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

The post War Tax Resistance Events: Tax Day, May Meeting, Social Media Workshop first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

The post War Tax Resistance Events: Tax Day, May Meeting, Social Media Workshop appeared first on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

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.

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

While borders may give an impression of collective agreements, conflicts illuminate the deep fissures that exist when arbitrary lines in the sand are drawn and nationalists tensions are manipulated.  While one could easily spend their days reading the most recent headlines and following stings of articles on the internet to have a better grasp of what is occurring and the histories that have led us here, there often seems to be a sense of disconnect or what some have identified as psychic numbing.

Photo by Ed Hedemann, 2017.

For the past year there has been a dark cloud of potential nuclear war hanging over the conflict.  Now with Russia suspending the New START Treaty and threatening the possibility of resuming nuclear testing. While both the US and Russia have been withdrawing from nuclear arms control agreements, in January 2021 the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons entered into force making nuclear weapons illegal under international law.

In The Madness of Nuclear Warfare is Alive and Well in America, the author quotes Dorothy Day “Our problems stem from our acceptance of this filthy, rotten system.” as a testimony of the power that we have as citizens that led Dorothy and many others to war tax refusal and other tactics that promote life and strive for peace and justice. 

London 2/15/03 photo by Paul Mattsson

Recently there were remembrances of the largest global anti-war day of protest to prevent the escalation of war in Iraq 20 years ago. It seems essential to take pause and mourn what was lost in not pursuing that path towards peace including 1.5 million lives lost and $21 trillion of taxpayer dollars stolen in the war on Terror according to CODEPINK and you can also read a blog post by Sam about the Iraq War Tribunal. It also seems vital to celebrate the communities that were created in coming together to dream another world into being and to broadcast those seeds throughout the lands. 

Dorothy Day also wrote about the need to take a break from the daily news and suggested immersing oneself in the arts. It seemed particularly important to see the issues of our day in a wider context and the universal themes of the human experience. She was particularly fond of Russian authors on war and peace. Any suggestions of favorites would be welcomed.  Poetry seems to be a great way to chase the headlines away.

From The Dragon Who Never Sleeps  By Robert Aitken

When nations take their revenge

I vow with all beings 

to suggest that revenge springs from anguish-

perhaps we created the pain.

Then the army holds a parade

I vow with all beings 

to sing pacifist songs with the children 

of Minsk, Tel Aviv, and Fort Bragg.

When federal taxes are due

I vow with all beings 

to refuse any role in the killing 

of Sesshu, Dostoevsky and Bach. 

Post by Chrissy Kirchhoefer

The post Beauty Will Save The World first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

The post Beauty Will Save The World appeared first on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

The front page article was about the confusion around various presentations of the military budget by peace groups and the proper terms to use to explain those percentages. The article sets out to explain the differences among “discretionary spending,” “mandatory spending,” “federal funds,” “trust funds,” and “Where Your Income Taxes Really Go.” The confusion is pretty much the same today, so if you need a refresher, that newsletter is still online at https://nwtrcc.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/mtap0213.pdf. Another good source is the National Priorities Project website, which includes a Federal Budget 101 section with explanations about the budget process and also a Glossary that includes the terms above.

Looking at that issue from Feb./March 2013 also reminded me that some may be wondering if War Resisters League is producing a new pie chart this year. The answer is yes. It looks like Biden is releasing the 2024 budget on March 9, so as soon as it’s online we’ll work as fast as we can on the analysis and get it printed and posted online. The timeline is a bit tight for tax day, but at least this year we will be able to work from current numbers. Last year Biden’s budget came out some time after tax day. Of course, how much any administration’s budget reflects reality is an open question. It will be interesting to see the accounting for all the money they have been shipping off periodically to keep the war in Ukraine going.

That newsletter also has a commentary by Gary Erb, who, among other things, takes issue with how the federal debt is presented on the pie chart. I am not sure we have ever satisfied his concerns, but we will make an effort this year to reconsider the percent of the debt that is war-related. This is a tough one to sort through. Historically war has been the major contributor to federal debt, but the previous president’s tax cuts, the pandemic and some of Biden’s programs have added significant amounts more recently. Whether we’ll stick with the 80% is an open question for now.

If budget talk makes you yawn, that newsletter has a  write-up of a member survey that might hold some insights for organizing today. And there’s a review of Peg Morton’s memoir, Feeling Light Within, I Walk: Tales, Adventures and Reflections of a Quaker Activist. She died in 2015, and her book is a good read about a life well lived.

— Post by Ruth Benn
Co-author of the WRL pie chart

The post Pie Chart Prognosis first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

The post Pie Chart Prognosis appeared first on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

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.

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

The post Online War Tax Resistance Workshops & May Meeting Location first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

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.

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.

