| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE APRIL 11, 2005 8:18 AM | CONTACT: National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee Ruth Benn, Coordinator, NWTRCC 800-269-7464 (718-768-3420) or nwtrcc@nwtrcc.org |
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Tax Day Protests Across the U.S. Scheduled for Friday, April 15, 2005
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BROOKLYN, NY -- April 12 -- In at least 50 communities across the U.S., demonstrations will be held at Internal Revenue Service offices, Federal buildings, post offices, and other public places on Friday, April 15, to protest the use of tax dollars to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many of these events will include people giving their tax dollars to community groups instead of to the IRS. Among the actions will be a War Breaks the Budget Tax Day Protest in Tulsa, OK; a Death & Taxes Resistance Festival in Andover, MA; demonstrators will be hanging signs demanding No Money for War from the Burnside Bridge during the morning rush in Portland, OR; while others will be out in the evening until the midnight sharing coffee with last-minute filers at post offices in White Plains, NY, and Manchester, NH, and handing out flyers showing where income tax money goes. Still other protests are making the connections with corporate profiteering from war: You Pay; Lockheed Martin Profit$ is the slogan for protests in Valley Forge, PA; and taxpayers at the main Baltimore City post office will find mailboxes labeled Halliburton, Bechtel, and Lockheed Martin to mail their checks straight to the corporations. At a time when approximately $5 billion per month is going to pay for war and occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan and programs such as housing for low-income families, environmental protection, and even the No Child Left Behind act are cut or underfunded, more taxpayers are questioning the deadly budget priorities of the federal government, according to Joe Maizlish, an organizer with Southern California War Tax Resistance in Los Angeles. A growing number are considering making their protest stronger by refusing to pay some or all of their federal taxes that help pay for war. The Bush Administration s war in Iraq and the thousands of deaths of soldiers and innocent civilians weigh on the conscience of thousands of U.S. taxpayers some will take to the streets on tax day, while many will refuse to pay their taxes to the IRS. In Berkeley, CA, New York City, and other towns and cities, war tax resisters will publicly redirect their federal tax dollars to community organizations. Redirection is an intricate part of refusing to pay federal taxes to the IRS: resisters instead pay their taxes by giving the money to organizations that meet human needs, care for victims of war, and work for peace and justice. The National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee (NWTRCC) is a coalition of local, regional and national groups founded in 1982 to provide information and support to people who are conscientious objectors to paying taxes for war. Members include the Mennonite Central Committee, Episcopal Peace Fellowship, War Resisters League, Voices in the Wilderness, and the National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund, which advocates for legislation enabling conscientious objectors to war to have their federal income taxes directed to a special fund to be used for non-military purposes only. NWTRCC also promotes protests on tax day and collects a listing of tax day actions (see below): Listing of Tax Day Actions <http://www.nwtrcc.org/taxday2005.htm> If there is no contact information for an event, call or email the NWTRCC office at 800-269-7464 or nwtrcc@nwtrcc.org. Arizona California Chico Chico Peace and Justice Center. chris4pax@chico.com. Leafletting at two local post offices. Fresno - Women s International League for Peace & Freedom (WILPF). socialjustice@sti.net. Leafleting at Cardwell Post Office, 1606 E Griffith Way. 8 am - 5 pm San Francisco Leafletting at the Fox Plaza P.O. with Peace Tax Return and other flyers. 2 - 5:30 pm. San Luis Obispo Anti-war Rally and March on Saturday, April 16. Meet at Mitchell Park. Noon 4 pm. Look for the table with war tax resistance materials! Colorado Connecticut District of Columbia Washington/National National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund (NCPTF). (202) 483-3751 or timgodshall@peacetaxfund.org. Letter-writing to IRS and elected officials about the Peace Tax fund bill. Sample letter or email: <http://www.peacetaxfund.org/takeaction/congress.htm> Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Iowa City War Resisters League of Iowa City. wrliowacity@yahoo.com. Vigil and leafletting at the main post office on South Clinton Street starting at 3 p.m. to protest the enormous amount of tax payers money being spent on war. At 5pm walk to Washington and Clinton Streets for the weekly anti-war vigil. Maine Maryland Massachusetts Cambridge New England War Tax Resistance. deirdredoran@hotmail.com. Penny poll, tabling, leafleting, etc. Central Square Post Office, Pleasant St. & Mass. Ave., 5:30 8 pm. Greenfield Pioneer Valley War Tax Resisters (PVWTR). (413) 773-8655. Tabling and leafletting in downtown Greenfield outside the Greenfield food coop. Michigan Missouri New Hampshire New Mexico Silver City Progressive Forum of SW New Mexico. jerome@greenbicycle.net. Teach-in at town park about how the Iraq war is funded. New York New York City NYC War Resisters League (nycwrl@att.net, 718-768-7306) and NYC War Tax Resistance. Leafletting, vigiling, and other actions at Manhattan IRS office (110 W. 44th Street, just west of Sixth Ave.) from noon to 2 pm. White Plains NoWar Westchester, cslists@optonline.net. Share coffee with last minute tax filers, leaflet and discuss how 48% of our federal income taxes pay for past, present, and future wars. 5 pm to closing. North Carolina Ohio Oklahoma Tulsa Tulsa Peace Fellowship, Oregon Portland Oregon Community for War Tax Resistance-WRL Portland. tee_leaves@yahoo.com. Holding signs on the Burnside Bridge during morning rush hour. Presentation of redirected tax money at 5 pm in Pioneer Square (in the heart of downtown), in conjunction with an on-going, weekly peace coalition gathering. Pennsylvania Philadelphia Conscience, Militarism and War Tax Concerns Working Group, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. (215) 241-7230. Leafleting by many area Friends Meetings at post offices. Valley Forge - Brandywine Peace Community. brandywine@juno.com or <file://www.brandywinepeace> Texas Utah Vermont Montpelier - Central Vermont WILPF, Raging Grannies, vmullen@together.net. Leafletting for one hour outside the Post Office and Federal Building, followed by a march to the State House to deliver letters deploring budget cuts to social programs. Leaflet includes information about refusing to pay for war by resisting the federal excise tax on telephone service. Virginia Washington Tacoma georod01@msn.com. Leafletting of the WRL pie chart at the Main Post Office in Tacoma in the evening. Wisconsin Milwaukee Milwaukee War Tax Resistance and Casa Maria Catholic Worker. (414) 344-5745. Federal Plaza, 3rd and Wisconsin Ave. Vigiling outside for an hour with signs and flyers, letter to Senator Herb Kohl in his office, civil disobedience at tax office. Noon. Contact the NWTRCC office, 718-768-3420 or nwtrcc@nwtrcc.org, if you need further contact information for a local group. ### | |