I Won’t Pay My Taxes If You Won’t Pay Yours
War tax resistance is far from a new idea. But there is a bold initiative brewing that has an elegantly simple new angle: There is safety in numbers. The idea is to get people to sign a pledge that they will engage in civil disobedience by withholding a percentage of their taxes, but only if a critical mass of 100,000 signers is reached by April 15, 2008.
Activists have spent long hours pushing for election reform, marching in the streets, and engaging in other forms of civil disobedience against the Iraq war with seemingly no effect, so clearly a different tack is needed. The “I’ll jump if you will” approach to war tax resistance just might work.
My friend Jodie Evans, cofounder of Code Pink, is one of those people who live on the barricades, sleep little, and dedicate most every waking moment to social change. Her material desires take a backseat to her convictions, and the ragged pink mules she has worn for years as part of her Code Pink identity are the laughingstock of her friends. She has been arrested more times than she can count and has been at the epicenter of many of the most effective and mediagenic progressive campaigns of the past several decades.
But Jodie is also at home in the most rarefied strata of power. Thanks in no small part to her, the pledge list will be seeded with participants from business, Hollywood, and other influential enclaves, and the initiative will be backed by a strong communications strategy.
War tax resistance dates back to the early 13th century, when King John of England raised taxes to pay for a war against France and offended many barons who objected to the war. Their fury led to the birth, in 1215, of the Magna Carta, which underpins U.S. constitutional law. Henry David Thoreau was the most famous U.S. war tax resister, and his essay “On the Duty of Civil Disobedience” influenced Mahatma Gandhi, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and many others. During the Vietnam War, tens of thousands of citizens withheld payment of the 10 percent phone service excise tax that was instituted to pay for that war. Organizations like the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee have ongoing campaigns and considerable expertise in the how-tos of withholding taxes.
I know a man who has a passion for slashing taxes but a political agenda very different from mine, and I wanted to know what he thought of withholding income tax as an act of civil disobedience. He initially said that he was opposed to breaking even unjust laws and that his approach is to work the system. In his view, the income tax is unconstitutional and therefore an unjust law because it should have been ratified state by state, rather than introduced as the 16th Amendment to the Constitution. When I explained the critical mass approach to tax withholding, he cautioned me to beware of the law of unintended consequences. If this war tax resistance initiative is successful, he said, people like him could take the same approach to withholding taxes for social spending. I told him that it seems to me that spending on human needs and environmental protection is already eviscerated. “Well, then you have nothing to be afraid of,” he said.
Salt Lake City mayor Ross “Rocky” Anderson recently made an impassioned speech in which he said, “I implore you: Draw a line. Figure out exactly where your own moral breaking point is. How much will you put up with before you say ‘No more’ and mean it?”
What do you say, Rocky? I’ll sign on if you will.
Meanwhile, tonight Jodie Evans has, Cinderella-like, put on a gown and jewels for a gala gathering of high-tech titans. I have no doubt that when her glass slippers revert to pink mules, she will be clutching some high-octane names for the war tax resisters pledge list.
Stay tuned and sign on at www.dontbuybushswar.org.
Nina Rothschild Utne is editor at large of the Utne Reader.
Copyright 2007 Utne Reader
I haven’t paid taxes since 1978 and I’m still walking around free. I’ll go with a higher profile when tax debtors prison for the peons isn’t part of the deal.
My church, the Unitarian Universalist Church of Kent, OH, at one point refused to pay its phone tax as a war resistance measure during the VietNam War. Its minister at the time was none other than Rev. William F. Schulz, recently retired president of Amnesty International USA.
While it was a controversial measure at the time and deeply divided the church, still, the fact that there were those brave enough to take such a stand is admirable. Tax resistance is one thing that can send a powerful message to those in power that the people have had enough and are fed up enough to withhold their taxes to continue paying for a war to which they object.
As has been pointed out, this strategy is as old as time itself and gave birth to the Magna Carta that has been the underpinning of English and American law. May people find the courage to once again send a powerful message of resistance by refusing to pay their taxes that send our brave men and women to their deaths in an illegal war that should never have been waged in the first place.
How would a person go about stopping payment of FICA, since it is withdrawn before a person ever sees the paycheck?
UH, There is NO LAW that says we have to pay a FEDERAL INCOME TAX PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!! WAKE UP!
www.freedomtofacism.com
I watched this. MYSELF and everyone in the room was in tears by the end of it. why? Because it really sucks to KNOW you have been LIED TO BY OUR GOVERNMENT SINCE THE DAY WE WERE BORN!
WAKE UP!
I don’t pretend to be a lawyer, but isn’t this the law the freedomtofacism trailer says doesn’t exist?:
U.S. Constitution, Amendment XVI.: “The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.”
Sorry folks. We have to “Give Caesar’s things to Caesar.” If only the super rich were made to do the same, or we were allowed to tell “Caesar” how we would like our tax dollars to be utilized.
You get hassled by the IRS when you refuse to pay taxes… been there, done that, and not pleasent…. but there are other avenues of economic resistance… Stop supporting phony politicians (and they’re all phony) with campaign contributions. Stop paying for and listening to cable and MSM bullcasting… Stop paying the exorbident intrest on your credit card… Stop being a consumer and start being a citizen… You don’t get hassled by the IRS for stiffing comcast, walmart or citibank.
KCT
Wow.
The UU’s didn’t pay their PHONE TAX as a measure of protest against the Vietnam war? Musta amounted to pennies over time. I wonder how much energy was wasted discussing THAT??!!? A CHURCH VOTING TO NOT PAY TAXES? What is/was the world coming to?
