The Noble American Traditon of Tax Resistance
Posted by dejitarob on December 3, 2007 - 10:16pm in
If you ask the average citizen to identify a famous American war-tax resister, most folks (if they came up with a name at all) would probably cite Henry David Thoreau. But how about Joan Baez, Noam Chomsky or Gloria Steinem?
While the author of Walden Pond is remembered for the night he spent in a Massachusetts jail for refusing to pony up to support the Mexican-American war of 1846, his solitary protest was an anomaly. But 120 years later, Baez, Chomsky and Steinem were joined by more than 500,000 Americans who openly opposed paying taxes to support Washington's bloody war in Vietnam.
Today, with tens of millions of Americans marching to protest the administration's invasion of Iraq, the nonviolent tactic of war-tax resistance is gaining new converts. And, as the April 15 tax deadline approaches, Baez and company have issued a new Appeal to Conscience proclaiming that citizens have a "moral duty" to oppose Washington's war of occupation by "refusal to pay taxes used to finance unjust wars." .............
Tax resisters can face civil penalties of 5 to 25 percent on the amount owed (plus compound interest at a rate of around 10 percent). If the amount goes unpaid, the government can attach wages, bank accounts, cars and homes. Criminal prosecution is possible but uncommon.
Such penalties could become a thing of the past if Congress were to pass (and the president were to sign) the Religious Freedom Peace Tax Bill. This bill would allow citizens to assign the "defense" portion of their taxes to a fund supporting peace work and social services. The Peace Tax Bill will be introduced in the 108th Congress around Tax Day April 15.
Since neither Congress nor the United Nations could prevent the U.S. from launching a preemptive war of occupation in the Middle East, a National Tax Strike may be the last, best tactic for bringing a rogue administration to account. It is unlikely that even Attorney General John Ascroft could secure enough jail space to accommodate tens of millions of peace-loving tax-resisters.
For more information, contact the War Resisters League, 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012, (212) 228-0450, www.WarResisters.org.
For more information on tax resistance see War Tax Resistance Made Simple.