Social Media by Tracy Le Blanc at Pexels.

Social Media Workshop (Saturday March 18 at 2p Eastern / 11a Pacific)
This session will be an introduction to using social media as a resistance tool. Included on the agenda is using QR codes for Tax Day, using Twitter and hashtags, Instagram; reposting NWTRCC material online; creating social media accounts; utilizing Facebook Live or Instagram Live to report from a protest, and more. The session will be very hands-on. Register here.

Tax Day is Tuesday April 18, 2023
NWTRCC promotes tax day actions every year, collecting a list of actions around the US and sending out a press release widely in early April and posting reports on our website and on our Facebook page.

Would you like to do something different for Tax Day this year? We have a list of Action ideas on our website. We are asking folks to take a picture or video of themselves with their Tax Day signs and post these images on social media. When posting a picture or graphic, please let folks know they can find out more info about WTR at nwtrcc.org. Also, add “#WarTaxResistance or #NWTRCC” to your post. Writing these “hashtags” with your message will let that anyone can find your post on Facebook or Twitter by searching “#WarTaxResistance” or “#NWTRCC.”

Share your Tax Day plans here.

May Meeting will be In-Person (5-7 May 2023)
After three years of our twice yearly conferences being only on Zoom, NWTRCC will have an in-person conference the first weekend of May. As has been the case for years, there will be opportunities for people to participate in parts of the conference online.

The conference is being hosted by Joyfield Farm (4874 E 1400 N, North Manchester, Indiana 46962). Joyfield Farm is an organic farm in north-central Indiana, about an hour west of Fort Wayne. The farm has WiFi, which will allow certain sessions to be online, including our Sunday business meeting. The setting will be slightly more rustic than usual with amenities such as outhouses. There is plenty of camping space, including inside of a large barn. Some families in the area will also host folks and provide beds, but these will be limited.

The details for the sessions are still being worked out, but the Friday evening session will be hosted by the Peace Studies Institute at Manchester University, which offered the first undergraduate Peace Studies program in the world in 1948.

Whether you plan on attending the in person or on Zoom, register here.

~Post by Lincoln Rice

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St Valentine image from Wikimedia Commons

Robert Randall, a long time war tax resister (WTR) was remembered on Valentine’s Day by some of the communities that he was instrumental in being a part of in recent decades. The memorial was organized by members of the King’s Bay Plowshares action that took place near Robert’s home in Brunswick, Georgia. Robert rose to the occasion of supporting the nuclear disarmament action at the King’s Bay Naval Base near St. Marys, Georgia. For years, Robert had been a part of a community resisting the nuclear Trident submarines that were docked there.  

Anne Barron and Robert Randall November 2019 in Oregon. Photo by Chrissy Kirchhoefer

Ruth Benn shared from her reflection for NWTRCC,  Robert Randall Presente/ Always Present, in which she spoke of how Robert identified as a “war tax converter” in his words; how he was a Conscientious Objector at age 18, “thinking that at that age one should be thinking about going to war and also paying for war.” Ruth highlighted what many of us in the NWTRCC network experienced, Robert’s warm welcome to newcomers and old friends alike and awareness of what was happening locally; contagious energy to get involved. Ruth states “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.”

The memorial was on Valentine’s Day because it was Robert’s favorite holiday. (You can watch the memorial here.) While Robert must have enjoyed celebrating love on this day, I can’t believe that his devotion to this day was removed from the history of St. Valentine, being a Conscientious Objector to war as well. In an Empire far, far away, traditinoally St. Valentine resisted conscription to the Roman army by marrying men of military age. Robert was clear in his prinicples of not killing and not having others kill in his name. 

Golden Rule from Peace and Planet News

On Valentine’s Day, the Golden Rule was docked near Kings Bay during Robert’s memorial. In 1958, the Golden Rule attempted to sail to the Marshall Islands to interrupt the atomic testing on the Marshall Islands. Four Quakers were arrested for their attempts. Veteran for Peace has restored the boat as well as the mission for nuclear disarmament. In recent years the Golden Rule has been traveling throughout the U.S. spreading the message of nuclear disarmament as well as the history of those in the U.S. who have been resisting nuclear weapons since the dawn of the atomic era. Find out when the Golden Rule is coming to your community and check out the schedule of events and past stories here as well as a tribute to Robert’s commitment to nuclear disarmament with the Kings Bay Plowshares and the Golden Rule.