I hate to blow your bubble, but our tax money isn’t financing this war. The Chinese are. With all the money we sent them for cheap toasters from WalMart. Our “elected representatives” and I use the term extremely loosely, are borrowing it all. They have no intention of paying it back and the Chinese are finally figuring that out. It’s the start of a complete global economic meltdown but that’s another story.
Only a complete and total REVOLUTION, INCLUDING VIOLENCE, will stop these fiends. Before you shrink in horror at the thought, remember, they’ll gladly kill you. And your children. And the planet. In fact, they are, on a daily basis. And they’re smiling while they do it. Lying straight at the cameras. You can see it any day you want to suffer through watching TV.
ONLY ARMED RESISTANCE WILL STOP THEM. GOT THAT?
Rational discourse only works when both the protagonist and the antagonist are rational. Is the White House acting rationally? Is Congress? How long has it been that anything rational ever happened in this country?
If you’re not willing to act as the Founding Fathers did and put your lives on the line, nothing will change. And we’re not fighting the Red Coats with guns and swords this time around. We’re fighting complete surveillance techniques, expert level mind control techniques (otherwise known as Faux News), the ’status quo’ that just encourages people to ’shop and everything will be okay’ and weapons of mass deception and destruction. The first King George was an honorable pacifist compared to this bunch of scum. And they’ve long since taken over the country by deceit, and the entire mass of weaponry our taxes did pay for. Merry Christmas.
I have been a war tax resistor since 2003, and it is not that difficult. I do, however, pay my state taxes, social security and Medicare taxes, as I believe these programs are for the greater good. I claim nine exemptions, and explain to my bookkeeper that I wish the regular withholding amounts for these other items to be made. I have believed for a long time that if we starve the government of it’s ability to make war - not in my name - that they can’t continue to do it. Alas, they are simply borrowing unchecked from China and Japan, and all or most is for the killing of innocents and visitng terror on the regions of the world that resist doing the bidding of US corporatism.
Signalfire…
Gandhi
We have to break the circle of violence
I agree that armed resistance is wrong, and just as important, futile.
Look at David Koresh, armed to the teeth and burned to a crisp, along with women and babies. Apparently, he didn’t think that the US government would actually fry him and his children, but he was wrong.
And for the “the US government is racist” crowd, there were white babies burned in that fire also. The US government is vicious and colorblind, when it comes to protecting its interests. Racism is to keep the peons divided.
I oppose the oppressive government and its murders and destruction. But I don’t want to go to jail to oppose it. Selfish, but true.
So maybe there is safety in numbers, but maybe we’d all fit into one Halliburton detention camp.
Regardless of where the war money is actually coming from (ie, our taxes or China), it will ALWAYS be significant and effective to publically withhold taxes. It’s openly telling the government, We won’t pay you unless you do what We the People tell you to do. The vast majority of us (and the rest of the world) have been telling them to end the occupation of Iraq, and they haven’t been listening, so it’s time for us to show them in more critical, serious, piercing and demanding ways that we’re serious. When Thoreau withheld taxes all by himself, his single-handed contribution obviously couldn’t have been enough to end the war — but it was still a profound and inspiring protest of the Mexican War. He did his job; let’s do ours.
You go, Nina!
—I don’t pretend to be a lawyer, but isn’t this the law the freedomtofacism trailer says doesn’t exist?:
—U.S. Constitution, Amendment XVI.: “The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.”
Yours is a common misconception. The supreme court has ruled that the 16th amendment did NOT grant the US governmet any new powers of taxation but simply clarified the difference between apportioned an unapportioned taxes. Also, being paid for work is not INCOME it is trade. Income is capitol gains, return on investments, etc.
Because you don’t understand this the scam is able to continue. Tens of thousands of Americans have demanded the Federal government simply show us the law for many years. They have not because they cannot as it does not exist.
Please watch the movie- Freedom to Facism- (not just the trailor) mbruton is correct, your work and pay is considered a trade of goods. You trade your time, skills
and you recieve money, the government has no RIGHT to tax you on this transaction. Remember your federal income tax revenue does not fund federal programs; all your money (taxes) goes to repaying the national debt.
Galifray:
You tell your employer you want to make changes to your tax sheet (I don’t remember the name of it, W-4 maybe?) and you claim Single (or Married) with 10 dependents. As far as I know, unless you make a large amount of money, that number of dependents will get you all of your paycheck week to week. And that -IS- perfectly legal (I don’t know the legality involved with paying or not-paying taxes, so I can’t speak to that).
