We would love for you to share the event with your networks, especially those you have made aware of your war tax resistance and who have expressed interest in learning more. The details and registration for the event can be found here. We are grateful for the opportunity to make WTR more accessible to a wider audience via Zoom. This allows us to be a part of a wide network to engage in peace daily. We in the U.S. have a unique opportunity to resist paying for the carnage of war. Throughout most of the world, many people do not have the opportunity to withhold some of their earnings from the supports of Empire. 

Like with all WTR 101 sessions, we will be talking about motivations, life circumstances, and provide information to all of the questions that go into resisting paying for war. It is always an opportunity to look at WTR from a fresh perspective. I often think of one of the best learnings from a 101 session: that we can continually reassess our relationship to WTR. It is also refreshing to direct others to the many resources in the NWTRCC network in terms of written materials and people available to share their experiences. 

This past weekend, NWTRCC Coordinator Lincoln Rice and I were able to have an in person WTR 101 session at the Midwest Catholic Worker gathering. Eleven people attended the session which was the same size crowd the previous year when Lincoln presented the WTR 101. There has been a 101 session every year for the past 4 Catholic Worker gatherings held amongst the cornfields of Iowa.

It was a great homecoming to be with people in a circle discussing war tax refusal! Collectively we had well over 100 years of experience with WTR amongst us and if we included the people who came later in the session it surpassed 150 years of standing against the IRS and war machine.

Charles Carney and Karl Meyer were present at the discussion and had a lot to add about their journey towards WTR, what sustained them, and different tactics that they have employed over the years. As always, it was refreshing to hear of people’s motivations, life circumstances, and questions about WTR. It was interesting to think about consequences for WTR on business owners and how it may not be advantageous to file separately for certain married couples.

Karl Meyer and Peace House 2.0

Every WTR 101 session allows for those who attend to advocate and spread the word of WTR. Throughout the weekend, we distributed the War Resister’s League Pie Chart, the NWTRCC newsletter, fliers on W-4 resistance, and had many conversations on WTR with those who are resisting or considering it

It helped that Karl Meyer had come in his bright blue Peace House that was present and hard not to notice with the messages on U.S. military spending, foreign policy, and plenty of War Resisters League Pie Charts for distribution.  Karl was eager to give tours of the van explaining how it was outfitted to support his carpentry work that has allowed for his WTR for all these decades. Karl’s creative ways of messaging WTR to the masses continued and was preformed in song at the skit night on Saturday (the song is included at the end.)

It is refreshing after surviving the pandemic and social isolation to be able to once again support one another. Whether in person, telephone, Zoom, or social media, it is good to be reminded of our role in mutual support and to be reminded that we are not alone. The strength of the NWTRCC network continues to grow and there is great cause for celebration in our 40 years and the intent to support each other in our war tax resistance!

Post by Chrissy Kirchhoefer 

Compliments of Karl Meyer:

(On October 31, 1969, Halloween Day, Agent Roy Suzuki of the Internal Revenue Service phoned me at my place of employment and graciously demanded payment of taxes, penalties, and interest for the year 1965, part of a much larger tax bill that IRS had been unsuccessfully trying to collect for a number of years. After I said I would not pay, he came over promptly and served my employer with a levy against wages due me at that time, which they honored by deducting $46.60 from my pay. This event inspired composition of the following duet, to the tune of a well-known song from the post-World War II musical South Pacific.  I have sung the lead role at many gatherings, but cannot remember, in order to  credit, the many eminent tax-refusing women who have sung opposite, in the role of Suzuki’s boss.)

SOME ENCHANTED TAXMEN

Some enchanted evening, you may meet a stranger.

You may see him come to you across a crowded room, then pull out his badge, and ask for your wage. If you don’t go along, he will not argue long.

He will be a taxman; he will be insistent;

he will bring a levy to place against your wage;

and when he is done, he’ll go back to his boss,

and give a report like this:

Suzuki:

Who would believe it? Who would say it’s so?

I found him at Follett’s. I collected dough.

His Boss:

Oh, Suzuki, how did you know?

Now that you’ve found him, never let him go.

Suzuki:

Forty-six dollars, all for the war;

I’ll go back again soon; I will grab some more.

Boss:

Oh, Suzuki, try going slow;

don’t scare him off too fast; don’t let him go.