There was recent news about another pivotal actor in nuclear deescalation and antiwar activism. Daniel Ellsberg wrote a letter to friends and colleagues about his diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. In an eloquently written letter he states:

As I look back on the last sixty years of my life, I think there is no greater cause to which I could have dedicated my efforts. For the last forty years we have known that nuclear war between the U.S. and Russia would mean nuclear winter: more than a hundred million tons of smoke and soot from firestorms in cities set ablaze by either side, striking either first or second, would be lofted into the stratosphere where it would not rain out and would envelope the globe within days. That pall would block up to 70% of sunlight for years, destroying all harvests worldwide and causing death by starvation for most of the humans and other vertebrates on earth.

So far as I can find out, this scientific near-consensus has had virtually no effect on the Pentagon’s nuclear war plans or U.S./NATO (or Russian) nuclear threats. (In a like case of disastrous willful denial by many officials, corporations and other Americans, scientists have known for over three decades that the catastrophic climate change now underway–mainly but not only from burning fossil fuels–is fully comparable to U.S.-Russian nuclear war as another existential risk.) I’m happy to know that millions of people–including all those friends and comrades to whom I address this message!–have the wisdom, the dedication and the moral courage to carry on with these causes, and to work unceasingly for the survival of our planet and its creatures.

I’m enormously grateful to have had the privilege of knowing and working with such people, past and present. That’s among the most treasured aspects of my very privileged and very lucky life. I want to thank you all for the love and support you have given me in so many ways. Your dedication, courage, and determination to act have inspired and sustained my own efforts. My wish for you is that at the end of your days you will feel as much joy and gratitude as I do now.

I encourage you to read the full letter here. 

Also of note is that WTR Randy Kehler influenced Daniel Ellsberg‘s role in releasing the Pentagon Papers.

Post by Chrissy Kirchhoefer

The post Yes Love, No War first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

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We will offer a WTR 101 workshop on Saturday January 28, 2023 at noon Eastern/ 9a Pacific. Because of the packed schedule at our November meeting, we did not have a 101 session that weekend. A few of the attendees at that conference indicated that they would like to attend our next WTR 101 session, so we chose the date and time after reaching out to them. As always, the session is free and open to all. Please share this information with anyone you think may be interested. Register for the session here.

Each year, NWTRCC hosts a War Tax Resistance Counselors Training. Before COVID, these trainings normally occurred on Sunday afternoon after the November business meeting. Our session this year will be Saturday February 4 beginning at 11a Eastern/ 8a Pacific. This will be the fourth time that the session has been held online. If you are interested in becoming a counselor, taking a deeper dive into the war tax resistance, or you are a counselor who would like a refresher, contact the NWTRCC office.

Social Media Workshop

NWTRCC will host an online Social Media Workshop on Saturday March 18 at 2p Eastern/ 11a Pacific. This workshop will aid our group in utilizing Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social media platforms with an eye toward Tax Day. You did not need to be tech savvy to participate, you only have to be able to join us on Zoom. Registration information for the session will go out in early March by email and on our social media platforms. But if you want to make sure you do not miss that email, simply contact the NWTRCC office and let us know you want to join the session.

Mark Your Calendars! National NWTRCC Conference in Indiana: May 5 – 7, 2023

We will finally be meeting in person again for our May meeting. We are very thankful to Joyfield Farm in North Manchester, Indiana in extending us an invitation. Joyfield Farm is an organic farm in north-central Indiana, about an hour west of Fort Wayne. The farm has WiFi, so portions of the conference will also be online. The setting will be slightly more rustic than usual with amenities such as outhouses. There is plenty of camping space, including inside of a large barn. Some families in the area will also host folks and provide beds, but these will be limited.

In our pandemic world, this farm provides one of the safest environments for meeting and sleeping. Unfortunately, the farm is not near any airports, train terminals, or bus terminals. Therefore, we ask that anyone planning to attend who would need a ride from one of these locations to please contact the NWTRCC office to arrange a ride before purchasing a ticket. The farm’s address is 4874 E 1400 N, North Manchester, Indiana 46962. Registration will go up on the website in late-February. You can also call the office and register over the phone.

