My 2020 tax folder is piling up with letters back and forth.

However, I had to write back a dispute because they did not correct their original error. The IRS took my estimated and final payments for 2020 self-employment/Social Security taxes and applied them to my income tax debts for 2011 and 2012. This is against IRS regulations. I wrote them about this is August 2021 but got no reply, so last week I copied that text and sent it back to them with my corrected calculations.

I have a feeling this is going to go on for a while. By my original calculations my resisted income tax for 2020 was $1,216. Since the IRS misapplied my 2020 payments, they say I owe $4,431, including interest and penalties and a credit I had overlooked for one of those stimulus checks I didn’t receive.

My dispute letter repeats my calculations but includes the credit. If the IRS accepts it and returns my payments to the proper year, the down side for me is that I may end up with an overpayment for 2020. In addition, all this delay has also messed up the real amount I should be getting in my Social Security payments. That and the fact that the IRS needs to apply estimated tax payments properly and follow their own regulations are reasons to carry on this correspondence.

NYC City Council member Carlina Rivera announces the Move the Money resolution on December 7 at City Hall. Photo by Ruth Benn. More photos by Ted Reich here.

Meanwhile, I did have a better time at a press conference for the NYC Move the Money campaign. City Council Member Carlina Rivera hosted the press conference on the steps of City Hall to announce the introduction of a “Move the Money” resolution in the NYC City Council. If passed, Res. 0423-2022 puts the city on record calling on Congress and the President to cut the military budget and fund social services. City officials who spoke at the press conference spoke eloquently and with passion about the importance of moving the money.

As with most such resolutions it is symbolic, but the campaign itself is a worthy one for peace groups as far as public education goes and the opportunity to work with a broader coalition. The NYC Move the Money coalition itself is made up of 60 labor, peace, community, clergy, environmental and racial justice organizations — and growing. Many of those groups are demanding the mayor fund social services (or at least avoid cuts), but they don’t talk about the obvious source of revenue to fund these programs. Move the Money makes the connection and opens the door for more dialogue and cooperation.

— Post by Ruth Benn

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Bill Durland speaking at NWTRCC’s 30th anniversary conference in Colorado Springs (November 2012). Photo by Kima Garrison.

[Editor’s Note: The following two stories were shared in our recent 40th anniversary newsletter. We will continue celebrating our 40th anniversary at our 4-6 November 2022 conference on Zoom. You can see the full schedule and register here.]

The Origins of NWTRCC

By Bill Durland-Littleton, Colorado

It was 1982, and Genie and I had moved to Colorado to form a western office of the National Center on Law and Pacifism. We founded the Center in 1978 in Philadelphia with Quaker and Catholic peace activists t0 help people of conscience who were living in poverty, in prison, and to resist war by withholding their taxes.

Eventually, we had volunteer attorneys and contacts all over the country assisting people in workshops, court representation, and the publication of a guide, “People Pay for Peace.” For four years we conducted these efforts along with the War Resisters League and the Conscience and Military Tax Campaign.

By 1982, these organizations were overlapping and duplicating some of their work. The idea cane to me to form a national organization that would coordinate the efforts of these groups and become more effective in their work. And that’s how NWTRCC was born in a meeting in St Louis. We applaud NWTRCC‘s 40th anniversary and the wonderful leadership it has received over these many years. Genie and I are glad to have lived to an old age to see it.

NWTRCC’s First Coordinators

By Larry Bassett – Lynchburg, Virginia

Larry Bassett in 1985. Photo by Ed Hedemann.

Kathy Levine and I moved from Virginia to Long Island to work for the Conscience & Military Tax Campaign (CMTC) in the early 1980s. We moved along with her two kids and our wood stove. We both put in a lot of time and didn’t punch a clock. The office was in the backyard garage of the house we lived in in Bellport on the south shore on the great South Bay with Fire Island across the water.

Occasionally in the winter the bay froze and we could walk out to Fire Island. Kathy also was an avid organic gardener and spent a lot of time tending a garden nearby that provided a good deal of the food for us. We hauled horse manure and eel grass regularly for the garden. She planted winter wheat once for a winter cover crop and we ended up harvesting it and grinding to make homemade whole wheat bread. Kathy is still a farmer today at her home in Hawaii.