Suzuki:

I have worked so patiently; I have tried so long;

My but that man’s conscience is strong.

Boss:

Don’t get sentimental; remember he’s your foe;

Now that you’ve found him, never let him go.

Suzuki:

I’ll go back tomorrow, shortly after dawn;

I’ll levy on his wage again, but he will be gone.

Boss:

Buck up, Suzuki, don’t let it get you down;

We have lots of agents snooping round the town.

Suzuki:

They will never nail him; they’ll never collect;

Why should we waste our time, breaking our necks?

Boss:

The war must go on, you know, and we must be paid;

the arms race must be financed, and profits be made.

Suzuki:

We will never make it with guys like that Meyer.

Why not quit and go to work; our proceeds would be higher?

Boss:

Roy, that’s not the spirit of IRS, you know.

Both together:

Once you have found one, never let him go!!!

The post Making War Tax Resistance Visible and Accessible 101 first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

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Panel on Tax Resistance with Money Rebellion and Grup Antimilitarista Tortuga

Logos for Money Rebellion & Grup Antimilitarista Tortuga.

For this conference, we really took advantage of its online nature by hosting a Saturday morning panel with tax resisters from Europe.  The first session was a “Panel on Tax Resistance with Money Rebellion and Grup Antimilitarista Tortuga,” with author Jane Rogers and biologist Alex Penson of Extinction Rebellion UK, and Cuti of Grup Antimilitarista Tortuga in Spain.

Cuti spoke first and explained how their war tax resistance group grew from a movement of folks protesting compulsory military service in the 1990s. Grup Antimilitarista Tortuga collaborates with environmentalists and labor groups in Spain and also with War Resisters International. Their war tax resistance campaign is called, “Fiscal Objection to Military Spending,” and they object to €1,000 per person each year being dedicated from Spain’s federal budget to military spending, which is roughly 40% of their federal budget. Their study of Spain’s federal budget has revealed that Spain’s actual military spending is four times greater than the government admits in its summary of the budget. (This work is similar to the pie chart created by the War Resisters League in the U.S., which reveal how much the U.S. actually dedicates to military spending.) Although many collectives support their war tax resistance campaign, the actual number of resisters is about 400 people, who redirect about €25,000 each year to over 100 social projects.

Jane Rogers spoke next, sharing the beginnings of Extinction Rebellion and its Money Rebellion campaign. Extinction Rebellion (XR) began as a nonviolent direct action movement on 31 October 2018 as a response to the climate crisis. They have three demands: (1) the government should declare a climate emergency, (2) zero carbon emissions by 2025, and (3) the creation of a citizen’s assembly to direct climate policy. Money Rebellion began earlier this year to address the massive financial resources being poured into the fossil-fuel industry. Money Rebellion targets “dirty banks” and advocates withholding 3% of one’s income tax and council tax. They are promoting the withholding of 3% because this percentage of England’s budget is used to subsidize the fossil-fuel industry. The funds will be redirected to a climate charity if the XR’s demands are not met. Jane explained that despite their efforts to promote income tax resistance, only about 100 people are participating in the campaign. Their tax campaign has been partially hampered because only self-employed individuals can participate. Employees cannot control their tax withholding in the U.K. Thus far, income tax resisters have only received letters.

Biologist Alex Penson spoke last. He joined us from the Global Day of Action protest in the streets of the Glasgow, Scotland, where the COP26 U.N. Climate Conference was happening. He explained that the multi-pronged approach of Money Rebellion was intended to allow everyone a role in the campaign. If someone cannot resist their taxes, they can put pressure on banks such as J.P. Morgan. Actions have ranged from putting information stickers on ATMs to breaking bank windows. He also explained that the council tax is very similar to the property tax in the United States. Though Money Rebellion has recommended resisting 3% of the council tax, some have resisted the entire amount, facing repossession of their property and risking future imprisonment.

Longtime NWTRCC legal consultant Peter Goldberger joined us for our second session on Saturday. This session was a sequel of sorts to Peter’s discussion on the Hobby Lobby case at NWTRCC’s Earlham conference in 2014. Since the previous talk, there has been an “upsurge” of Supreme Court cases dealing with freedom of religion from a First Amendment perspective, which was different from Hobby Lobby’s focus on the Religious Freedom and Restoration Act. Especially in the last couple years with COVID-19 court cases, the Supreme Court “has been very actively reviving its application of this equal treatment, or at least equal to secular reasons, doctrine under the Free Exercise Clause [of the First Amendment]… If even handedly applied,” Peter believes this updated view of the Supreme Court could benefit war tax resisters.