The NWTRCC business meeting is Sunday morning, May 7 (open to all). Note: Proposals for the May meeting must be submitted to the NWTRCC office by April 15, 2023.

We are looking forward to a busy Tax Season and the ability to finally meet in person again!

~Post by Lincoln Rice

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The post Online War Tax Resistance Workshops & May Meeting Location 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.

During NWTRCC’s 40th anniversary conference celebration in November, we had a session dedicated to team trivia using Zoom breakout rooms. If you were not able to join us, you can still test your NWTRCC knowledge. Here is the quiz that we offered. If you can answer 12 out of the 17 questions correctly, you are a NWTRCC expert!  (Answers to the quiz can be found below.)

1) What was the registration cost for attending the May 1985 NWTRCC meeting in Denver?

a. Free b. $10 c. $25   d. $50

2) NWTRCC’s newsletter is currently called “More Than a Paycheck.” What was its original title?

a. More Than a Paycheck b. Network News c. War Tax Resistance News.  d. Tax Rants

3) The Tax Day 1985 Press Release included how many Tax Day actions?

a. 25 b. 35 c. 75   d. 150

4) The September 1985 NWTRCC business meeting approved NWTRCC’s budget for 1986. How large was the budget?

a. $15,000 b. $26,000 c. $43,000   d. $99,000

5) How many local and national affiliates did NWTRCC have in November 1985?

a. 12   b. 25   c. 56   d. 80

6) Which of the following individuals did not represent NWTRCC in September 1986 
at the first international WTR conference in Tubingen, West Germany?

a. Vicki Metcalf   b. Joel Taunton   c. Hanno Klassen   d. Erica Leigh

7) The Peace Tax Fund bill was first introduced in 1972, what year did the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures hold its first ever hearing on the bill?

a. 1982   b. 1992   c. 2003   d. It’s never held a hearing on the bill.

8) When did Lakeside Press (owned by longtime WTR Jerry Chernow in Madison) begin printing NWTRCC’s newsletter?

a. 1982   b. 1984   c. 1993   d. 2003

9) When did NWTRCC get an 800 number?

a. 1983   b. 1993   c. 2010   d. It’s never had an 800 number.

10) December 1995 saw the NWTRCC newsletter take on the name “More than a Paycheck.” Other names were suggested and rejected. Which of the following was not rejected?

a. NWTRCC News   b. A Pax on Your Tax   c. New Trek: The Next Generation

11) NWTRCC entered the future by obtaining a website in 1996. What was NWTRCC’s original web address?

a. www.nwtrcc.org   b. www.wartaxresistance.org.   c. www.nwtrcc.com   d. www.nonviolence.org/~nvweb/wtr

12) When did the NWTRCC office get its first answering machine?

a. September 1982   b. April 1985   c. January 1989   d. May 2003

13) NWTRCC’s Administrative Committee is responsible for overseeing the functioning of NWTRCC in between Coordinating Committee (CC) meetings. When was the AdComm first established?

a. September 1982   b. December 1982   c. May 1986   d. May 2003

14) In April 2005, the NWTRCC newsletter provided a list of alternative funds. How many funds were on that list?

a. 2   b. 10   c. 21   d. 55

15) Which person on this list did not have an interview on the topic of war tax resistance in the NWTRCC newsletter in 2006?

a. Julia butterfly Hill   b. Jane Fonda   c. Howard Zinn

16) What year did NWTRCC join Facebook?

a. 1982   b. 2003   c. 2009   d. Facebook is evil. NWTRCC never goes on Facebook.

17) Which war tax resister was issued an apology from the IRS in 2011 for being threatened with a $5,000 frivolous fine in error?

a. Steve Leeds   b. Ruth Benn   c. Joffre Stewart   d. Jane Fonda

— Post by Lincoln Rice

Answers: 1-C; 2-B; 3-D; 4-C; 5-D; 6-D; 7-B; 8-C; 9-B; 10-A; 11-D; 12-B; 13-C; 14-C; 15-B; 16-C; 17-A

The post NWTRCC 40th Anniversary Quiz first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

The post NWTRCC 40th Anniversary Quiz appeared first on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

NWTRCC held its fortieth anniversary conference on Zoom the weekend of 4 – 6 November 2022. About 50 people attended some portion of the conference, which began the evening of Friday November 4 with a short concert with folk singer and political satirist Charlie King. He sang “More than Enough” by Robb Johnson, “Universal Soldier” by Buffy Saint Marie, and closed with a composition of his own, “Spoon of Sand.”

