Last week NWTRCC hosted a War Tax Resistance/Refusal/Redirection (WTR) 101 online. It was an interactive, engaging conversation. We have been hearing from practitioners of WTR who have been living under the taxable income who anticipate that changing or do not see that path as sustainable. It is encouraging to be engaged with people who are making intentional decisions about how our collective resources are being used. 

NWTRCC  will be hosting a WTR 101 on Facebook Live this coming Thurday Feburary 2 (2pm eastern/ 1pm central/ 11am pacific). Coordinator Lincoln Rice will be sharing an overview of WTR including history, motivations, practical concerns such as to file or not to file, W-4 forms, self employment and so much more. Join us and share with your networks, those who may be interested. You can also find a  recording of the WTR 101 later on our YouTube Channel.

Also there will be a  Counselor’s Training this coming Saturday Feburary 4 that you can register for here as well as  information about our upcoming NWTRCC National gathering in May in North Manchester, Indiana May 5-7. 

Motivations of WTR in the Modern Era M.E./ Atomic Age

Image of Wei Wei exhibit featuring bombs “Little Boy,” “Fat Man” and B83 the largest nuclear bomb in the US arsenal. Photo by Chrissy Kirchhoefer

At the start of each year, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists issues their assessment about the risks to life on Earth through human actions and inactions. After the nuclear bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagaski, the international group was formed and began issuing it’s annual state of the world in the form of the Doomsday Clock. The extinction of humanity is represented as midnight on the clock and how close we are to that has been measured by minutes to midnight. The clock was first set at 7 minutes to midnight in 1947; has moved backwards 8 times and forward 17 times. 

In 2020 the clock moved to a mere 100 seconds to midnight with the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists citing the threats of nuclear war and climate chaos had a multipying effect when incorporating cyber enabled info warfare. After 3 years at a standstill, the Doomsday Clock was moved forward last week by the Bullitin of Atomic Scientists’ Science and Security Board to a mere 90 seconds till midnight, closer to anytime during the Cold War when a nuclear winter loomed on the horizon. 

During the reveal of the Doomsday Clock status last week there were many international voices and members of the Elders Council who were encouraging world-wide action to prevent a collective human annilihation which can be accessed here.The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (I-CAN)  issued a statement in response to the Doomsday Clock stating “So this year’s Clock announcement must not be followed by the usual hand wringing, resignation and excuses, but urgent action to avoid nuclear war.”  I-CAN lays out some plans to follow up on the Doomsday Clock dislosure just 2 years and 2 days after the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons entered into legal force. 

At the online WTR 101 session, it was framed that the  most recent era of WTR reached back to the resisters of WWII who emerged from that war deeply opposed to nuclear weapons. It seems like such an obvious lineage but one would hope as I am certain that they must have imagined that we would not still be engaged in a game of roulette with all of humanity all these years later. Upon reflecting upon Nuclear Winter, all those who have been resisting it and thinking about the Doomsday Clock moving up 10 seconds closer, the words of Mary Oliver’s poem The Summer Day came to mind:

“Tell me what else should I have done?

Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?

Tell me what it is you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

Post by Chrissy Kirchhofer

The post Take Action Before the Clock Stikes Midnight first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

The post Take Action Before the Clock Stikes Midnight appeared first on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

Photo by Ed Hedemann, DC 2005.

Reading my way through the New York Times one morning in May 2020, a photo caught my eye. It was a shot of a crowd from behind, but the one visible sign read “It Is NOT ok to Kill People.” The accompanying article was about the killing of Ahmaud Arbery in Brunswick, Georgia, and it immediately came to mind: who else would be holding that sign but Robert Randall? (He  chastised me in an email with, “I hope there are lots of people who would carry that sign!”)

Robert died on December 15, 2022, from pancreatic cancer, and his loss is a huge one for the war tax resistance network and for the ongoing struggle for peace and justice everywhere. Arbery was killed not far from Robert’s home, which brought that case of gun violence and racism right to his doorstep, but he was already active on many issues locally. As a friend Sandra Vaughn said in an online comment, “If he saw an injustice he fought with all he had to make it right.”

Robert was special to NWTRCC, and we hold him close to our hearts and send our love and thoughts to his wife of 46 years Linda Randall, who stood with him — at that Arbery protest, when their house was seized for nonpayment of taxes in 1984, through times when he lost jobs because of his resistance — through decades of life’s ups and downs.