Saturday finished with concurrent WTR 101 and 201 sessions.

Sunday Business Meeting

The Sunday business meeting began with reports from both NWTRCC consultants (Coordinator & Outreach consultant), a biennial review of our consultants, the setting of our objectives for 2022, and the approval of our 2022 budget. (Minutes for this meeting our not available yet, but will be sent out to the network in the near future. The agenda and supporting documents for the meeting can be found here.)

There were two proposals on our agenda. The first was to make three amendments to NWTRCC’s statement of purpose, which had been updated at our May 2021 meeting. The decision was made to reject all three amendments and leave the statement as is.

The second proposal was for a sign-on statement, which will be part of an outreach campaign for the coming tax season. The statement and plan for this campaign were approved as is, though NWTRCC’s Outreach Committee was given leeway to amend the statement and campaign as needed. You will see more about this campaign in early January.

Overall, it was a wonderful conference and we were very pleased to even welcome an attendee from Switzerland, who has attended several international meetings on war tax resistance. It was also great to host such great speakers with several speakers joining us from abroad. It would be better meeting in person, but I am glad we were able to make the best of what technology has to offer.

~Lincoln Rice

The post Report from NWTRCC’s November 2021 Conference first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

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Following discussion at our November business meeting about the possible future of our logo, NWTRCC formed an ad-hoc logo committee. With additional input from our Outreach Committee, we proposing one of the following four options. These options are not in their final form, but are rough drafts. Our primary criteria in creating these proposals was that the new logo should be (1) simple enough to be easily discernible on a cell phone and (2) one that is in color but could also be transferred to black & white for certain printed materials.

The adoption of any new logo requires the consensus of our business meeting on May 2, 2021. Although anyone is welcome to attend this meeting via Zoom, there are normally about 30 folks in attendance. We would appreciate any feedback that would help participants at the business meeting make a decision.

You can feel free to leave any feedback as a comment on this blog post or you can actually vote for your preferred choice on our Twitter page: https://twitter.com/WarTaxResister/status/1379895452859035656. You can also contact the NWTRCC office with your opinion at 262-399-8217 or nwtrcc@nwtrcc.org.

— Lincoln Rice

The post New Logo for NWTRCC? first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

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U.S.S. Comfort photo from Department of Defense.

Military spending can be witnessed in the costs to the health of our country. No where else is the contrast between life and death so stark. As we are approaching a year into the pandemic and recently surpassed the ½ million deaths attributed to Covid 19, the cost comparisons seem more tangible to those playing attention that the U.S. spent close to 50% of taxpayer money on the military. The Department of Defense reports that the U.S. military has spent $13.34 trillion between 2000 and 2019 averaging about $825 billion per year.  Put another way the US spends over $2 billion per day or over $1 million per minute on the military. 

The National Priorities Project has an interactive page that lays out the cost comparisons of what the money spent on the military could be spent on instead to create healthy communities. The hourly operating costs of the F-35, one of the US military’s most expensive weapons programs, would provide the annual salary of one nurse. Sometimes it is good to have something tangible to relate the numbers— Statista breaks it down here:

Scrutiny of military spending has increased as people have questioned what role the military plays in protecting people in the U.S. when communities are told there are not resources for the most basics of human health. Some states have deployed the National Guard to assist in Covid response (37,000) more have been deployed for the “civil unrest” related to racial justice protests this past summer (41,500.)

While the military may not have had a large visible presence domestically, the language and metaphor of war has increased in the last year as we wage a war on the virus. The parallels between Operation Warp Speed and the Manhattan Project have been made public but not the Department of Defense contracts to Advanced Technologies International. ATI serves as the intermediary between federal contracts and pharmaceutical companies obscuring transparency as other transactions agreements OTAs that the DoD has been using more frequently in recent years.  It  was recently revealed that the Trump administration siphoned $10 billion from the Provider Relief Fund intended to support hospitals and healthcare workers who have faced layoffs and funneled it to Operation Warp Speed. 