Evening with Previous Coordinators

Following the concert, NWTRCC’s previous coordinators shared some anecdotes from their time with NWTRCC. Kathy Vass, who was the coordinator from 1982 to 1987 shared about the beginnings of NWTRCC and the arduous task of spearheading the composition of a war tax resistance manual. Larry Bassett, who co-coordinated with Kathy from 1984 to 1986, spoke of the daily grind during this time and shared about the significant amount of time that he stood next to a printer making copies of the WTR manual.

Carolyn Stevens, coordinator from 1987 to 1991, spoke about creating and updating WTR literature as well  as the importance of fundraising. Unfortunately, Karen Marysdaughter, coordinator from 1991 to 1999, was not able to join us.

Mary Loehr, coordinator from 1999 to 2003, shared stories from NWTRCC gatherings and the fun that happened at those meetings. She also related that at an international meeting in Washington, DC, David Zarembka shared, “I have lost a house… to divorce.” Mary believed he shared this to indicate how precarious life is.

Lastly, Ruth Benn spoke, who was coordinator from 2003 to 2018. Ruth discussed the time she was asked to visit the IRS department that investigated tax protestor organizations. Right before Ruth was called in, the IRS had shut down one of the tax protestor websites. Thankfully, the IRS decided not to take any action against NWTRCC.

Panel on the Living History of NWTRCC

On Saturday morning, four panelists each provided a concise summary of one NWTRCC decade. Ed Hedemann, who was at the first NWTRCC meeting, presented on the 1980s. Robert Randall, whose local group sent a representative to the first meeting, presented on the 1990s. Sue Barnhart, who attended her first meeting in Portland, Oregon in 1993, presented on the 2000s. And Erica Leigh, who served for several years as NWTRCC’s social media consultant, presented on the 2010s.

Memorial Session

For our second Saturday session, we viewed a slide show to the music of Charlie King, in which fifty individuals who have passed away during the last forty years were remembered. After the eight-minute slide show, people shared stories about those in the slide show whom they knew and called forth of the names of those who were inadvertently left out of the slide show. After the additional names with photos are integrated into the slide show, it will be posted to NWTRCC’s YouTube channel.

NWTRCC Trivia

To allow for some fun small-group interaction, we dedicated an hour-long session for trivia. Attendees were placed in groups of five, given some time to chat and catch-up, and then fifteen minutes to work together on a quiz. Lastly, everyone was then brought back to the larger group to find out the correct answers. If you were not able to participate in that session, the multiple-choice quiz from the session can be found beginning on the back page of this periodical. (During the celebration of our 40th year, one of our blog posts will be this quiz.)

The Next 40 Years

Our marathon celebration concluded with breakout sessions in which small groups discussed possible directions for NWTRCC during the next one, five, or forty years. There were numerous calls for an official statement on the war in Ukraine, which came up again at the Sunday business meeting. (See the “NWTRCC News” section for more.) Felice and Jack Cohen-Joppa shared the success they have had with placing QR codes on protest signs on college campuses. NWTRCC will provide a way for Tax Day 2023 demonstrations to do this if they wish.

Nuclear Resister protest with the use of a QR code. Photo courtesy of the Nuclear Resister.

Recognizing the how white our group is, there were calls to continue connecting WTR with racism and earth work. Joshua shared his belief that there would be interest for war tax resistance among several independent media outlets. The NWTRCC office will look into this more during tax season. Other ideas were also offered, which will be brought to NWTRCC’s Outreach Committee for discussion.

Overall, it was a wonderful conference and we were very pleased to see so many people who played a role in NWTRCC’s history. It would be better meeting in person, but I am glad we were able to make the best of what technology has to offer.

Post by Lincoln Rice

The post NWTRCC’s 40th Anniversary Conference: A Joyous Celebration of Resistance first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

The post NWTRCC’s 40th Anniversary Conference: A Joyous Celebration of Resistance appeared first on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

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.