Robert may have recruited the most WTRs with his annual tabling at School of the Americas protests, Ft. Benning, Georgia. Peg Morton from Eugene, OR, joined him in 2004.

Robert became a Christian pacifist in the late 1960s while still in high school and in the face of the Vietnam War. “In those days a young person approaching the age of 18 simply had to think about whether or not to kill,” he said. It seems there was no question in his mind that paying for war was as impossible for him as being a soldier. He was a “war tax converter” all his adult life and got active with the Atlanta Tax Conversion Fund for Peace and Human Needs. They hosted a NWTRCC meeting in December 1983 that began his long association with the organization.

The December 10, 1984, Network News reported: “The IRS auctioned the house of Robert and Linda Randall on November 16 to recover Robert’s unpaid war taxes. The event received extensive and sympathetic newspaper and TV coverage in the Atlanta area. 20-25 supporters submitted protest bids and attended the sealed bid auction. …Robert felt very enthusiastic about the support he received throughout the experience.”

Being supported and being supportive was what drew Robert to NWTRCC, which is why we honored him at that 30^th anniversary conference in 2013. Robert held the record for attendance at the network’s meetings and gatherings around the country. Sometimes he was on a committee and had his travel paid, but mostly he used his own resources because he appreciated being in a group where “everyone has shown what it means to live according to your conscience,” as he said in response to the award. Robert came to see friends, but was also the one most welcoming to all newcomers, as evidenced by comments on the war tax resistance listserve at news of his death. (As a matter of fact, one of Robert’s key contributions was starting and hosting that listserve, which has been valuable for conversation and support among resisters, refusers and converters since 1999.)

NWTRCC group outside Kings Bay naval base. (l to r) Ruth Benn, PA Trisha, Carolyn Stevens, Nichoe Lichen, Vicki Metcalf, Robert Randall, Ken Miller, Joel Taunton. Photo by Ed Hedemann, 1988.

Most recently many peace activists met Robert through support for the Kings Bay Plowshares, who entered the Georgia naval base on April 4, 2018, and “beat swords into plowshares” at the Trident submarine base until arrested. Their trials, sentencing dates, and incarcerations in Robert’s hometown, Brunswick, involved more than four years of support actions and events with which Robert was fully engaged. But he had long been active around the Kings Bay naval base. In 1988 he helped host a NWTRCC meeting with John X and Martina Linnehan at their Metanoia House in St. Mary’s, Georgia, and took us to the gates of King’s Bay, a focus of their antinuclear protests. (He was so pleased to see John and Martina again in 2016 when they were living on land at the Sustainable Living Center of North Florida, which hosted a NWTRCC gathering.)

In May 1989 Robert helped host again at the Marywood Conference Center outside of Jacksonville. That gathering lasted nearly a week and included WTR events in Jacksonville, St. Marys, and Brunswick. Chrissy’s blog post from 2019 is another tale of Robert’s hospitality, but most of us who have attended NWTRCC meetings probably think of him as something of a host for every meeting no matter where it was. He was always the best prepared for the business meeting, he carried decades of institutional memory, and was fun to be around. His enthusiasm for post meeting outings, protests, or local tours was contagious. More than anything Robert knew that the primary reason people come together is to share stories and fears and ideas to sustain our resistance and survive the economic challenges.

There is so much more to say about Robert, and this blog page allows readers to add their own stories and comments. But it would be unfair to conclude without emphasizing Robert’s deep religious faith, even though it was possible to spend a good deal of time with him and not realize how central it was to his life choices. This is exemplified in his 2006 tax day letter to the IRS:

School of the Americas protest, Ft. Benning, Georgia. For more photos, click here.

Once again this year I am unable to pay any federal income tax which you might deem “due” from me. As I have stated to you in years past, I am a Christian. …The Holy Spirit will not let me sin in this way. I am completely and utterly constrained by God from voluntarily paying for war. (Read the full letter.)

Robert was not a proselytizer. He was more concerned that we act on conscience than join a religion. He did, however, mean it when he wrote at the beginning of his “An Ethic for the 21st Century”:

Let us all agree on this one simple thing:
It is not OK to kill people.

— By Ruth Benn

P.S. We have so many photos of Robert at meetings, gatherings, serious vigils and serious fun from coast-to-coast and with many of you. If you want to see more, click here!