Kathy applied for and was hired to be the first coordinator for NWTRCC. We left CMTC and later, after we had moved to East Patchogue, I joined her as the co-coordinator. We worked out of the house that we rented and one of the major projects at that time was a legal manual. Kathy worked a good deal with Vicky Metcalf to create that resource. I stood at a copy machine many hours printing copies of the manual. And when Kathy and I split up, she continued with NWTRCC for a while until a new coordinator was hired and the office moved to the Pacific Northwest.

We enjoyed doing a little traveling for NWTRCC conferences in Los Angeles and Austin and Colorado. Seeing a little bit of the country was one of the perks of the job. It was during my time working for NWTRCC that I had my 1985 adventure with the Justice Department and the Brooklyn federal district court and Judge Weinstein, who dismissed the case against me, finding in my favor and establishing a precedent for refusing to provide information about assets to the IRS. With that victory I blew my best opportunity so far to end up in jail for civil disobedience. That eight months in 1985 was probably more stressful than my current adventures with the IRS refusing to pay $250,000 for my $1 million 2016 inheritance and my current debt to the IRS of over $300,000. I continue to hope that people will watch the documentary film The Pacifist, still available on Amazon.

The post Early Memories of NWTRCC first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

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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.

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

Originally, the proposed funding had some Republican support, but that soon soured and the future of the funding proposal seemed dead.

All that changed when Biden and congressional Democrats saw an opening to quickly pass the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The IRS funding would probably not had passed as a solo bill, but it found life after being added to the IRA. Last Sunday, Senate Democrats passed the IRA and the House is expected to pass it later this week.

What’s in the Bill?

The bill will increase the IRS budget by almost $80 billion over 10 years… so a yearly increase of about $8 billion. The current yearly IRS budget is $12.6 billion, so this is a yearly increase of over 60%. That is substantial. After decades of inadequate funding, the IRS will be flush with funds. In terms of people power, this bill will add 87,000 employees to the IRS over a ten-year period—roughly doubling their numbers.

Half of the new funding will be dedicated to enforcement. From the start, supporters emphasized that enforcement will focus on high-income individuals, but low to mid-income households will surely feel the repercussions of this beefed-up enforcement. At the end of the 2010, the IRS wrote off $14.6 billion of taxes due as it expired after reaching the 10-year-statute of limitations. At the end of 2019, $34.2 billion was written off. The IRS expects that increased enforcement will increase taxes collected by over $200 billion during the next 10 years.

It is unlikely that the larger IRS budget will lead to more property confiscations for war tax resisters. Photo by Sami Aksu from Pexels.

The remainder will be used for operations, tax-payer services, and technology. The IRS has an embarrassing back-log of paper returns to process, not enough people to answer the phone, and an antiquated computer system. I am sure that these three items will be priorities for the remainder of the funds.

Consequences for War Tax Resisters

Nothing in the bill indicates that the IRS will increase property confiscations for items such as cars and homes. The decrease in confiscations was largely due to a change in philosophy in the late 1990s. But as the IRS slowly rebuilds its enforcement ranks, we will likely see an increase in wage garnishments, bank levies, retirement fund levies, W-4 lock-in letters, and notices of public liens filed at local courthouses.

Of course, before they can take action on recent years for WTR paper filers, they will have to actually process their returns! As always, the NWTRCC office will stay abreast of these matters and keep you up to date.

— Post by Lincoln Rice

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Today I gathered my patience and decided to try calling the IRS again. I can get pretty frustrated being on hold for minutes on end, so I try to remember that IRS employees are not the enemy but end up being the fall guys for governmental dysfunction. As war tax resisters (at least those of us who file) it is also frustrating that we feel our message gets stuck at the IRS, but the topic did not come up in this call. I just wanted to know what happened to my return, and I know others in our network have similar questions.

From a 2017 article, “We’ve Called the IRS Over 10,000 Times“. It’s probably only gotten worse.

After an hour+ on hold (as they warned in the initial recording) a human actually answered. She was friendly, and I explained the basic problem. “Can I put you on hold 5 – 7 minutes while I review the account?” She did return, probably after the full 7 minutes, but didn’t know much more. She asked if I e-filed and I said no, so “Can I put you on hold 5 – 7 minutes while I review the account again?” I desperately asked if I could get hold of her if I got cut off. Nope, you have to call the same general number again and basically start over.

Probably the full 7 minutes later she came back, and finally I had an answer!