Dear Sir: Paying taxes is a moral obligation of every citizen. To make insidious statement government is to big or tax is to high is the rantings of a lunatic. Former Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon gave the wealthy five tax breaks because he believed the rich where exempt from paying taxes. He gave the wealthy back their money causing the Great Depression. The wealthy took their five tax breaks given to them by Andrew Mellon, of Gulf Oil, and invested their money in Adolf Hitlers Germany. While Americans starved, the wealthy help to rebuild the German people’s nation and their military; just, like Corporate America is doing today around the world. Andrew Mellon, the father of economic treason, has shifted the burden of paying taxes from the wealthy to the non-wealthy just like his prophet and servant, Mr Bush who has absolutely no regard for the public. If everyone pays their fair share of taxes then the concept of paying taxes is not a big deal for any nation. It is when certain people feel they are better than all the others! America needs to get rid of all corporate welfare; which is a modern form of socialism and communism where all of Congress, the Senate, the Judicial courts, and the federal government has become the toxic dumping ground for this nations leaders worthless children who can not survive in the real world; created by people like Bush who have walked out own his own shareholders; while he bankrupted his own companies for profit. Their children, who refuse to serve in the military; but, whom, they are allowed to eat from the tax payers table that is full of all of the fruits of the garden of paradise where every day Americans, who are declared unfit to eat the garbage that falls from the table of our government. We the people are condemned to generations of nepotistic leadership built on the incestuous relationship of generation of power that Washington has become a gated community of leaders where the apple never fall’s far from the tree. Power is constantly regurgitating from father to son to daughter to some one in the f-ing family, from the same gene pool to the next. This not democracy! What are we going to do next? Feed the Bush daughters for life by giving them a government job beyond their skill level that has a socialist heath-care system supported by the tax payers of this great nation. Has Washington cuts our throats with nothing but excuses for the thousands of years of this nations future has a failed state. When are our leader’s children going to pick up a M-16 and get their ass’s in the field like a true American to shed their worthless blood for their country! America has a nation is full of Nero’s looking for matches to burn down Rome so they can blame the Christians like President Bush did in New Orleans! Taxes are a good thing as long as the military does not get all the money and the money is spent on the common good of us all. Let special interest be damned. They are the devils handmaiden any way! Curse them and all who are like them. Only evil follows them in all of their efforts. Nothing will come good of them. For they are a plague to us all. The shadow of death is their only friend! Darkness is their kingdom! Darkness their only council! America is a nation of 300 million people. Because of the Special interest people, we have a government that serves only 100 million people. America is dying through willful negligence who have perverted the words of JFK to serve the nation and for those who have a great deal of wealth; the, a great deal is expected from them. Many starve in this land of plenty!
I find this talk of not paying taxes rather hard to understand. My taxes are deducted from my pay. A sufficient amount so that if I hand in the tax forms next year I will likely get a small refund. And if they do not deduct sufficient moneys and I owe some money and do not pay it then within a few years the owed money is deducted from my payroll after several warnings. If I do not pay the sales tax the merchant does not sell to me. If I do not pay the excise tax my letter is not mailed. If I do not pay my property tax my property will be sold for the tax. It seems that the only method that I have of not funding the government is to not buy lottery tickets. This is how it is done in Canada. Is it different in the US for wage earners?
more like 100,000 “served” 100% by corporate welfare, which disproportionately trickles down, even to the top 1%, but worse for top 10% (30 million), and hardly noticeable for top 20% (60 Million). The bottom 80% doesn’t “merit” cost of living anymore, even with higher productivity and longer (voluntary?) hours.
I guess it’s true that 100 million do benefit to some degree through corporate “largess” (the richest 0.1% salaries are up 300% from 10 years ago), but just enough to propagate an illusion of upward mobility.
Let’s correct that to Most “starve in this land of plenty!
I used to be proud to pay my taxes. I would have been glad to pay more except that it became apparent that the majority is stolen by the rich and by corporations.
Withholding a small amount is worthless. They’ll never miss it and they don’t care. Its obvious that much of the money used to run this rogue nation comes from other nations and the rich from around the world. Its the only thing that explains where all this money is coming from–besides our own conterfiting operation run by the fed to police the world — and us.
It looks like everybody sees the same problem but has a different solution, some workable, some not so workable. At least nobody said we should vote them out of office.
Signalfire has a fiery spirit, now, but after the smell of rotting corpses lying in the street caused him to puke his guts out he might reconsider the effectiveness of armed mob rebellion. What harm could an untrained mob armed with guns do against counter-insugency forces and the weapons they would have? Who would lead such a rebellion? What percentage of Americans would be willing to lend a hand? What would happen when food and water supplies were shut off? Signalfire has the right spirit but the wrong method of dissension.
KCThompson has a good idea about limiting consumerism, but that might only lead to a recession or depression. We would suffer more than the fat cats. Government would probably become more entrenched. Maybe something a little harsher would bring better results sooner.
Greenerthanthou agrees that armed resistance is futile; I’m not so sure about wrong, though. He makes the point that there is safety in numbers but that the government can be very accommodating in that respect as the Japanese-Americans learned during WWII. But acquiring the necessary number of dissenters is the key to a successful conflict even if a workable plan can be devised. That is probably where this story should end, because most Americans still believe they live in the greatest country in the world; and, if only creature comforts are taken into consideration, they might be right for the time being.
If a million or so taxpayers could be organized, however, and persuaded to stop paying taxes, something would happen; I don’t know what. Government services would shut down, but the corporations that we all seem to agree are our archenemy would go unscathed for a longer period of time than we could afford to wait out.
But, if a large number of workers could be persuaded to stop working, there would be no witholding taxes; the corporations would suffer; and the government would be crippled. Then, assuming this work stoppage had some kind of leadership, demands rather than requests could be made on the government - “we want the war to stop now” or “we want national healthcare now”. One demand would have to be satisfied at a time or no work. I haven’t got a clue how that kind of work stoppage could be organized. It would take a lot of preparation and planning. Participants would have to store up food and supplies for the long haul. There would certainly be a lot of hardships to endure, but something has to be done.
An advantage of that kind of insurrection is that it doesn’t put the participants face to face with troops or police. People would simply stay in their homes if they have homes. The only way an armed conflict could take place is if the government invaded peoples’ homes. At that point, I think people would be completely justified in shooting to kill any and all armed aggressors.
Maybe someone will find a constitutional clause that can be twisted aound to make dissent illegal, but the Declaration of Independence says, “That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends (Life, Liberty, and the Persuit of Happiness) it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it,……” and the Bill of Rights protects the right of dissension.