The post Robert Randall: Presente / Always Present first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

The post Robert Randall: Presente / Always Present appeared first on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

Sharing resources within the community made it possible for me invest time in energy into projects that provided for people’s basic needs and resisting militarism opposed to earning a large income. It was living and sharing lives with men who had been maimed by war that solidfied the decision to not pay for war. Those early experiences in community helped form my conscience in regards to taxes. It was many years into WTR before hearing people (mostly in NWTRCC) bring up local and state taxes and concerns of the policies that they fund.  

I found myself at city hall once again during the last week of the year to pay my personal property taxes. In the state of Missouri, property taxes are due by the end of the year and so many wait till that last minute to get their taxes in (sound familiar?) In recent years I have committed to avoiding the headache of fighting the lines at city hall and have been mailing them in early. 

Meme from Instagram portraying the author helping occupy St Louis City Hall

While I don’t necessarily believe the statement ‘you can’t fight city hall;’ it is not normally where I go to battle there seem to be at least annual protests there calling for change. A few years ago I shared a blog about a protest a few winters ago when the polar vortex was coming and the lack of resources was threatening people’s lives. Some time later there was a prolonged occupation of city hall to get the mayor to resign primarily because of her treatment of the unhoused population in St. Louis. Unfortunately with the new mayor there has been increasing needs for housing, less services available despite increased resources with the pandemic relief money.

In the days before the tax deadline, I realized I had not received my personal property tax bill. I was hoping against hope that I would not have to go in person but when I called city hall and heard the recording “Due to the current  pandemic our operations have been affected and we are doing everything we can to assist you and appreciate your patience” I knew there were be no answers in the bureaucratic black hole of the phone maze; when I searched online it said that my account was closed.

So off I was to city hall on the penultimate day to pay my taxes. The line seemed short until we rounded a corner to a strange game of musical chairs that eventually ended at office cubicles that resulted in a tax bill only to go to two other lines before paying the bill. I kept thinking of one of my favorite lines from the film, Harold and Maude, “It’s the curse of a government job.’ 

Image from Shutterstock

Fortunately I was surrounded by good company and we were laughing  making light and parting with well wishes, On my way out I asked a worker what had happened; it seems like city hall failed to send out the property bill and closed the accounts of many residents. Again I was thinking about all the misallocation of our collective resources and the need for transparency in how our taxes are being spent. (I found one or two sources of how my local taxes are being spent a little upsetting.)

I was thinking a lot about Ruth Benn writing about her many encounters in recent times with the IRS especially in Problems Were Encountered. I imagine there will continue to tensions with the tax collectors as they try to demand payment and we demand accountability for how are collective resources are spent.

As 2022 has come to a close I am thinking about people who have passed this past year who influenced my war tax refusal and pacifism including Robert Randall, Carl Kabat and Lana Jacobs. As we enter into 2023, I am thinking about how to build community and facilitate discussion around these issues. I am wondering your thoughts on the matter.

Post by Chrissy Kirchhoefer

Update: The last blog post was calling for a Christmas truce for the war with Ukraine and Russia.  Russia  announced a 36 hour truce over the Orthodox Christmas Holiday.

The post Paying Dues first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

The post Paying Dues appeared first on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

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.

Kathy Boyland and Chrissy Kirchhoefer at SOA protest Nov 2019

I met Utah Phillips at the School of the Americas (SOA) protests at Fort Benning, Georgia. It was there that I was also first introduced to war tax resistance (WTR). For many of us, the actions at SOA were our introductions to the global reach of what Eisenhower warned about the “military industrial complex.” The SOA trains soldiers from Latin America in using terror tactics against the struggle of ordinary people resisting oppression. At the time, I was awestruck by these members of Veterans for Peace, Raging Grannies, and others. We shared our stories, our literature, and inspiration for future actions. 

It’s interesting to think of what seeds were planted from our sharing. It was after my first gathering at the SOA that I learned about the NWTRCC network and the power of nonviolent civil disobedience. We come at this work from different places, but sharing and learning from one another is what our movement is all about. It can revitalize, rejuvenate, inspire, and conspire us towards a new paradigm.

War tax resisters at No to NATO march. Chicago, May 2012. Photo by Ruth Benn

At the heart of this work has always been relationships with each other and ourselves, as we relate to and create the world in which we want to live.  It has been in knowing others’ stories and where they draw their passion that builds common ground and relationships.