“Problems were encountered, and it will be 16 weeks before your return posts.” Her response seemed to imply that it was a problem with my return, so I said I assume these problems are due to  the IRS backlog. She affirmed my suspicion and said they had begun to work on my return July 11, but “don’t expect it to post before the 16 weeks are up.”

I broached one more question with her about my misapplied estimated payments, but she said I’d have to call Collections about that and gave me another number. I’ll have to wait til my patience reserves build up again before calling them.

The only relation to my resistance is that I continue to choose to file on paper so that I can enclose my annual letter and annoy “the system.” Now the system is so dysfunctional that my effort to annoy may be biting me in the butt. I’m not sure there’s a way around this except to tap into greater patience reserves than I normally have.

— Post by Ruth Benn

The post “Problems Were Encountered” first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

The post “Problems Were Encountered” appeared first on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

This war came at a perfect time for the U.S. government and war profiteering corporations. Just as military operations in Afghanistan were ramping down and there seemed to be fewer excuses to keep producing the weapons for war at current levels, a new war appeared in which U.S. soldiers are safe, but U.S. weapon manufacturers keep raking in the profits.

Exploded House in Borodyanka, Ukraine. Photo by Алесь Усцінаў from Pexels.

In April, the Pentagon hosted representatives from the top 8 U.S. weapon manufacturers to discuss whether they could meet demand for a war in Ukraine that may last years. Yes, the U.S. and its weapon manufacturers are planning for a war that will continue the hellish conditions in Ukraine for years. And the longer this war continues, the more likely that a line will be crossed leading to a direct war between Russia and the United States.

You probably already know that the largest-funded military in the world belongs to the U.S., whose military budget surpasses the budgets of the next nine highest-funded militaries combined. On a weekly basis—and often on a daily basis—the U.S. military is killing civilians using drones. This has not stopped during the war in Ukraine.

Although U.S. imperialism does not normally make headlines on the evening news, it is a reality that affects countless lives around the globe. With the help of the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee’s (NWTRCC’s) wonderful resources, I have been able to refuse the payment of taxes that fund this imperialism for over 20 years. War tax resistance is also giving me tools to refuse paying for the kind of “aid” that sends billions of dollars of U.S. weapons to Ukraine and other war-torn regions.

I first discovered NWTRCC when I joined the Milwaukee Catholic Worker in 1998. Their bookshelf contained a copy of each practical booklet published by NWTRCC. A year later, attended my first NWTRCC conference, where I met some wonderful people from all over the United States who were refusing to pay for war. Although the conferences continue, most folks discover our literature online, with NWTRCC’s website receiving visits from 40,000 unique visitors each year.

I am very proud to be part of NWTRCC’s 40 year history, as well as part of the rich and diverse history of war tax resistance that spans diverse peoples and cultures throughout human history. If you are interested in learning more about war tax resistance, NWTRCC’s resources are all freely available at www.nwtrcc.org.

[Editor’s Note: This article was previous published in the summer 2022 edition of the Servant Song, the newspaper of the Agape Community in Ware, Massachusetts.]

Post by Lincoln Rice

The post U.S. Weapons, Ukraine, and War Tax Resistance first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

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In order to create an IRS account you have to verify your identity with ID.me, an online security platform. I started the whole process maybe 2 or 3 weeks ago. After putting in all the basics – address, phone, email, social security number, etc. – then you have to upload documents like your photo ID or driver’s license either from your computer or with a Smartphone photo app they link you to. I’m sure I spent at least an hour doing this the first time, using both methods when one didn’t seem to be working. ID.me seems to have pretty high standards for quality of image, and most of the time mine didn’t pass quality control.

When I finally had my pictures accepted, the system moved on to checking my credit after seeking my approval. The next message that came back was that they could not complete that step, and I’d have to use the “live video” verification option. Studying a few FAQs led me to the probable cause of this blip. A year or two ago I had frozen my credit account because of some generally reported hacking issue. I didn’t bother to go back and release the freeze, but the wait for the live video ID was more than an hour, so I gave up at this point.

Then the email reminders started coming in. “You’re almost there. Log in to your ID.me account to finish verifying your identity.”

This is kind of what I looked like.