The U.S. is the only country of the 36 in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development OECD that does not have universal health care as reported in “It’s Time To Rein In Inflated Military Budgets.” Prior to the pandemic, an estimated 27 million people in the U.S. did not have healthcare insurance and about the same amount have lost coverage since then as they have lost their jobs during the pandemic. 

Federal Budget Pie Chart FY2021 created by WRL.

At the same time health care costs in the U.S. are some of the highest in the world resulting in people in the US paying more than $3.6 trillion for healthcare per year with less than 3% spent on public health and prevention. The result has been epidemic proportions of diabetes, hypertension, heart and lung disease and obesity which all increase vulnerability to Covid 19. Life expectancy has been decreasing in recent years related to those health issues as well as an increase in deaths of despair, those attributed to suicide, drug overdoses and symptoms associated with alcohol abuse. Then as if in the perfect storm of the first 6 months of 2020 life expectancy fell by 2.7 years for non-Hispanic Blacks, 1.7 years for Hispanics and 0.8 years for non-Hispanic whites as a result of all those factors.  

The pandemic has been a period of pause and reevaluation for some to step back and take a more holistic view. The virus has provided the reminder of our interconnectedness. This time has served as a reminder of how fragile we as a species as well as all life forms on this planet. One of the founding members of Physicians for Social Responsibility recently passed away; his obituary mentioned how he joined with physicians from the Soviet Dr. Union to create the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War. Dr. Lown had concluded that a nuclear attack on one city would exhaust all the nation’s medical resources just to treat the burn victims. While we haven’t intentionally set off a nuclear explosion in the decades since that statement was made, the health care system and it’s workers have become exhausted with only crumbles from the federal pie.  

Post by Chrissy Kirchhoefer

The post Military Budget of Little Comfort to Healthcare Workers first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

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This tax season, NWTRCC will host several online events and creating new online resources. We hope this will be useful to local groups and individuals in promoting war tax resistance. For example, the following events are planned for January:

NWTRCC is Leading a Session for College of Complexes
Saturday January 16, 2021 (7pm Eastern/ 4pm Pacific). The College of Complexes is a Chicago group that refers to itself as a “playground for people who think.” NWTRCC Coordinator Lincoln Rice will lead a session on the war tax resistance and the work of NWTRCC. Spread the word! Here is the Zoom info:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81216467150
Passcode 094136
By phone: +1 312 626 6799
Meeting ID: 812 1646 7150

WTR Panel to Kick-Off Tax Season 2021
Sunday January 24, 2021 (4p Eastern/ 1p Pacific)
This session will be hosted by NWTRCC and geared toward people that are considering war tax resistance or have recently started war tax resistance. The panel will feature five long-time war tax resisters: Kathy Kelly, Erica Leigh, Sam Yergler, Maria Smith, and Charlie Hurst.
The event will be streamed on Facebook. Just go to NWTRCC’s Facebook page when the session begins: www.facebook.com/nwtrcc

Each month of tax season has been given a theme:

January: Four More Years of Militarism
February: Defund Militarism Here & Abroad
March: The Military v. Health Care
April: Climate Crisis & the Pentagon

In February, we will be launching a new web page that will more explicitly connect the militarism of local law enforcement in the United States with federal budget spending and priorities. February will also feature an online War Tax Resisters Counselors Training (Saturday February 20 at 11a Eastern/ 8a Pacific). This intense six-hour training will help us add to the list of wonderful counselors. Counselors are war tax resisters who volunteer to support existing and potential resisters by helping them to understand the motivations and methods of war tax protest, resistance, refusal, and redirection, and to understand the consequences of the choices they make. If you are interested in this training, contact the office at nwtrcc@nwtrcc.org.

Throughout this tax season, we also plan on posting short videos on four themes listed above. If you would be interested in creating a 2-5 minute video that connects your war tax resistance to one of the above themes, let us know! Also, let us know if you have any other ideas for the campaign or resources to share.

Lastly…

Mark your calendars: Our Spring National Conference will be online (April 30-May 2, 2021). We hope to return to in-person conferences in November.

Post by Lincoln Rice

The post NWTRCC Campaign for Tax Season 2021 first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

The post NWTRCC Campaign for Tax Season 2021 appeared first on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

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. 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.