In meeting Utah Phillips I had a chance to embarrass myself by gushing at him. He said, “Don’t do that to yourself.” It reminds me of a part of a poem that says, “Putting people on pedestals is a way of keeping them at a distance.” We are lucky to be among ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Recognizing each of us has talents, skills, and blessings to bring to our collective table.

In anticipation of celebrating NWTRCC’s 40th anniversary at our November conference, we are gathering stories from those in the network! There are prompting questions, but feel free to share your stories as you feel moved—WE WANT TO GATHER YOUR STORIES. One of the prompts asks you to share a memory from previous conferences. (You can find a list of meeting locations at the back of our handbook). We will share the stories that we collect in a special 40th anniversary edition of the October newsletter.

I am really excited about the November NWTRCC gathering and the program that has come into place with the help of the Ad Hoc 40th planning committee. You can check out the full schedule of events here. Singer/songwriter Charlie King will kick off our conference Friday evening! A request has been submitted for him to play this song—dedicated to you!

Post by Chrissy Kirchhoefer

The post People Like You first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

The post People Like You appeared first on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

Photos by Sue Barnhart

We drove our Prius from Eugene, Oregon to these outstanding national treasures. We passed through some unbelievably scenic countryside and I often thought about how many more of the wonders of our country could be protected and restored if we weren’t supporting wars.

As most of you know, our country spends more on war than any other country in the world. In fact, our military budget is larger than the combination of the next seven largest military budgets! I began resisting paying taxes back in the 70’s when I learned it was possible to do, because I was against killing people. I’m still resisting for that reason, and also because I want my tax dollars to go to life affirming projects, not to war.

Climate and the U.S. Military

Everyday we hiked lovely trails, and often saw wildlife and plants that are threatened with extinction. In fact, we are all threatened with extinction and the U.S. military is the biggest carbon emitter in the world. So in my mind, they one of the biggest contributors to our extinction in two ways: (1) by always being involved in wars which threaten our extinction by nuclear bombs and (2) being the biggest contributor to the climate catastrophe.

Lowering the U.S. military budget would go a long way in lowering carbon emissions from our country. Giving more money to our national parks, reserves, and monuments and less to the military could be used to protect more trees and plants. And that in turn would help to lower the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and slow the effects of global warming.

The Army & Yellowstone

We learned while we were at Yellowstone that the park was established in 1872. In its early years the 2.2 million acres of park was managed by just a handful of people. The government allocated very little resources to protect the park and it was hard to stop the defacing of the geysers, the chopping down of trees, and the poaching of the animals. Many acres were destroyed by fires intentionally set by settlers annoyed that the park was established.

In 1886, the U.S. Army was tasked with managing Yellowstone National Park until 1916 when the National Park Service was established. The troops withdrew from the park by 1918. The military administration of Yellowstone was a model for the management of Yosemite, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon National Parks. If you look at  the park rangers uniforms today, they are similar to the uniforms the Army wore at that time.

Eventually hundreds of officers and enlisted men were stationed at Yellowstone. After a first winter in tents, the Army built some beautiful buildings still used today including a post office, a courthouse, some houses, barracks used for more housing, a museum, and administrative buildings. The Army Corps of Engineers built many of the roads and bridges that were still in use until they were flooded and destroyed a few weeks after we left the park.

We were able to drive on all those bridges and roads, enjoying the beautiful nature of the park, and they will take years to replace. The flooding was another example of our climate catastrophe–lots of snow extremely late in the season that melted during unusually high amounts of rain.

Photos by Sue Barnhart who stated “We saw many animals- baby bison and bears, coyote, wolf and fox cubs”

Let’s Preserve Life

If only the funds and personnel in the Defense Department could be transferred to preserving life instead of destroying life. Funds could be used to maintain trails and build more trails. Many of the trails we were on needed maintenance. Money could be put towards building an outhouse in front of each trailhead. It could be used to restore buildings that were built by people out of work during the Great Depression who found work in the Civil Conservation Corps. 

Money could also be used to hire more rangers and biologists to study climate change and the threatened extinction of so many animals and plants and to work toward preserving them. It could be used to purchase electric buses to transport tourists so that there would be less cars on the park road and less congestion. More informational displays could be built. More National Parks could be created. The National Parks budget gets cut every year, while the military’s budget  gets more funds than it asks for.

I’ll keep resisting taxes for war until none of our tax dollars go towards war. And I’ll keep dreaming of what those tax dollars could be going towards if they were not paying for war.