When the executive and legislative branches of government ignore the will of the people, and when the will of corporations trump collective will of the people, extraordinary measures are called for. The extent of the measures are limted only by the resolve of the dissenters and the unwillingness of the government to derive its just power from the consent of the people. Witholding taxes won’t do the trick.
If/when the IRS realizes you have not filed taxes for a number of years, and that you owe any monies, they will and can garnish your wages, and your retirement as well. It is embarassing and difficult. The IRS, rightly or wrong, can sieze your assets including bank accounts, etc. They did so to a client of mine, and they had to remortgage the house to make their monthly payments.
I agree with most of those who have written above. Yet the truth is that the IRS does exercise this power when given the opportunity. It would take many millions of us to make a significant dent in the current system. How many of us are willing to take this risk? How many of us benefit from these same taxes, even though we might agree that we oppose further spending overseas to kill other human beings? I am not sure this is the best choice for bringing in change.
Maybe she’ll get Lindsay, Nicole, Britney and Paris to stop paying their taxes.
I have stated this idea several times.
I hope that it gets traction. I would HAVE to agree that the common person not paying taxes THESE days would only lead to his arrest and persecution. The recent case in New Hampshire is but one example. We must ADMIT that this is a police state and to overcome and regain the ‘rights’ of the people; the people themselves must show that they understand the cornerstones of the financial yokes placed upon them.
My suggestion is very simple. Withdraw all your money from the US banking system. Banks now need a laffable net reserve of around 3 percent !! What has happened is that banks take our cash as reserve - MULTIPLY it by 33 times or so-and lend it out. They make money on the interest of money they don’t have but based on what is deposited. Why do you think everyone wants to get into the banking business!!
So if a bank received 30,000 in deposits (which is counted by the bank as a LIABILITY) - they can then lend out essentially one million dollars (which -don’t laff, it’s true- is booked as an ASSET). They collect 7-9 percent -hence they make 70 thousand dollars of interest on the prinicipal they don’t have AND they actually collect the principal they didn’t have as WELL. It is absolutely true !!
Insead of a million man march or 100,000 people in NYC at the government convention (GOP) where people get beat up and abused. If all the ecological groups, human rights groups, NAACP, CodePink, Ro Paul, Kuchinich, Anti-War and just plain ‘WTF is going on here- Iam having my phone tapped, my money monitored, my kids up to their ears in debt for a BACHELOR’S degree, while credit card companies, Insurance companies, Healthcare Corporations bend and break the law at will!’ people get together.
The potential and reality of a bloodless revolution is ENORMOUS. Say we can get some hollywood types , professional athletes, and non-profit orgs along with 1,000,000 people - keeping our average to say 10,000 dollars per person (very doable)- we are now talking about
10,000,000,000 =330,000,000,000 billion dollars. This is because the bank lends 33 times MORE tha it actually has- if you don’t believe it -google -federal reserve bank requirements.
Think about it- even if we can proof - and in these times of credit crunch - THE TIME IS NOW!! IF WE_ THE PEOPLE_ pull out our money from certain usurious and notorious banks- Chase, Citigroup, as well as brokerages - a small example of 100,000 thousand people can remove 33 billion dollars!!! If not more- since those loans themselves are ALSO used as collateral to obtain MORE loans- this is what is at the heart of the mortgage crisis, SIV etc.
We MUST use the power of our numbers to bludgeon the rapaciousness and lawless of the corporations and by extension their proxies the politicians. I am telling you people - we can do it- and it will be more effective then even WE CAN IMAGINE.
The point is - all our politicians understand is money - and they count on us NEVER being unified to enough to actually exercise the understanding that all power is from OUR money. Thats why the governemnt and corporations are so rich - they take OUR money and use it to rob US.
IF we pull the money from the banks for just a week - you will see SO MUCH PANIC by the governement/banks and corporatios. Overnite- demands of accountaility, transparency and full repayment by orporations for proven fraud (instead of pennies on the hundreds of dollars settlements) will occur. White collar criminals such as Libby, Milliken, Keating will actually HAVE to serve their FULL jail time.
The entire ethos of this country can change over nite!!!
iyamwuiam,
I like your idea very much. I don’t have any money in US bank accounts, but I’d sure love to see this happen as an assertion of the power of people over corporations and governments–which is as it should be, really. I see a lot of potential problems, of course (who’d wanna be a cop responding to home invasion calls during that week, let alone be a switchboard operator at 9-1-1?!) and there could be delayed aftershocks (remember learning in history what happened the last time there was a huge “run-on-the-banks?”) but a publicized event (I rather like the idea of doing it just before Global Buy Nothing Day myself) that would only last for a week (ha-ha…but REALLY we’d make it two weeks, eh?) might at least remind people that…
Money is the root of all evil. That’s the kind of ethos change needed.
Iyamwutiam “My suggestion is very simple. Withdraw all your money from the US banking system.”
About 9 months ago I asked the payroll people if I could be paid in cash. They said no they couldn’t do it. Three months later my job was eliminated and I was let go. Coincidence? It is possible to cash your payroll check without using a bank. I still have a checking account but it is only used to pay bills. I take my living and spending money in cash and I rarely shop at corporately own businesses.
Mom and pop stores do cost me a little more but the service and quality of product I get is worth it. Don’t ever ask a wal-mart employee how to use something or where something is located because most of the times they don’t know or even care to know. Plus most of the time when I go to the store, it is to buy something I need not something I want. Most of the times the corporate stores don’t even have it.
Plus I don’t think enough Americans will quit using the banks to make any difference. I wish more would quit using the banks it would help this country in more ways than one.