Post by Ilene Roizman

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

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When I was informed that nearly 50% of Chicago’s budget was being dedicated to “security,” I had some déjà vu, since every war tax resister knows that about 50% of the discretionary federal budget is also dedicated to “security.” Additionally, this call for redirection reminded me of the war tax resistance practice of redirecting refused federal income tax dollars to individuals and groups that are underfunded.

March in Baltimore. Image by Bruce Emmerling from Pixabay.

Once I returned to Milwaukee, I examined our own city budget and discovered that the City of Milwaukee also dedicates nearly half of its operating budget for the police department. With the great needs facing our communities and the repeated instances of police harassment (and sometimes murder) of black citizens by the Milwaukee Police Department, these financial priorities are terribly misplaced.

In the wake of the probable recession that may follow the COVID-19 pandemic, serious budget decisions will need to be made by local governments across the United States. The obvious answer would be to greatly scale back police funding to preserve the necessary services performed by city and county governments. But I have a difficult time believing that local governments will have the courage to do this.

Obviously, when it comes to misplaced financial priorities on the federal level, war tax resisters have methods and options to resist funding military expenditures. These same options are not available on the local level, where property taxes, rent, sales tax, parking tickets, etc. fund our local governments. In this instance, I feel more like our war tax resistance neighbors in Canada and Europe, where federal tax withholding from wage positions is mandatory and war tax refusal is much more difficult.

Nevertheless, war tax resistance does allow us to participate in the defunding of police departments to some degree. “1033 Program,” named for the section of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 1997 that granted permanent authority to the Secretary of Defense to transfer defense “material” to federal and state agencies for use in law enforcement, has allowed the U.S military to transfer military-grade weapons to local police departments for decades. When one refuses to pay federal income taxes, one refuses to support this heinous program.

Protest in Baltimore. Image by Bruce Emmerling from Pixabay.

Additionally, we have now seen President Trump wanting to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807, which empowers the president to deploy active U.S. military and federalized National Guard troops within the United States to suppress civil disorder, insurrection, and rebellion. Thankfully, there has been some push-back to this idea even from within Trump’s own administration. But this could still happen and it would be funded by federal tax dollars.

Lastly, police departments across the United States benefit from federal grants that support some part their budget. (For example, the Milwaukee Police Department was just awarded a $9.7 million grant from the Department of Justice to fund 30 police officers.) Drawing these connections between war tax resistance and the funding of police departments that consistently infringe on the rights of its African American citizens deserves to be highlighted as we work toward ending government-funded killings at home and abroad.

— Post by Lincoln Rice

The post The Financial Priorities of Local Governments Mirror the Federal Government first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

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Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn. March 19, 2020. Photo by Ed Hedemann

On March 19 — just last week before the state really shut down — our NYC War Resisters League group held vigils in three areas of the city. A few of us walked to the busy traffic circle at Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn and stood with our signs to mark the 17^th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq and demand an end to endless war.

Because there wasn’t much else going on, drivers zipping by and people walking in and out of the park turned their heads to see what we were up to. Despite some controversy in our group about whether protesting in a time of pandemic was a good idea, we got plenty of supportive honks and thumbs up. It felt important to take some time to get out of ourselves and remember the people in the world suffering under — and because of — U.S. wars.

Rise and Resist protest, Brooklyn, March 24, 2020. Photo by Gabriele Holtermann-Gorden

It was easy enough to practice social distancing but have some social time too, although we weren’t as precise as the Rise and Resist protest on March 24.

Now, while mostly at home, we find plenty of things to do, but running out to a big demonstration is not one of them. This got me thinking about war tax resistance as a perfect protest for the isolated. That led me to think of the many individual acts of resistance in antiwar history and thus to Ammon Hennacy and his “one man revolution.” Fellow WTR David Gross has done extensive writings on this topic, and he sums it up this way:

This idea is that, contrary to what the organizers of the world are always telling us, the key to curing society’s ills is not necessarily to organize at all. You don’t need a majority, or a critical mass, or a disciplined revolutionary vanguard. Just get your own house in order and commit yourself to your own personal revolution — that’s the most crucial and practical thing you can do.

Ammon Hennacy. Photo: wikisource

Now that so many of us have time to consider our own house (especially in the context of the lack of resources invested in healthcare) becoming a war tax resister/refuser/redirector might just move up on the to-do list for more folks – right in the comfort of your own home!