All those emails — and the fact that it’s my turn to write a blog — launched me back into the process. I went straight for “live video ID,” because I had noticed that earlier in the day the wait is shorter. But…before you see an agent, you once again have to upload more documents, with the same quality perfection that threw me for a loop the last time. Driver’s license, social security card (with the time it took to remember where I kept that old thing), and passport, the latter of which did not want to sit flat for its portrait until I finally taped it down. After dozens of photos using both the Smartphone link and my camera-to-computer-to-file upload, taking at least an hour (and almost giving up again) I finally managed acceptable pictures. At this point my wait for the live agent was only 10 minutes!

She asked all the basic address, birth date questions, and then she needed to see all three documents during the call. It took a while to line them up with the camera without reflection or blur so that she could read them clearly. All-in-all, that step was a breeze, but did they really need me to upload everything first?

Finally I was verified as who I say I am and could log right in to my IRS account. There I was greeted with a big bold message across the top: “Your Account is in Jeopardy of Lien or Levy.” No surprise since I have 10 years of debt piled up due to my war tax resisting.

Otherwise, is it enlightening? Well, maybe. One document say the IRS received no 1040 from me for Tax Year 2020. Another document shows they received “Payment with return” with the exact amounts I sent for Social Security when I filed my 1040 on time in May 2021 for Tax Year 2020. Funny how they manage to find the money orders…. This will be useful to mail back to them saying “as you see, you had a return from me.”

I expect with the backup of paper at the IRS, some of the problems have to do with the fact that I file on paper, and they want to drive us all into the online system. Even though I got over my resistance to creating an online account, I do plan to continue resisting the online filing system (setting up this account took all my bureaucratic energy for the next few years!). And, of course, I plan to continue my economic protest. I still like being a little cog in the machine, even as the machine itself seems to be breaking down.

— Post by Ruth Benn

The post A Cog in a Broke Down Machine first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

The post A Cog in a Broke Down Machine appeared first on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

Photo from Lindsey Britt

This problem isn’t totally unique to war tax resistance, other movements have it, too. I think what makes the situation different with WTR is the length of time a person lives with the state of uncertainty if they’ve chosen to willfully not pay all or a portion of their taxes. Refusing to pay, especially if done year after year, means living in a constant state of of uncertainty. That isn’t appealing to most people. Life is already so full of unknowns that it isn’t surprising people— even those who are activists in other ways don’t want to add more uncertainty to their lives.

There are those who are able to embrace confusion and maybe see accepting the unknowns that come with refusing to pay as part of a life practice of being at peace with their inability to control the world. There are probably others that fight through their dislike of the unknown because they put the cause ahead of their own comfort. Either way, resisting the payment of taxes the government thinks a person owes requires a lot of a person over a lengthy period of time. Even if a person acquiesces after a few months, that’s not nothing; those months might’ve felt very difficult.

This is all part of why I’ve gravitated towards consciously reducing my tax burden through simple living. For me, it’s easier. Living simply aligns with so many of my other values that it’s an obvious choice. My guess would be that a lot of other people who hate war and violence would be attracted to simple living as a way to refuse to pay for war, but that refusing to pay calculated taxes would be a bridge too far for them.

I wonder if this is where NWTRCC should be putting more of its energy: attracting people who are sympathetic to simple living as a way to live their lives in agreement with their values. Maybe this could be the avenue for getting people to resist paying for war, but without having to accept so much uncertainty. Not that living with less money is all a bed of roses (and certainly some people through no choice of their own struggle to survive, let alone thrive, on too little and that’s a national shame), but I’ve found that when it’s in service to many of my deeply held values—not just WTR, but sustainability, leaving enough resources for others, etc.—that living simply is easier to take on, almost a natural progression.

                 Photo by Lindsey Britt

I know this path of war tax resistance may not feel aggressive enough to some people. Indeed it felt quite bold to refuse to pay the IRS what it said I owed whereas reducing my income has felt quieter. But I think there’s something to be said for having more people identify as activists for peace in whatever way they’re able, including earning less money to reduce their tax burden. I think what we as war tax resisters want (or at least this is what I’ve heard from folks during the several years I’ve been involved with NWTRCC) is less violence and more people who say “no” to war and militarization.

If that’s the case then I’d suggest we think seriously about emphasizing simple living as a way to advocate for peace and resist war while we look for ways to network with groups that also promote simple living for other reasons (the health of the Earth, having more time for family, etc.). It would be wonderful to hear and see war tax resistance consistently mentioned in conversations about simple living that are happening outside the WTR sphere. I’d love to hear what others think!