If I understand the law correctly, income tax evasion is actionable. That is you can go to jail. I’m not sure diddling with your 1040 is going to be an effective form of protest.
I think the most effective protest is massive angry disruptive street demonstrations. Demonstrations aimed at bringing business activity to a stand still. For this to work it needs A LOT of people. The riot cops outnumbered by 200 to 1. This will take courage as it may mean getting teargassed, getting clubbed with police riot batons or even getting arrested. The horrid Bush regime has not been stopped because there just have not been enough people in the street. I went to demonstrations in 2003. There were maybe 30,000 people. Tens times that number was needed. I would dearly love to see two million people march on Washington DC and millions more march on every state capital and demand Bush’s immediate resignation. It all boils down to too many people doing nothing and letting our country be overrun by the Bush-Cheney criminals.
One wonders if the ‘Gandhi’ adherents would stand by in complete nonviolent placidity while their children were murdered.
The trouble is, that’s what’s happening. I picked up my son at the airport the other day and there were several soldiers, I presume from Iraq, coming home for the holidays. Poor things, shaved heads, barely 20 years old, and cannon fodder for the Cheneys of the world. No, I don’t ’support the troops.’ They’re deceived fools and many will admit that when they get back, IF they get back.
There’s a lot of things going on in the world that people don’t understand.
911 was an inside job, orchestrated by Cheney and carried out by the Mossad. Paul Wellstone and JFK, Jr were murdered because they were looking like shoe-ins for the 2000 elections and the Repug’s can’t have that. Now we have Kucinich’s brother dying mysteriously, I presume to shut him up as well. The anthrax was also sent by our own government as a shot across the bow to cooperate or else to Congress. Worked well, too.
The american economy is destitute and running, quite literally, on fumes. The mantra of ‘more growth, more growth’ REQUIRES the outright theft, sooner or later, or other people’s resources to continue. Thus Iraq, Iran, etc. Does anyone really believe we’re there to ’spread democracy’ at the point of a gun, and not to steal the damn oil?? Afghanistan was all about getting the poppy fields producing again, that drug money is laundered thru Wall Street and keeps the engine humming. That’s working well, too, unless you’re an Afghan peasant who was a bit too close to ’shock and awe.’
Everyone in the White House and nearly everyone in Congress is complicit. The plans are in place to reduce world population by up to 90%. It will be in a combination of wars, famines, weather related damage and disease.
Winner take all. I just wonder if our ‘elected officials’ are worried about one little thing. Blow back is a bitch. And there’s what, 200 million guns in the U.S. in private hands?
Just for your information, someone up above, I’m not a ‘he’ who is hoping for rotting corpses in the street. I’m a 55 year old grandmother who is hoping for strategic armed resistance and revolution. One tyrant at a time. Take out enough of them, and things could change for the better quite quickly, but we are still going to have to learn how to live VERY LOCALLY, VERY FRUGALLY AND WITHIN THE CARRYING CAPACITY OF THE PLANET, LONG SINCE OUTDISTANCED. The life style of everyone now living has been based on amazingly cheap energy. Those days are over. Either the tyrants or the people will rule. It’s really quite simple. And no amount of ‘with holding our taxes’ will change a damn f*cking thing. What a sweet joke, if only it were that easy. Much as I respect the Utne Reader, my gawd, what naivety!
I did not pay My taxes last year, nor will I ever again until My Country turns around 180 degrees from it’s present Disasterous, Immoral, and Illegal Course. I have had it. The Only solution I can think of is to withdraw the Money. Anyone hear that?? No More Money.
Listen to KCT , folks.
Americans , get out of comfort zone and BOYCOTT . It’s legal , it’s anonymous , it’s effective , singular ( no critical mass needed ).
Suffer the conseq
Listen to KCT and BOYCOTT ; it’s cheaper , anonymous , effective . Americans will either suffer deprivation by boycotting MSM , consuming less especially China-made toys and snipping up your credit cards or suffer freedom deprivation under an impending dictatorship.
Americans still have a choice like Germans in 1933 still had a choice
Only problem is I can’t boycott the electric company or the phone company or the broad band supplier or the grocery store or the gas station or the landlord or the garbage company or the tax-collecting county sheriff or the dentist or the postal service.
I suppose I could stop buying books.
signalforce 200 million guns? That number wil be drastically reduced this April when the Supreme Court interperts the 2nd Amendment as to whether we can own guns or not. The uncoinstitutional wiretapping database has recently been turned over to the ATF (Alcohol Tobacco & Firearms). They have been monitoring all calls and Emails to all the gun and arms dealers in the U.S. and used the database to narrow down the addresses of big gun owning homeowners and their friends and families who probably are big gun owners too. The ATF has plotted a nationwide gun sweep after the Supreme Court ruling using National Guardsmen, FBI Agent, Local City and Sheriff Offices, and Regular military personnel. They realize some citizens will not be in the database and still posess guns. They will then rely on TIPS and other informants to rid this country of all weapons. Thats when operation ‘American Hiroshima’ comes in play. This will all happen before next fall before the general elections so Bush can then call for a State of Emergency and Marshall Law. Then my good people, it will be just a matter of time because we’ll have no means of resistance!
Most people have been conditioned to fear the IRS, and everyone has heard stories about the sanctions that await those who don’t “voluntarily” comply. It’s easier for those who are self-employed not to file, but there is another way.