Post by Sue Barnhart

The post Let Us Imagine Investing in Preserving Our Natural Wonders first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

The post Let Us Imagine Investing in Preserving Our Natural Wonders appeared first on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

Many of the speakers  on the webinar reflected on the pressing issues of the day and the context in which the June 12, 1982 events occurred. The four main issues that galvanized people to attend were the elimination of nuclear weapons and nuclear power, honoring Native American Treaties and full employment for all. You can watch one of the webinars, Defuse Nuclear War, commemorating the event here.  

The issues seem prescient and many were issues that were brought up later in the week at the Poor People’s Campaign on June 18th in Washington D.C. which you can watch here. The Campaign has centered what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called the triplets of evil—racism, militarism, excessive consumerism—and then added the climate crisis that we find interwoven in all of these issues. Rev. Barber, one of the organizers, brought up one of the key components of the original Poor People’s Campaign, utilizing nonviolent direct action to put pressure on decision makers when he declared “If we need to engage in nonviolent civil disobedience—then we will engage!”

There was some mentions at the June 12 Legacy webinar of the mass civil disobedience campaign that was organized by War Resisters League among other organizations. The words toward the end of the webinar were quite striking, “If we don’t risk doing what seems impossible then we face an unthinkable future,” It was that spirit of risk taking that inspired over 3,500 people to  shut down the United Nations missions of the 7 major known nuclear armed countries on June 14. There were over 1,700 arrests with some folks having multiple arrests on that day.  

There will be a webinar Saying No to Nuclear War through Nonviolent Direct Action Wednesday June 22nd at 7pm Eastern (4p Pacific) to share about the Blockade the Bombmakers campaign of that day and discuss upcoming events around nuclear disarmament at the UN in August. You can find out more information and register here.

I look forward to joining the webinar to learn more about that time. The role of civil disobedience in pushing for “freezing” the use of nuclear weapons likely played a part in not having escalated wars to a nuclear confrontation. I am particularly curious to learn from those who embraced war tax resistance in their attempt to prevent nuclear war worldwide. One of the organizers of the upcoming webinar, Ruth Benn, wrote, “A Good Reason to Refuse to Pay War Taxes” about how the issue of nuclear weapons motivated her war tax resistance. 

While looking through NWTRCC’s archive on nuclear issues (that you can access here) I discovered the answer to a question of how long have war tax resisters been opposing nuclear weapons. Some months after the U.S. dropped nuclear bombs on Hiroshima, Ammon Hennacy and other war tax resisters held public actions on Tax Day, March 15, 1946 and cited nuclear weapons as a good reason to refuse to pay war. I imagine their witness encouraged a new generation of war tax resisters. 

And for some  big news: NWTRCC is turning 40 this year! We will be celebrating this milestone with a weekend of events at our conference November 4-6, 2022.  Save the date and stay tuned for more details! We will be reaching out in months leading up to learn more of your journey with war tax resistance. 

Post by Chrissy Kirchhoefer

The post Reflecting on the Last 40 Years first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

The post Reflecting on the Last 40 Years appeared first on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

Below is the statement from the group in Russia. The Ukrainian Pacifist Movement’s statement is here, which is followed by an interesting interview  with Yurii Sheliazhenko, Executive Secretary of the Ukrainian Pacifist Movement.

Get Out! campaign logo

WRI also shared links to a new campaign, Get Out!, launched by a coalition of groups and organizations internationally to support those in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine who oppose, desert or refuse to go to war. At a time when it’s hard for nonviolent activists to know what to do in response to Russia’s war, it’s great to hear about a campaign we can support.

Lest I not mention taxes, the NY Times had an article about Russian rappers who left their home country and are speaking out against the war.  On Instagram the rapper Face posted, “I don’t plan to return to Russia, to pay taxes there.”

Statement of the Movement of Conscientious Objectors (Russia) for the International Conscientious Objection Day

Dear conscientious objectors to military service, today we mark our CO day while war is being waged.

https://wri-irg.org/en

As the war with Ukraine began, the notion of refusing military service in Russia has become especially topical. Before the war, most conscripts and their relatives did not associate military service as conscripts with actual warfare. Conscription appeared to be something akin to a sports camp with elements of military training.

Regardless of their political views, the healthy feeling of fear of participating in warfare in the territory of a foreign country forces people to file appeals for alternative civilian service and to protect their right not to serve in the army by other means.

