 April 2004
American Friends Service Committee Peacework Magazine Sara Burke, Managing Editor Sam Diener, Editor Pat Farren, Founding Editor 2161 Massachusetts Ave. Telephone number: Fax number:
pwork@igc.org Peacework has been published monthly since 1972, intended to serve as a source of dependable information to those who strive for peace and justice and are committed to furthering the nonviolent social change necessary to achieve them. Rooted in Quaker values and informed by AFSC experience and initiatives, Peacework offers a forum for organizers, fostering coalition-building and teaching the methods and strategies that work in the global and local community. Peacework seeks to serve as an incubator for social transformation, introducing a younger generation to a deeper analysis of problems and issues, reminding and re-inspiring long-term activists, encouraging the generations to listen to each other, and creating space for the voices of the disenfranchised. Views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of the AFSC. |
War Tax Resister Explains Refusal to IRS Elizabeth Claggett-Borne wrote this letter to send to the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on tax day, April 15, 2004. For more information on war tax resistance, see: www.nwtrcc.org, www.warresisters.org, www.peacetaxfund.org, http://riseup.net/nacc, and http://cpti.ws/. Dear IRS agent, As in previous years, I am not sending any money with my tax form. My employer, like most employers, serves as a tax collector for the IRS, and has taken out a fraction of what the IRS claims that I owe. But I refuse to pay the $1,507 that you claim is due. I am not obliged to pay for war. It is in our country's best interest to withhold the money that fuels the Pentagon. I am convinced that the more we feed the military of the US, the more we are feeding state sanctioned terrorism. I resist paying taxes; I am not evading taxes. I do not retain the money myself, but redirect it to alternative funds. Like Henry David Thoreau, also a tax resister, I expect to suffer the penalty of my civil disobedience. I am open to all about my tax refusal, I work to stop violence, and I am willing to suffer the consequences of breaking the US law. Suffering the penalty that comes from not paying for war is a small gesture compared to the deaths caused by the US in countries like Iraq and Afghanistan. I am a responsible citizen, earning a salary at a local health clinic. I am raising two boys who attend Massachusetts schools. I am a homeroom parent for my youngest son. I tell my children that to be patriotic isn't to blindly follow your president, or even Congress. If your conscience dictates that you not participate in killing, then you might refuse to register for the draft. I tell them, "If you follow God or the Ten Commandments, that is a higher authority than your country." Maybe I'm more effective as a conscientious objector than I am as a mother. My 11-year-old daily recites the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag and to the United States of America. When my country commits grave violations of human rights, I will not wait until an election year to attempt a regime change in the US. In Nazi Germany, individual citizens felt compelled to disrupt the laws of their land. The Nuremberg Charter, which the US signed in 1950, informs citizens of "the duty to violate domestic laws to prevent crimes against peace and humanity from occurring." And don't forget that Article VI of the US Constitution states that any treaty to which the US is party "shall be the supreme law of the land," superseding US domestic laws. I am not an anarchist. I am taking whatever steps I can to prevent the murder and torture of my fellow humans. Of the $1500 in additional tax that you want me to pay, $755 would have gone to the Pentagon to build weapons, deploy troops, and pay for past and present wars. Instead, my money will go to research to stop AIDS and cancer, the construction of a battered women's shelter in Somerville, and programs which empower homeless people in Boston. I welcome meeting with you to discuss this matter further.
Thank you for your hard work.
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