While some suggest limited boycotts, I suggest a radical change in consumption habits to “starve the beast,” the corporations that are indirectly and directly responsible for the Iraq war and other crimes of empire. Here are 10 steps you can take to save resources, save money and save the earth:
1. Become a conservator rather than a consumer.
2. Stop buying highly advertised brands.
3. Stop buying elaborately packaged items.
4. Recycle as much as you can.
5. Buy used - not new.
6. Have your own yard and garage sales.
7. Maintain your car yourself.
8. Barter with friends.
9. Grow your own food.
10. Equip yourself to be more self-sufficient.
And simplify, simplify, simplify. If 10,000,000 people who don’t ordinarily use these tactics would do so, along with all the others who refuse to pay taxes or default on their credit cards, and with millions more demonstrating in the streets…this broken system will be brought to a standstill. In short, it won’t be a single tactic but several tactics working together that will affect change.
And don’t give up your firearms.
TOO LATE, am already there; being at around half of yearly $$ stipends for what it takes before govt requires paying income taxes. They’ll have to double, or more, what I have, before I need to consider whether or not to stop paying income taxes.
We can’t avoid sales taxes, not on some necessities anyway; but I recall that Mass., in the 1990s anyway, did not impose sales taxes on clothing when the cost amounted to less than either $65 or $70, so people there could simply avoid buying more expensive clothing, if and when wanting to also avoid paying these taxes.
Not paying property taxes, for owners as well as for people renting, is not possible, and the saem applies to fuel taxes, for everyone who commutes by any means that employs fuel pays the taxes on it, directly or indirectly. Directly for people purchasing the fuel for their cars, etc., and indirectly for people commuting by plane, bus, any public transport means employing fuel. So we can’t easily avaid all taxes.
Income taxes are avoidable by anyone ready to ensure less income for themselves on a yearly basis and such that it falls below taxable income, so around what? $10,000 to $11,000 or so, per year, for individuals. Others earning higher amounts can simply not file income taxes when self-employed; while people working for employers on an employee basis don’t have a choice, for the employers do the payroll processing, including the extractions for income taxes and some other things, social security being one I believe to be still applied.
In any case, when speaking of a movement forming to stop paying taxes, whichever of the kinds are being referred to, it would be always useful to make sure to either explain how to do this, or to provide references to resources where the “HOW tutorials” are found.
If the author of this article did provide the latter information, then great; I haven’t read the article yet. However, if the author didn’t, then people calling on others to join in forming this sort of movement should realise that a lot of people don’t know what to do to not pay the taxes, and some or many wouldn’t easily find the relevant tutorials, which should include an explanation of the laws that actually permit people to not pay income taxes.
It is always better to act based on being sufficiently informed, instead of blindly; regardless of how right an idea is.
dumb,dumb, naive, and silly.
only Corporate Tax Funds the I.A.I. & I.I.I.
What citizens are refusing to pay are BANKING FEEs for
the private corporation that prints and loans OUR currency.
wake up!!!!!!
I.R.S is the bank teller for FEDERAL RESERVE BANK…
wake up…..
I.I.I Illegal Iraq Invasion I.A.I Illegal Afghanistan Invasion
Right on, rickster469 and buminfl! DE-CONSUME!
The bigger problem is not one of wars or the taxes to pay for them. The bigger problem is that “Our present economic system is… little more than a well-organized method for converting natural resources into garbage,” in the words of Jay Hanson.
To buminfl’s list, I’d add right up near the top: obtain your basic needs locally. Buy from the local grocer, rather than a national chain that launders its profits through Delaware.
Although buminfl hints at it, I’d also add directly to the list: start your own business. I’m not talking about a tax scam, I’m talking about liberation from the time clock and from the tax man! It may take a while. Don’t quit your day job.
De-consuming also means your house. Perhaps preaching to the choir on this list, but a lot of people, lulled into that nice mortgage deduction, are living in houses way bigger than they need. Although it’s a tough time to sell a house, it’s a good time to pick up a smaller one! And if you’re lucky, you can pay for a smaller one outright for the equity in your big house.
With one exception, I have legally avoided income taxes since 2000 (when I swore I would no longer support that son-of-a-Bush’s stolen government) by simply making too little to pay taxes. (Ironically, I was screwed by 9-11. The tax system was changed in that year to support victims, which meant that I, a non-victim, could not income average that year, which cost me about $1,200.)
Concerned about fuel taxes? Drive much less! If you’re on the de-consuming path, it gets easier to drive less — especially after you’ve quit your day job. And for the more adventurous, get rid of your gas vehicle (especially if it’s a guzzler) and buy a diesel — many states exempt biodiesel from highway taxes. And if you’re real adventurous, and a bit handy, make your own biodiesel and say goodbye to transportation expense and fuel taxes.
Some of these things may seem difficult, or like they may require too much sacrifice. Many of us “voluntary simplicians” feel that hard times are coming, and those who will best cope are those who have already learned to live lightly. It’s not an absolute; it’s not all-or-nothing. But do start down the path, and each week, each month, each year, seek to de-couple your life from the global economy, and re-couple it to local, sustainable practices.
patrickballotintegrity December 26th, 2007 12:17 pm …. Agree totally, except for one correction (apologies if I am “mincing words”). The IRS represents a private COLLECTION AGENCY for the BANKING FAMILIES…a bit more “telling” than bank teller.
I agree with withholding taxes. Whatever movies there are that say that there is no law that you have too…that really doesn’t matter. Ask Al Capone, they will incarcerate you if you don’t pay your taxes. I believe that there are worse things than being incarcerated for what you believe in, though I’ve only been in jail once. However, there are many legal ways to withhold taxes. I know many young hippies with kids that are so proud of themselves for never filling out a tax return. This is the wrong way to do it, especially if you don’t have a huge income. Many of these people would get more money back than they paid in. I very carefully go through my taxes every year. If you have a family income of less than $40,000, please please file a tax return, because the government will send you a check for more than you paid, and that takes even more money out of the system.