For many it can take years from the time they first heard about war tax resistance to actually do it. I had correspondence recently with a woman who was quietly on my local war tax resistance list for years. In early March I sent out an email about an upcoming workshop, and she replied that she’d love to come but she has moved across the country. She went on,

I would like to talk to an experienced counselor soon as I go through my
process so I can figure out how I can do this while minimizing my risk as
I try to quell the fears that have interfered in the past. I do have a taxable
income and I do have assets – a home, bank account & investments, and 401K retirement accounts. It’s hard to risk the little bit of financial security I have been able to establish. BUT I have long been distressed and conflicted by the violence that my tax dollars support. The other day I watched a film called The Report which is a dramatization about the Senate investigation into CIA “enhanced interrogation tactics” after 9/11.  It was a horrifying reminder of what I need to do. I will be continuing down this path. 

In our correspondence I asked her about the impact of the pandemic in her new location, and among other things this prompted her to say, “Coronavirus will probably always be linked in my mind with my renewed interest in tax resistance!”

These days, as health systems in the U.S. and most countries can’t keep up with critical needs, the linkage to the trillions of dollars and mountains of resources wasted on military madness over the decades is more obvious than ever. The new War Resisters League pie chart is out and available in English and Spanish online, so another one-person action you can take is to share it on social media, download it and mail to elected officials, email the link to everyone you know demanding Pentagon money be shifted to human and planet needs.

WRL used to have a brochure titled, “If you think you’re too small to be effective … you’ve never been in bed with a mosquito.” Now’s the time to be that mosquito in the ear of those in power. Please add your ideas for one-person protest (if not revolution) in the comments section.

— Post by Ruth Benn

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Graphic by Leani Auxilio.

In May 2019, the Nation broke down military spending to better reflect just how much money the Pentagon is operating with. They studied the base, the war, the nuclear, the defense-related, Veteran’s Affairs, Homeland Security, international affairs, and the intelligence budget. Their investigation revealed that a large sum of the Pentagon’s budget is wasted. For example, the Pentagon is bursting with private contractors (currently there are more than 600,000 contractors at work). The Nation calculated that if private contractors were slashed, it would save $125 billion over a five-year period. The Nation determined that overpriced weaponry systems are another money suck. Spending included a $13 billion aircraft carrier and 200 nuclear bombers at $564 million a pop. Then there is the push to obtain long range strike weapons to deal with future potential wars in China and Russia, which is certainly a precursor to WW III.

Lastly, and to summarize on the military budget, there is a slush fund which solely pays for the “war on terror”—namely for U.S. presence in Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, and Syria. The slush fund is exempt from all caps on spending, even for investments in projects that have nothing to do with the current wars. In closing, the Nation calculated that with all the operating budgets under the purview of the Pentagon, military spending is $1.25 trillion. “If the average taxpayer were aware that this amount was being spent in the name of national defense—with much of it wasted, misguided, or simply counterproductive—it might be far harder for the national-security state to consume ever-growing sums with minimal public pushback.”

Sadly, defense spending and overall foreign policy has seen little attention from the current presidential candidates. Some, like Warren and Sanders, have more of a defined stance on addressing the budget-based corruption taking place in the Pentagon. However, it is uncertain if their proposals stand a chance in D.C. if they were elected.  Below is a summary of where the current candidates stand on the military budget:

Elizabeth Warren – Senator from Massachusetts. Warren was quoted expressing concern over the “coziness” between the defense lobbyists, Congress, and the Pentagon. She even referred to this triad as the military industrial complex—a term coined by President Eisenhower. She further stated that the military industrial complex “tilts countless decisions, big and small, away from legitimate national security interests and toward the desires of giant corporations that thrive off taxpayer dollars.” Additionally, she pointed out the weakness of current laws to properly combat the fiscal influence of military contractors at the Department of Defense.

Bernie Sanders – Senator from Vermont. No shocker here that Bernie tends to be a ‘dove’ as opposed to a ‘hawk.’ However, he was quoted saying that he believes in a “strong defense system for our country and a robust National Guard and Reserve that can meet our domestic and foreign challenges.” He went on to say that military intervention needs to be a last resort and to seek diplomatic alternatives whenever possible.

Joe Biden – former VP and from Delaware. Biden was quoted saying, “we can maintain a strong defense and protect our safety and security for less.” He does not speak so much of how much we invest, but how we invest the money. For Biden, he is looking to invest in more modern and progressive technologies that target space and cyber security.