For some of the objectors to military service, the chance to specify in their application that they object to Russia’s war in Ukraine is important. This is a legal form of expressing one’s disagreement directly to the representatives of state authorities—a matter of moral significance.

In the course of the months of warfare, we have witnessed a totally new phenomenon: cases in which professional soldiers refuse to participate in the special operation[*] and demand to terminate their contracts. We wish to express our special gratitude to those soldiers and police officers who had the courage to refuse to kill and die in a foreign land, who refused to participate in the special operation.

Today, when many people apprehend the introduction of partial of full [military] mobilisation in Russia, it is precisely the right to conscientious objection to military service that offers them support.

The Movement of Conscientious Objectors in Russia expresses its solidarity with all those who oppose war, with everyone who stands against the act of aggression. We wish and pray, with all our might, for Ukraine to survive the assault and retain its independence.

[* WRI note: “The special operation” is Russia’s ongoing attack on Ukraine; formally, it is not a war, but a “special operation”, and is being referred to as such in official contexts in Russia]

— Posted by Ruth Benn, who could not seem to get her monthly blog written
last week but eventually realized the statement above might be more worthy.

The post Support War Resisters first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

The post Support War Resisters 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.

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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.]

The post I am a “Symbolic Resister” first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

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Rick & Carolyn Yoder have been resisting a symbolic amount (about $200) each since they married in 1975.

Carolyn and I have been war tax resisters since we were married in 1975. Although we were both raised as Mennonites and continue to be members of the Mennonite Church, one of the three historic peace churches in the U.S., we both had experiences after college while doing volunteer work overseas (before getting married) that generated some ethical dilemmas that led us to the decision to be war tax resisters.

Some war tax resisters choose to claim high deductions, not file tax returns, live under the poverty level, or a variety of other options as a way of resisting. We both have regular jobs that generated enough income (Carolyn is a psychosocial trauma therapist and I am a retired economics professor and international health reform consultant) that we had taxes due each year and thus submitted tax returns each year. We claim enough deductions [on our W-4 forms] or withhold enough of our self-employment tax so that we have a balance due the IRS each year. With those returns we typically withhold around $200 rather than 48 percent of our taxes due — the estimated percentage of the Federal Budget going to military spending. Withholding the full 48 percent would certainly have more integrity, but for a variety of reasons — or maybe “excuses” would be a better word — we have not done that.

Russian Tank Graveyard – Picture from Rick’s 2002 Afghanistan Trip to do Health Systems Work.

We send a letter to the IRS with our tax returns explaining what we are doing and why, with copies to the White House, our Congresspeople, Senators, and others. We send the $200 (or whatever the amount withheld) to organizations doing peacebuilding work, that is, we are redirecting our war taxes to non-violent life giving causes.

We’ve been fortunate in having a faith community that supports these symbolic acts of resistance. In 1988, Community Mennonite Church, where we are members, took an official action to support — morally, financially, and otherwise — its members who as an act of faith and conscience, choose to withhold all or some of their military taxes. We include with our tax returns our church’s letter of support for these actions. There are about 8 or 10 households at Community Mennonite who do this — as well as a number of other households in the Harrisonburg, Virginia area where we live. We are grateful for that.

What’s been the response of the IRS? Each quarter we get a computer-generated letter from them telling us of overdue and unpaid taxes along with penalties, interest, and warnings. Each letter expresses increasing levels of threat. I respond to each one enclosing our original letter to the IRS along with Community Mennonite Church’s letter of support.

Rick & Carolyn Yoder.

The IRS usually finds ways to get their money eventually — typically, by putting a levy on our bank account, taking it from my Social Security, or from Virginia state taxes due us.
Does it take a lot of time? It’s a hassle — perhaps an hour each quarter — but not that big a one. We’ve never been audited, so if we were, then it would take a lot more time. But we do keep records of everything just in case we are audited at some point. Is our church’s letter of support a deterrent to being audited? We don’t know but at least it sends a signal that this act of resistance is from more than a lone individual.

We know our actions have no effect on reducing military spending, but it does change us and perhaps, as John Lewis said, “it makes good trouble.” It’s a small way of going beyond talk to action and aligning our lives a little more with our deepest values. It’s also an act of saying “there’s a better way”; a small statement of our witness for peace.

— Post by Rick & Carolyn Yoder

[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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