Telegroove…Send me an email…I’ll send you some enlightening information….
ignotzle@windstream.net
I think it’s a brilliant idea. Not only I don’t pay taxes, but also I don’t even file. You see, in this land of opportunity, the beacon on the hill, yada yada yada, I make under $k annually.
Signalfire, I agree that B/C & Co. and the “have mores” act as if they would like to reduce the world’s population. But then how will unlimited growth continue? Who will they sell their crappy products to? The root problem is greed, and mass starvation is just going to be one of the unintended consequences.
I agree with buminfl–the best response is to be citizens, not consumers. Simplify. Buy used. Freecycle. Stop buying anything “made in China.” It’s undercutting American labor, and it’s full of lead anyway. Buy produce from local farms, while you still can. Turning farmland into condos is another form of mass suicide. Get involved in local government–go to meetings, write letters.
The idea of not paying taxes is good-but then what?
(A long pause while we all consider the vacuum left when a society is without any civil control. See Iraq after the Bushites took over.)
Forming a new government is then an essential part of the agenda to any reform movement; call a convention and write a new constitution. Be sure to include taxation of the very wealthy in your new government among other things-graduated taxes would only affect the top 10% if it were done according to the ability to pay.
Personally I believe there are far more people resisting taxes over the current war than they will admit or let us know. For what it’s worth, I recently sent this letter to my Congressman.
Date: October 29, 2007
To: Congressman Brad Sherman
5000 Van Nuys Blvd. Ste. 420
Sherman Oaks, CA 91403
(818) 817-9555
Dear Congressman Sherman,
I spoke on the phone today with your assistant, (name withheld) at your Van Nuys office regarding an issue I have with a federal agency and he recommended I write you here to the attention of (name withheld), Constituent Services Director.
I have been a constituent of yours for the past 15 years here in my home in Canoga Park. This letter is written at the suggestion of my tax attorney who knew you in your early campaign days and recommended you as a very intelligent and honorable man who would listen to what I have to say. I pray he was right.
Like many people, I had followed the lead-up the the invasion of Iraq closely and could tell then, as many are discovering now, that the premise for war was based on cooked intelligence and the agenda of PNAC who had written of doing exactly this sort of thing nearly a decade before and now had a number of members in the current administration. In October of 2002 I drove to San Francisco to participate in a protest against the impending war months before it began. Then in March of 2003 the United States began bombing Baghdad. I remember hearing the news on a Wednesday night as I drove to work complete with the sounds of bombs exploding across that city with so much cultural and spiritual history. I work as a sound engineer and felt so disheartened that when I arrived at the job in Burbank I asked the director to cancel the evening’s session. After a brief prayer circle, that is what we did. The next day I turned on the news only to see what “embedded” reporters and the cable news networks chose to show us; a tidy, sanitized operation devoid of what we all knew was going on in a theater of war. Turning to the internet I easily found some more truth. Many explicitly graphic images of children who had been literally blown apart by US air strikes. I was so horrified by what I saw that I made a moral decision to never willingly help to pay for these terrorist acts. And there would be many more to come, still before any insurgency had developed. I also saved all these images so no one could ever forget or deny what was done.
As it happened, this was also the same time that federal taxes were due. And in response I sent in nothing. And to this day still have not. Eventually, of course, I started to receive letters from the IRS. Not really sure how to respond, I saw on one of the forms that if I had other reasons for not sending in my return I should write to explain why. This is exactly what I did in a certified letter explaining my position and asking explicitly if I had any rights to not support these atrocities either under the constitution or other laws. I asked if this was the proper forum to address these issues or should I contact someone else. I asked if there was a method to direct my taxes away from funding these war crimes or if there was any class action in progress which would pertain to my position. I also explained clearly that I recognized a responsibility to contribute my fair share of taxes toward legitimate recipients of tax revenue but if there was no manner to prevent them from being used for such immoral and, I believed, illegal purposes I would have to hold them in reserve. In response I only received more form letters. Never an answer to any of my specific questions.
As time passed I received more increasingly stern letters from the IRS but still no answer to my questions. But in each form letter they sent me I also received a copy of my “Rights As A Taxpayer” emblazoned with the IRS mission statement “Provide America’s Taxpayers Top Quality Service By Helping Them Understand And Meet Their Tax Responsibilities And By Applying The Tax Law With Integrity And Fairness To All.”
While this was going on, the news was often filled with stories about The Patriot Act. And I read that one of its provisions was the prohibition against giving material support to any groups committing acts of terrorism or supporting others who do. Immediately I wondered if this also applied to our government or military if they commit such acts. After a bit of searching I found several other laws which had similar provisions. These are H.R. 3162, Exec. Order 13224, UNSC Res. 1373 and of course the Patriot Act. I also found that the definition of a terrorist act is a can of worms. But some of these laws contain their own definitions. For example, E.O. 13224 gives one definition as the destruction of civilian infrastructure, also a war crime. And there is ample record of US air strikes on Iraqi electricity, water and sewage systems as well as schools and hospitals.