There is an immediacy this year to call for cessation of the war ravaging Ukraine and Russia for the past 11 months. It draws the attention of those seeking light in these dark days for those of us advocating for peace. Advocacy for peace is not limited to religious preference. NWTRCC encourages atheists, agnostics, Buddhists, Hindus, Christians, Muslims, Jews (believers and non-believers) to consider backing this effort.

Image from 1914 Christmas Truce from Wikimedia Commons

At NWTRCC’s conference at the beginning of November, a group war tax resisters attending that conference decided to start meeting to discuss how we could address the war in Ukraine. This blog post is one way our group plans to address that war. Acknowledging that there is no good war, and no possibility of a lasting military solution in Ukraine, we urge everyone to press for an immediate truce—a ceasefire that is a precondition for peace talks to begin.

We support a proposed Christmas Truce based on the model of the Christmas truce held in the Belgian trenches of the German and Allied armies more than 100 years ago. Some 100,000 soldiers on both sides of that conflict laid down their arms and spontaneously suspended their warmaking.

Christmas Truce Statue from Wikimedia Common

They moved toward one another into the “no-mans-land” between them, and sang  “Silent Night” and other hymns together.  They shared food and they prayed.  They even shared a game of football (soccer) as well as drinks.  They engaged with each other as fellow humans with families and dreams of the future.

Today, the U.S. peace movement is responding to this call for a Christmas Truce, as spear-headed by Massachusetts Peace Action as part of large peace coalition at www.peaceinukraine.org. The call is also supported internationally by International Peace Bureau in Berlin (IPB).

Please contact one or both of these organizations to sign on to this action for peace. Or write your own legislators to call for a ceasefire from December 25th through January 7th. This is the first and vital step toward opening the way to negotiations and ending the carnage.

~Post by Cathy Deppe

The post Christmas Truce Redux first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

The post Christmas Truce Redux appeared first on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

— Post by Ruth Benn

The post Move the Money — Mine and the Pentagon’s first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

The post Move the Money — Mine and the Pentagon’s appeared first on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

As Global Network members of an international delegation to the Russian Federation in May 2019, Alex Walker and I visited Moscow, St. Petersburg, and three cities in Crimea. We came to learn, to listen, and to build a bridge of friendship through citizen diplomacy. We had daily meetings with Russian journalists, activists, academics, and ordinary citizens. We gained first-hand information and historical perspective. The Russian people met us with warmth, openness, and generosity.

We came because we are alarmed by the U.S. demonization of Russia and by the NATO provocations which have created a world of increasing military confrontation, with the U.S. even threatening the first-use of nuclear weapons. Since the collapse of the USSR in 1991, U.S./NATO has encircled Russia with bases, so-called “missile defense” systems, and escalated “war games” right on its borders.

Russia is a country of just 144 million people, with an average income of $400 a month, or $13 a day. Their annual military budget is $60 billion and decreasing. The U.S. military budget is $800 billion and increasing. The U.S. has more than 800 bases encircling the world.

Our message is a call to end the demonization of Russia, remove U.S./NATO warships from the Black Sea, end the escalating war maneuvers on Russia’s borders, and build bridges of diplomacy and friendship.

One highlight of the trip was to hear from Alexander Pasechnik, the Chair of Russia Veterans for Peace in Komi, Russia. Afterward, we witnessed the signing of a Statement of Solidarity between the Maine, USA VFP Chapter and the Komi, Russia VFP Chapter. Our “citizen diplomacy” efforts at peace building had begun. In his presentation, Pasechnik focused on the “No First Strike” policy as rejected by U.S. Congress but implemented by Russia, and agreed on between Russia and China for years. Russia requires three persons to agree to push the nuclear button, but only one person, the U.S. President, is needed in the USA.

He said the U.S. President just signed a U.S. military budget approaching one trillion dollars, while the Russian military budget is only 47 billion, and that Russia’s percent of the total global GNP is only 2%, with an economy still suffering from past wars, with pensions and wages very low. For example, a Russian doctor earns only between $574 and $771 per month. Given their history and the current provocations of NATO on their borders, it seems clear that Russia will not hesitate to respond with the nuclear option in defense of the Motherland. I now realize how, given its long traumatic history of suffering wars, invasions, and occupations, the Russian people have an unbroken fierce determination to defend their homeland to the last breath.

The preceding is an excerpt from my personal report. It is quite long for this newsletter; therefore please follow this link to see my full report (nwtrcc.org/PDFs/Russian_Study_Tour.pdf). Thank you!

Cathy Deppe is a member of the Southern California War Tax Resistance Alternative Fund & has served on NWTRCC’s Administrative Committee. She lives in Los Angeles.

The post 2019 Russian Study Tour with Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Arms in Space first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

The post 2019 Russian Study Tour with Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Arms in Space appeared first on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.