Post by Lindsey Britt

The post Finding Peace in A Constant State of Uncertainty? first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

The post Finding Peace in A Constant State of Uncertainty? appeared first on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

Tax Day April 18, 2022, NYC. Photo by Ed Hedemann

War tax resistance is a quarterly, paycheck-to-paycheck or even daily act of resistance to war, depending on your method, but it can be quite solitary. If nothing else, the annual tax day (thanks, IRS!) gives us a chance to act together.

This year our NYC WRL group decided to vigil at the IRS, which is in lower Manhattan, and add a short march down Broadway to Wall Street to take our protest to the corporate war profiteers. Then a friend with a foot in the antiwar movement and NYC Extinction Rebellion helped connect the peace movement tax day action to XR’s Spring Uprising week of actions.

XR tripod-sitter blocking road in NYC financial district. Tax day 2022. Photo by Ed Hedemann

It was a lively affair this year, with a performance by a new street theatre group, Rising Together Guerilla Theater, and the louder demanding voices of more youthful XR activists leading the march chants. NYC WRL activist Mike Levinson spoke well for war tax resistance. The march ended at the Charging Bull statue where XR’s activists were blocking the road with tripods featuring “NO WAR” and “NO WARMING” banners.

Hopefully this will be the start of building an ongoing coalition that more strongly connects the crises of war and climate change.

But that coalition is still too limited. A week before our tax day march, the Poor People’s Campaign held a march on Wall Street as part of their Mobilization Tour for the Mass Poor People’s & Low-Wage Workers’ Assembly and Moral March on Washington, June 18, 2022.

Poor People’s Campaign march on Wall Street, April 11, 2022. Photo by Ed Hedemann

Many usual suspects from local peace groups were in the crowd, and the Rising Together Guerilla Theater did a trial run of their skits before the PPC rally started. But we are still working too separately on compatible but parallel paths at times.

Perhaps the fact that organizers of these two marches both chose Wall Street as a destination for protest is a sign that we are destined to pull together more closely and go after the corporations that steal from the poor and fuel war to increase their profits.

— Ruth Benn

Activist Hideko Otake is a prolific chronicler of all kinds of protests in NYC. She has photos and video from tax day and also from the Poor People’s Campaign rally and march.

The post No War, No Warming: Fund Our Future first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

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Image of NATO protest in Chicago from Steve Rhodes on Flickr.

The revolving doors of the Pentagon opened up this week to the 8 largest U.S. weapons manufacturers and the war strategists to come to the table. They were making plans  for a war in Ukraine that may continue for years. It was as if a dream that had been brewing for years appeared to be coming true. The obscenity of military spending in the U.S., feverishly gobbling up over half of federal income taxes for decades has become even more perverse in the last few years as the pandemic has magnified the denial of the resources for people’s needs and our home in which we depend.

In February 2020, the U.S. Army published an article Interoperability: Embrace it or Fail! that was cowritten by leaders in Australian, French, British and U.S. militaries. The paper argues for the need to have weapon systems that would be standardized amongst allied nations and ends with a future scenario. “It is now 2035 and you find yourself deployed to a theater within the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command general area of operations where tensions are high. Your previous experience in Europe highlighted a disjointed approach towards sustainment and logistics yielding sub-optimal solutions. You remain hopeful that NATO and ABCANZ (America, Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand) nations have learned from previous challenges and are better prepared for LSCO (Large Scale Combat Operations) in your new theater.”

Long time war tax resister Don Timmerman at NATO protest.

In another part of the document it speaks of gauging levels of ambition: “Interoperability requires nations to spend money, take risk and cede sovereignty in order to increase legitimacy, cohesion, mass and agility.” That seemed to have been the previous U.S. presidential administrations continued refrain to NATO members that they needed to pay more of their GDP towards defense spending.

Following World War II, many western European countries’ military budgets invested more of their taxes or collective resources towards the needs of their populations and less on military spending. Quite dramatically the world has witnessed a reversal of that trend with Germany making a dramatic jump from #7 in military spending to #3 and reversing its ban on exporting weapons. In the article “Waltzing to Armageddon,” Chris Hedges points out how U.S. military spending will help recruit Eastern European nations to join NATO and will fast track conversion to NATO weapons and technology. Long standing neutral nations of Sweden and Finland are considering joining NATO–adding additional impetus for a global war.