Again I wrote the IRS a certified letter asking specifically that since its a crime to give money to groups committing terrorist acts, and our government has committed terrorist acts, why is it not a crime to give money to the government? And again no response other than more forms turning up the heat. I’ve made numerous calls to the taxpayer advocate to ask about these issues. I was repeatedly told they only deal with tax law and had no other suggestions. One advocate in particular told me he was too busy dealing with people trying to pay their taxes and hung up on me. I wrote an appeal letter describing my situation and received a response from IRS counsel stating that my case was dismissed because I failed to state a claim for relief, didn’t follow proper rules, only argued law and legal conclusions and that they were unable to contact petitioner and so concluded I had conceded my position. But I had clearly stated my case and tried my best to follow their procedures. But the last item really angered me. I work mostly at home, I always have an answering machine on and I receive normal mail delivery. Yet , to the best of my knowledge, had never been contacted by this particular IRS counsel. So I can only conclude that this counsel either lied to the IRS judge or presented false evidence. I sent another certified letter, this time to this particular IRS counsel refuting what they had said about me and eventually I was finally able to have a phone conversation with this person.
Initially they listened to what I had to say but told me “I’m your enemy. My hands are tied.” And when I asked where I could read the law requiring federal income tax on personal income, wondering if there was something in its text which pertained to my situation, I was told, “Now you’re wasting my time, I have to end this call.” This conversation convinced me of two things; the IRS mission statement means nothing and things were now getting too complicated for me to figure out myself. And so I found a tax attorney to represent me. And to that end he has been very helpful in guiding me through the paperwork and procedures of the IRS that no lay person could possibly figure out.
But now things are coming to a head. The IRS is threatening liens, levees and garnishments while still not answering my basic questions about my tax position. My attorney has read my letters to the IRS regarding taxes funding terrorism and has told me that I’m right but should probably give up. I have contacted the ACLU, National Lawyers Guild, NWTRL and similar groups with no conclusive response. So, at my attorney’s suggestion I now write to you, my Congressman, for help or at least clarification.
Congressman Sherman I ask you, do American citizens have any right to not fund war crimes or terrorist acts committed by their government under national or international law? Does the IRS have any obligation to answer my questions about my tax situation? Where is the proper place to address these issues? As a vigilant patriot I believe I have not only a right but a duty to follow this path. Legally I believe the laws I have cited support me. And morally, how can I allow the fruits of God’s gifts to me (my income) to be used in any part to, for example, drop cluster bombs on children?
I thank you for your time to read this letter with an open mind and hope and pray you are able to give me any help or guidance you can.
Sincerely,
(name withheld)
Oh my goddess. Cactuspie, what a wonderful position and letter. It was inspired thinking to connect the P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act with paying your taxes. Thank you for sharing that story.
I’m more cowardly, I think. I eventually changed countries to avoid paying for the US war of aggression against the people of Iraq and Afghanistan. But I just ignore the dunning letters, not even bothering to communicate a response.
Now they want the interest on the $1,200 I eventually paid them (as mentioned above), after an audit that lasted nearly two years. No other enforcement body would ever be allowed to drift from charge to charge until they find something that sticks, and then bill you for the time they spent f*cking up your life. When you’re arrested, you must be charged with a specific crime. When you’re audited, they just keep picking at this and that until they somehow extract their pound of flesh.
I’ve finally got my meagre savings out of the US, and the IRS can’t do anything more to me, until the inevitable annexation of Canada. I only hope the earth is so energy-poor by then that the IRS won’t be able to assimilate an additional 10% taxpayers, and that Revenue Canada does everything they can to stand up to them.
Although sometimes the ACLU seems courageous, they go through serious periods of political compromise. I, a long time member, once got a “begging letter” saying how they had stood up during the Communist witch-hunts. I knew my history, and used their postage-paid donation envelope to write them a scathing letter — how dare they, who turned their backs on the likes of Pete Seeger and Woodie Guthrie, claim they had anything but a hands-off attitude toward McCarthy’s witch-hunt? To invoke the phrase that begat McCarthy’s undoing, “Had they no shame?”
So don’t expect much from the ACLU. They have not, in my opinion, distinguished themselves in this period. They may fight the P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act, but they have turned away GI asylum seekers.
Best of luck, cactuspie — keep up the good work!
I’m amused the author has Rothschild in her name as they are one of the notorious families that started the Federal Reserve, the private, non-gov’t banking corporation we all pay our taxes to. Google the video “The Creature from Jekyl Island.
This is a message for ‘cactuspie’, and for anyone else who has carefully read the comment submitted on December 26th at 8:51 PM.
Thank you, ‘cactuspie’, for your careful thinking and steady perseverance.
The freedom of conscience rights that I believe you clearly describe in your letter to Congressperson Sherman can be claimed under the protection of international human rights covenants that have been ratified by our national government.
I have taken a ‘liberty of conscience’ case though the U.S. Courts and now anticipate an appeal to an international tribunal. The issue of the case is the forced collection of any tax that is used for military purposes in violation of individual conscience.
Information about this case is provided on the Conscience and Peace Tax International website.
(www.cpti.org)
It may still be possible to solidify your careful engagement with the IRS, appeal your case beyond administrative procedures and on through the federal courts, and then to a transnational judicial forum that interprets universal human rights law.
Anyone interested in learning more about an international ‘rights of conscience’ challenge to nation-state funding of military activity using taxpayer dollars can contact me at the following email address:
junkbasketd@gmail.com
Daniel Jenkins
My preceding comment was truncated and posted by Common Dreams because of a time limit that I was not warned about in advance.
The final paragraph should read:
“Anyone interested in learning more about an international ‘rights of conscience’ challenge to nation-state funding of military activity using taxpayer dollars can contact me at the following email address:”
junkbasketd@gmail.com
buminfl:
How can maintaining your own car (rather than taking it to some local mechanic) make any difference? It’s not like you can go out into your workshop and just whip-up some motor oil and a filter yourself. This is like advising people to go to a junk yard and start buying used auto parts to build their own cars. Johnny Cash already…..