The post Early Memories of NWTRCC 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.

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.

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.

Fundraising Raffle

To make the May 2022 appeal a bit more fun and interesting, NWTRCC’s Fundraising Committee has organized a raffle. No donation is required to participate in the raffle, but we would appreciate your financial support. NWTRCC is only able to continue because of every donation it receives—both large and small.

To be entered in the raffle, simply fill out the raffle tickets and mail them back to NWTRCC… hopefully with a donation. If you normally donate online using PayPal or Resist, just email the office (at nwtrcc@nwtrcc.org) letting us know you would like to be entered into the auction, and we will fill out a sheet of tickets for you. A sheet of raffle tickets with a full list of prizes can be found at nwtrcc.org. Feel free to make copies of the tickets and hand them out to friends. Tickets need to be received by the time the drawing occurs on June 30.

Prizes include a 2-night stay in a cabin near the Nelson Homestead, a 2night stay at the Celo Inn in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, NWTRCC swag, one-on-one skill shares, an integrative body work session, and more. (The full list of prizes can be found on the back of the raffle tickets!)

Tax Day Reports

Tax Day March in Manhattan. Photo by Ed Hedemann.

Chrissy and I have finished collecting Tax Day reports from our network. The full report can be found here. We were happy to receive reports of Tax Day actions in 18 cities. After a drop in Tax Day actions since the beginning of the pandemic, this brings us more in line with pre-pandemic numbers.

So please check out the report and see what happened all over the U.S. around Tax Day. There was a wide variety of actions—including street theater, a bake sale, marches, and penny polls! (A copy of this report will also be included in the June-July newsletter, which will be going out next week.)

NWTRCC Conference Report – May 2022

NWTRCC held its fifth online conference April 29 to May 1, 2022. About 40 people attended the conference, which began on Friday evening with a social hour.

The panel on vibrant local WTR groups included Kathy Labriola of California (top left), H. A. Penner of Pennsylvania (top right), and Ginny Schneider of New Mexico (bottom left).

There were two panels on Saturday. The first was a “Panel on Vibrant Local WTR Groups,” featuring H. A. Penner of 1040 for Peace in Pennsylvania, Ginny Schneider who has been an active WTR organizer in Maine and New Mexico, and Kathy Labriola of Northern California War Tax Resistance / People’s Life Fund. A recording of this panel can be found here.

The second was a “Panel on WTR Outreach with Younger Activists,” which is featured in the next section. Saturday concluded with concurrent WTR 101 & 201 sessions.

The Sunday business meeting began with reports from both NWTRCC consultants (Coordinator & Outreach consultant) and a financial update (which included news about NWTRCC’s first fundraising raffle.

Next, we unanimously approved the nominations of Shirley Whiteside (Colorado) and Travis Christian (Oregon) to begin serving three-year terms on NWTRCC’s Administrative Committee. (A huge thank you to both Sue Barnhart and Jerry Maynard, who finished their three-year terms!)

The conference included attendees from Vancouver BC Canada and Geneva as well as folks from all over the United States. It was great to host such great panels with panelists from all over the country. It would be better meeting in person, but I am glad we were able to make the best of what technology has to offer.

Young Activists Impress at NWTRCC’s May Conference

One of the panels at our May conference featured two young activists who had participated in NWTRCC’s focus groups sessions a couple years ago. Their presentations sparked a lot of conversation. Here is some of the feedback the panelists provided about how NWTRCC currently performs outreach and areas for growth.

One theme that came forward was that war tax resistance should be promoted as a tactic rather than as an ethical or moral responsibility. The former can empower while the latter can bring shame. They also emphasized the importance of social media, especially Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok. NWTRCC uses Twitter and Instagram, but not TikTok, which they promoted as an avenue to reach younger activists by sharing short stories to allay fears and inspire resistance.

Lastly, they stressed the importance of anti-racism training for our network. They noted that these trainings provide a language that is used by younger activists. Even if one does not agree with all the concepts and ideas taught at a training, it is important to know the language used by younger activists today.

— Posted by Lincoln Rice

The post NWTRCC News: Raffle, Tax Day Reports, Conference Report first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

The post NWTRCC News: Raffle, Tax Day Reports, Conference Report appeared first on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.