*Ø* Blogmanac | Timely Tax Tip — and Verizon's Third Strike!


From Lisa:

C'MON PEOPLE NOW, SMILE ON YOUR BROTHER! — Cultural Creativity, Pop Culture, Art Culture, Lifestyle, Including The Cultural Creatives, The Creative Class, The Hippies and Simple Living*


[Why is this "cultural creativity" and not an "action to take to make a difference"? Because, IMNSHO, the notion of reducing one's income below the taxable threshhold is a lifestyle commitment! –L.]


Liberty Action of the Week: War Tax resistance
by Mary Lou Seymour


Tax Time again. April 15, the annual culmination of the government's War on Taxpayers.

Many of us subscribe to the hardcore libertarian position that "taxation is theft" and thus a violation of the Non-Aggression principle and anathema to a free society. This approach circumvents all the debate about what's a "fair tax" and what services a state "should" fund; individuals would pay for those services they wanted, at the level they wanted, and the "market would rule" (ie, those services that weren't "bought" would cease to exist).

I've subscribed to that position for many years, since the "light went on" in my mind and I finally figured out that cutting taxes back to a "bare minimum," or making taxes "fairer" in some fashion simply doesn't work, since our rulers are very clever in substituting one tax for another (cut property taxes, raise sales taxes; eliminate income taxes, raise property taxes) and even when we think we've got a "good deal" and are getting to keep more of our money, they are simply picking our other pocket; what may seem "fair" to one person might mean a flat sales tax, while "fair" to someone else might mean "tax only the rich."

But this year, with the Occupation of Iraq beginning to unravel and the conquered (or "freed") country exloding in resistance, it seems appropriate to concentrate our regular Tax Day protests on one front: War Tax Resistance.

War tax resistance is refusing to pay some or all of those federal taxes that contribute to military spending. Because there is no tax that goes only to the military, war taxes generally mean individual federal income taxes and as well as some excise taxes (e.g., the 3% federal excise tax on telephone service). Though a case can be made to include Social Security, state, and local taxes, these are generally not considered "war taxes."

Resisting war taxes in theory is really very simple — don't pay all the tax due on your annual Federal income tax form, or don't pay the Federal excise tax on telephone bills, or both.

Of course, all of these methods of resistance are frowned upon by the state. The War Resisters League notes that the probability of collection or prosecution varies among the methods, but points out that "Serious consideration must be given before embarking on these types of resistance" and notes that earning less than taxable income and publicizing WHY you have choosen to keep your income low is also a viable war tax resistance effort, which is perfectly legal (even in America, you can't be jailed for not making much money).

Dave Gross writes a thoughful review of his year of legal tax resistance in The Picket Line. A year ago, on March 19th, 2003, the invasion of Iraq began and Dave quit his job to start an experiment in tax resistance. "When I started on this experiment, my goal was to wash my hands of any financial support for the government. I wanted to do this by reducing my federal income tax burden to zero, legally, by lowering my income below the tax threshold and by taking legitimate deductions and credits."

Resisting the federal exise tax (on your phone bill) is illegal, but probably has less chance of dangerous consequences. Hang up on War, a national campaign for anti-war phone tax resistance, calls on individuals to refuse to pay their federal phone tax, an act of civil disobedience which sends a message to Washington that says "Not With Our Money." The Hang up on War web site offers printable flyers, logos for your web site, and other materials.

To refuse the federal excise tax, simply subtract that amount from your monthly telephone bill and include a note of explanation to the phone company each time you pay the bill. The phone company is required (by FCC regulations) credit your bill and report this amount to the IRS, but not cut off your telephone service. The phone company should credit your account and report the unpaid tax on a quarterly basis to the IRS.

Hang up on War notes that some companies (notably Verizon in some regions of the country) have been especially uncooperative in crediting bills for the unpaid phone tax. [Emphasis mine... strike three! –L.] However, other companies, such as AT&T and Working Assets Long Distance, have been more cooperative. AT&T has a form that resisters can fill out, authorizing the company to withhold billing of the federal tax for "war tax" reasons, while noting that this nonpayment will be reported to the IRS.

The War Resisters League, which has been promoting war tax resistance since the Vietnam War, has a number of flyers and other materials; they also have a letter "In Support of Those Refusing to Pay for War," you can distribute in your community or sign online, stating "we, the undersigned individuals, believing that war tax refusal under the present circumstances is fully justified on moral and ethical grounds, publicly declare our encouragement of, and willingness to lend support to, those persons of conscience who choose to take this step."

For Tax Day outreach efforts, the Libertarian Party traditionally leaflets last minute filers at post offices with their famous million dollar bill Tax Day handout. (Front side: A faux $1,000,000 Federal Reserve note. The other side explains that the federal government spends $1 million every five seconds -- and that only the LP is trying to change that). This is designed to appeal simply to the widespread belief that taxes are too high, without going into a debate on which tax is "fair" and which taxes are "necessary," with the premise that once the person is "hooked" and contacts the LP, they can then be educated about the different varieties of "tax reform and/or elimination." The California LP has Tax Day material available, including a printable "million dollar bill" Other protest activities can include burning 1040 forms, protesters colorfully dressed in Revolutionary War garb or clad only in a barrel with a sign "the taxman took it all."

Our goal in liberty activism outreach is to change our culture to one which values freedom and responsibility, and operates under the Non-Aggression principle. Tax Day is the perfect opportunity to focus attention on the increasing power of the state as epitomized by the increasing power of the taxman, and, you have a receptive audience, comprised of "Everyman."

For Tax Day 2004, let's add War Tax Resistance to our "arsenal" for Tax Day protests.

Let's not let April 15 pass without firing back a quick salvo in the War on Taxpayers to demonstrate that "our side" hasn't surrendered, and, let's consider one of the War Tax Resistance methods as an ongoing protest of the Occupation of Iraq and the increasing imperialism of our "defense policy."

Til next week

For freedom

Mary Lou

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* Borrowed, again, from A-Changin' Times (ACT)