not normally seize cars and were surprised to hear my car was seized in the mid-1980s. They asked me how much I drive for work (I work in rural Wisconsin hospitals) and they acknowledged that my car appeared necessary for the work I do.

Jerry Chernow, a long time war tax resister, accompanied me during the interview. Just having his knowledgeable and feisty self there was a huge support. It takes another war tax resister to understand what it is like to challenge the IRS.

After the visit, I received a letter from the IRS notifying me that their revenue officers plan to speak with my neighbors, employers, and bank. My bank and employer already know about my WTR, but I am also going to speak to them again as well as my neighbors.

Post by Paula Rogge

[Editor’s note: Paula was mailed a letter by IRS revenue officers asking to meet, making this a voluntary meeting. This is very different from an IRS summons, which would have legal ramifications for declining. Meeting voluntarily with IRS revenue officers does not necessarily increase or decrease one’s chances of later receiving a summons. In both instances, the IRS is hoping to obtain information about one’s assets that would aid them in the collection process.]

The post A Visit with IRS Revenue Officers Justin and Ryan first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

The post A Visit with IRS Revenue Officers Justin and Ryan appeared first on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.