Image from Catholic Worker protest of NATO in Chicago.

While some may have notions of U.S. exports being McDonalds and Levis, the number 1 export of the U.S. has long been weapons. Now it appears as if we are attempting to convince our allies to adopt the McDonaldization of our militaries and create standard systems, munitions, and fuels. The only country to use nuclear weapons is calling for new standardization and efficiencies of delivering death.

It was disheartening to begin the week with news that the U.S. was going to vastly expand the types of weapons it was sending to Ukraine. It seems like the response to death and destruction is to send more weapons and money even after the Biden administration has already spent $2.4 billion on Ukraine since taking office. The alarm bells go off when Defense News reports that U.S. lawmakers proposal of $13.6 billion for weapons and training “was like putting Biden’s proposal on steroids.” 

Chrissy Kirchhoefer inside Obama Headquarters in Chicago as part of NATO protests

The wicked irony of escalating a war when many are celebrating Passover, Ramadan, and Holy Week. All the rituals are marked by personal reflection and communal coming together to share nourishment. The rituals of war tax resisters coming together for Tax Day with War Resister’s League pie charts to educate about U.S. military spending have been scaled back during the pandemic. The last “regular” Tax Day in 2019 coincided with holy week yet the events of the world have changed us all. What has not changed in these 2 years and has only increased is the amount of U.S. taxpayer money going towards military spending.

While some have questioned the increasing amounts of our collective resources going towards the Pentagon especially with the removal of troops in Afghanistan after 20 years and the lack of resources during the pandemic, war fever has been catching and spreading the world over, trying to rob us of our money, “others” lives and our collective imaginations. 

Catholic Worker preform works of mercy as part of NATO and works of war protest.

Many will continue to be out in coming days to reclaim our imaginings for another world that does not promote or fund the slaughter of innocents. Go public in your opposition of paying for war by signing NWTRCC’s sign on statement, find inspiration from others taking action with the newly formed War Industry Resisters Network that are encouraging actions at places that profit from war around Tax Day to Earth Day and let us know of actions that you take so we can share them with NWTRCC and the annual Tax Day Report. Know that everyday is a great day to speak out about military spending and that there is a vast worldwide network of others who share your concerns!

Chrissy Kirchhoefer

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Here is my “statement of conscience.” Please take a moment to read it.

I have used IRS appeals procedures to communicate my reasons for withholding money from the government. And I have appealed several of the resulting IRS determinations into the federal courts. According to statute, “…[IRS] appeal procedures do not extend to cases because of moral, religious, political, constitutional, conscientious or similar grounds” (See: 26 CFR Section 601.106 (b)).  I understand that a statement of conscience is considered “frivolous” for government taxing purposes. However, my actual statement has never been included in an IRS appeals determination document. And I am also aware that such personal statements of belief are not usually quoted in their entirety in various war tax resister court case rulings.

I pursued a simple objective in recent years: to ensure that my complete statement of conscience is included in an IRS appeals determination or in a federal court ruling. If my beliefs are automatically categorized as “frivolous” by the government, then my full written statement should be provided “on the record” and therefore available for anyone to see.

I was able to appeal an IRS determination into the U.S. Tax Court because of some technical ambiguities. Eventually there was a hearing, and a trial, in Chicago, Illinois. My day in court was a marvelous experience. A number of friends were with me for support wearing pins stating: “CONSCIENCE MATTERS.” Lincoln Rice, the NWTRCC coordinator, came by train from Wisconsin. It is such a blessing to know that I am not alone.

During the trial, the judge seemed to acknowledge that excluding my “statement of conscience” from the case record was an unnecessary violation of my first amendment right to freedom of expression. He allowed my complete written statement to be submitted as evidence. Here is a link to that three-page document. I would like to thank the court for treating me with respect, and I appreciate the work that was done by Judge Joseph H. Gale. Here is a link to his Tax Court Decision.

William Ruhaak

What is at stake here? The fundamental human right to publicly express an opinion or belief. And also the right to have a written expression of that belief included in government documentation for future reference.

If you are aware of other examples of similar statements that were included in IRS appeals determinations, or that were officially incorporated into court records, then I would like to know about them.

And if you have a personal “statement of conscience” concerning the payment of taxes that are used for war, and would like to make that statement public, then please contact me through NWTRCC.  I am part of a group project that will bring many such written statements to the attention of international human rights review organizations.