Mike Bloomberg – former mayor of NYC. Currently, Bloomberg does not have a defined stance on defense spending. He shared that there is a need to re-assess spending levels.

Some good news: there is awareness of the discrepancies and corruption taking place at the Pentagon. With articles like the one in the Nation and even a presidential candidate referencing the military industrial complex, it is a sure sign that more and more people are becoming aware of the evils taking place at the Pentagon. We see that there are more conscious connections being made with how much is spent on defense and how much U.S. taxpayers are forking over to keep the cash flow going. With awareness we have power, and with power we have choice. So, with that I leave you with a few questions: What will you choose to do in your fight for justice? How will you exercise your power to better care for your neighbors, yourself, and the planet? If you believe one of the current candidates is a hopeful fit in tackling the military industrial complex, how will you hold them accountable to their word? You have power and a choice to make.

References:

https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/tom-dispatch-america-defense-budget-bigger-than-you-think/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/policy-2020/foreign-policy/defense-budget/

Post By Sam Leuschner , member of NWTRCC Administrative Committee

The post Military Spending- What’s Your Vote? first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

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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.]

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Courtesy: Randy Kehler Papers, UMASS Amherst Libraries Special Collections.

By “Colrain” we mean not just a house seizure, but the four years of organizing, vigils and civil disobedience at the seized property under the banner “It’s wrong to confiscate homes in order to force people to pay for war.”

You can read about the seizure and actions and the reunion presentations, but this blog is really to get you to look at Larry’s talk and share your thoughts.

A lively discussion followed the panel presentations, which included Bill Ramsey, Joanne Sheehan and myself, but Larry (being a professor or just more organized) was the only one who came with written remarks to share. (A recording of the session has not surfaced.)

Larry had some provocative stuff in his presentation, such as:

…I can’t recall a moment in my more than thirty years of war tax resistance when such resistance has seemed so far from having political power. Given the Trump administration, one would have expected a significant rise in wtr, in numbers and intensity and demographic range. That hasn’t happened, and the non-happening is an earthquake.

In my judgment, the weak state of war tax resistance, in general and as a means of doing politics, is not temporary but permanent. I can’t see a future in which the war tax resistance at the center of the Colrain action, which has been my war tax resistance as well, exercises political power: that mode of war tax resistance is likely to survive only as what Randy Kehler tellingly called a spiritual exercise. It won’t stop feeling right for me and others to refuse to pay; but we won’t thereby be building a movement.

I don’t attribute the gloomy state of things to fear of the IRS – especially the currently underfunded IRS! I don’t attribute it to insufficient outreach to the young. I do to some extent attribute it to…. read the whole text here

Photo by Ed Hedemann, 2004.

So, I hope you read Larry’s analysis, and then make your comments below – or somewhere. Send a letter-to-the-editor of NWTRCC’s newsletter. Come to a future NWTRCC gathering and bring your insights.  Email me and I’ll put it in a future blog. If you are in NYC and want to discuss this in person, be in touch! Larry has good reason to question the state of WTR, but do we stop there?

— Post by Ruth Benn

The post War, conscience, and war tax resistance as a movement first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

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As a conscientious objector to war, I will not pay my 2018 income tax. I believe war killing is wrong
and therefore I cannot pay for it. There are other ways for nations to resolve their conflicts with one
another besides through war killing.

The U.S. government spends nearly half its budget on war & preparations for war. This type of
spending does not reflect my humanitarian values and therefore I will not support it.
I am paying my self-employment tax ($7,055; line 57). I am sending that amount to you. I am sending
the remaining amount of my income tax due ($1,577; line 13) to the People’s Life Fund to be held until
the U.S. Government finds a way to wage non-violent war.

I am not opposed to paying taxes. I want to fulfill my financial responsibilities to the country I live in
but I also cannot violate my religious beliefs. The federal government requires money to ensure that
human rights and sustainable moral action are respected and fostered by all governments,
organizations, and people within our borders. But since I know that the majority of my tax dollars will
not go towards any of this, I will continue to redirect my tax dollars to the People’s Life Fund to be held
until the U.S. Government finds a way to wage non-violent war.

Sincerely,

Thomas Gail Haws

The post Tom Haws 2019 first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

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