— Post by William E Ruhaak.

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Shirley Whiteside.

Back in December 2021, I wrote a letter to my 2 U.S. Senators—with no expectation—just a need to vent.  I had written to both about U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar and Sen. Rand Paul’s joint resolution that would have stopped the arms sale to Saudi Arabia for use in its war on Yemen. I never expect much but I thought this particular issue might have penetrating potential due to the objections by Democrats when President Trump brokered the deal. Of course, my senators both voted to carry on with the arms sale (now brokered by President Biden) and sent replies to me with no reference to the issue at all.

I know that in politics we don’t always get what we want. Politics is a dance of compromise and I’m a pretty good sport. But as I wrote to my not-forward-thinking Senators,

From my perspective those we have elected to Congress are owned by the military industrial complex.  Otherwise why would “we the people” continue to promote wars and genocide in nations all over the world? So Raytheon (et al) gets what it wants… But our climate, and the refugee crisis, and the human crisis at home continue to deteriorate due to massive funding of the military industrial complex. It’s sick and I’m sorry you, undoubtedly a good person, have bought into this elephant in the room crisis.

So what are we, ordinary peace-loving citizens of the Empire to do? We have to stop paying for it. In my formative years I was a non-filer for many years. Some of that time I earned money that was under the table. When I had jobs with W-4’s I claimed a lot of withholding allowances and continued not to file. I would religiously figure out what I “owed,” donate it to a few worthy causes, and send everyone I knew a letter explaining why I was doing this. At two work places I learned from former co-workers that the IRS had come to seize funds after I had already left those workplaces. I never wanted to fight with the IRS, I just didn’t want to pay for war.

But at some point my lifestyle was a little less “Catholic Worker” and a little more “middle class.” I married, we owned a home. I reconciled that I wasn’t a good enough person to be a full-resister. The Empire was giving me a lifestyle not afforded to anyone else in the world. My personal solution was to begin to file a joint return with my partner, do W-4 resistance so that less taxes were withheld from my paycheck, and “pay under protest” while withholding a “symbolic” amount. Withholding $100, for us, meant we were throwing a little gravel in the machine—maybe more than $100 was spent sending out the letters and collection processes to mean at least that much wasn’t going to fund war, until the money is seized from us. Eventually, the IRS got that money. Once they just took it out of the 2008 stimulus payment; once my partner began receiving Social Security they seized it from his payment, once they’d gone through the process of sending letters and liens and adding interest and penalties. On $100 that’s not a lot.

I have never wanted to spend energy fighting with the IRS. The energy I have is about the evil that I am complicit in when planes and bombs stamped “Made in the USA” fly over other lands. I remember a Catholic nun community that used to have a button that said “I have family in Iraq” during one of the wars waged on Iraq. I remember friends visiting in El Salvador during the “civil war” and witnessing pieces of exploded ordinance stamped “Made in USA.” U.S. made cluster bombs—banned by international convention—dropped on people in Yemen. Love letters from our country.

I’m grateful for the resistance of those who feel the only way to resist the war machine is to not pay. I feel very positive about the years I spent as a non-filer. I am inspired by war resisters in other countries who pay high penalties with their very lives. But I’m not sure the movement can afford the “all or nothing” approach to WTR. I always appreciated the “$10.40 resistance” idea that I don’t think ever took off, but if everyone who is against this mindless endless war philosophy held back $10.40 from their taxes owed couldn’t the ship slowly sink? It’s completely do-able, and empowering.

Does symbolic resistance matter? It does to me. When it’s time to send the tax day letter, just the act of saying we’re still here and we still believe there has to be a way to peace matters.

— Post by Shirley Whiteside. Shirley is also a committee member for the War Tax Resisters Penalty Fund, which offers to pay the interest and penalties of people who are collected on for war tax resistance. The fund does not pay the taxes, (the IRS just takes them) but it does provide for the interest and penalties seized from a war tax resister. A tax-filing citizen who’s able to ward off collection for more than 10 years has gotten what they want, they haven’t paid for war. A citizen who is collected on at least has this community of supporters to help make up the risk of their act of resistance. Together we are stronger. Go to nwtrcc.org/wtrpf/ for more information.

[Editor’s Note: NWTRCC has recently created a web resource on symbolic resistance as part of its Tax Season 2022 Refuse to Pay for War Campaign.]

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