More than a paycheck NEWS FROM THE WAR TAX RESISTANCE MOVEMENT October 2008 Taxes for Peace Not War! International Conference Report by Ruth Benn haps also the high cost of travel now. In addi- bringing a formal human rights complaint tion, registrants from Ghana and Palestine to a UN body. In Germany a newly formed were refused visas, which may be a growing group of 10 people plan to take a complaint problem for potential participants. to a German high court based on the 2009 Our host was Conscience: The Peace Tax budget being a violation of fundamental Campaign and included the visible partici- rights because of the military spending. pation of some of the Peace Tax Seven, a The Germans want to get away from group of UK citizens who are going to the appealing through the tax system so instead European Court of Human Rights to claim are trying this direct route to the officials the right for conscientious objectors to have who create the budget. In Norway peace weekend spent with people who do the military part of their taxes diverted to a tax fund campaigners take their appeal to Anot want to pay for war and killing peace fund. As is generally the case with local councils; if the council accepts the is always time well spent. With con- these conferences, there is a heavy focus on complaint as an “initiative of national stant news of the disastrous invasion of Iraq legislative and legal efforts. Daniel Jenkins interest” then the council can send it to and the rising body count of civilians in from the U.S. reported on the process of the next level of government. Afghanistan, it is encouraging to be sur- continued on page 6 rounded by people who resist the status quo. NWTRCC gatherings in the U.S. offer this kind of support, but learning first-hand about the pockets of resistance around the world is especially heartening. I was lucky enough to attend the 12th International Conference on War Tax Resistance and Peace Tax Campaigns, held at Manchester College in Manchester, England, September 5–7. Fifteen countries (Nepal, Japan, Canada, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Spain, Colombia, U.S., Germany, Italy, Belgium, Britain, Switzerland, Ukraine) were represented by the 60 or so people in atten- dance. NWTRCC has sent a representative to each of these conferences, which have been held every other year since 1986. Glancing through some of the past reports, Julian Ovalle from the group Acción Colectiva de the turnout for this conference appears Objetores y Objetoras de Conciencia in Colombia lower than others, certainly reflecting the spoke to the conference about the militarized culture War bonds poster in the Imperial War Museum lack of growth in our movement, but per- and resistance work in his country. North, Manchester, England. Photos by Ed Hedemann. National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee • P.O. Box 150553, Brooklyn, NY 11215 • (718)768-3420 • (800)269-7464 COUNSELING NOTES information required for the IRS to assess the tax, Frivolous – Again but it is a scary letter. Please contact NWTRCC “Dear Taxpayer: This letter serves to inform you of with your experiences. the potential consequences of the position you have taken and to offer you an opportunity to correct your submission within 30 days from the date of this let- Contractor vs. Employee The IRS has issued an August 2008 version of ter…Internal Revenue Code Section 6702 imposes a Publication 1779, Independent Contractor or $5,000 penalty for the filing of a frivolous tax return or Employee. The publication reviews the tax ramifica- purported tax return. We are proposing a $5,000 penal- tions of being classified as either an independent ty per return based on your filing of a frivolous tax contractor or employee and is on the IRS website at More than a return(s) or purported tax return(s).” www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p1779.pdf. This text is quoted from Letter 3176 (SC) (Rev. 7- paycheck Source: Thomson Reuters 2007), a letter with which some readers may be Editor Ruth Benn familiar. Two people who contacted NWTRCC received this letter. Each had filed a normal return Picture Your Possessions… Production The IRS plans to start issuing cell phones and paid part of the taxes shown due; they enclosed Rick Bickhart equipped with digital cameras to their field agents a letter stating their reasons of conscience for refus- to improve the “productivity of revenue officers in Printing ing to pay the total shown. In both cases there was Lakeside Printing determining asset valuation,” according to a nothing improper (per IRS standards) about the Cooperative Government Accountability Office report. way the return was completed. It appears that the Source: www.gao.gov/new.items/d08728.pdf Printed on Recycled Paper IRS’s “frivolous office” in Ogden, Utah, is improper- More Than a Paycheck is a ly sending this letter to resisters who have filed their return to the best of their knowledge with no extra- Hidden in the Housing Bill bimonthly publication of the When Congress passed its housing bill last sum- neous deductions or credits. The regulation clearly National War Tax Resistance mer, they slipped in some tax provisions. One of refers to a “frivolous tax return.” An enclosed letter, Coordinating Committee, a these requires online payment enablers like the pop- just because it shows what the IRS considers a “friv- clearinghouse and resource ular PayPal service to issue Form-1099 reports to the center for the conscientious olous” position, should not generate threats of the IRS for anyone who receives $20,000 or more war tax resistance $5,000 penalty. through their service. Before this, online vendors like movement in the United Individuals who receive this letter can call the eBay sellers could be part of the “underground States. NWTRCC is a Utah office and explain that their return is valid economy,” and if the IRS got suspicious, they would coalition of local, regional and must be accepted as it was filed. Thus far we have to conduct an audit or get a subpoena to learn and national affiliate groups have not heard of any resisters who have had the about the income. working on war tax $5,000 penalty imposed if their form included the related issues. continues on page 5 NWTRCC sees poverty, racism, sexism, homophobia, economic exploitation, environmental destruction and militarization of Many Thanks Network Updates law enforcement as integrally linked with the militarism which we abhor. Through the We are grateful for recent contributions and dues Thanks to all who responded so far to the redirection of our tax dollars, payments from: NWTRCC members contribute network mailing and returning the postcard Heartland Peace Tax Fund (KS) directly to the struggle for Pioneer Valley War Tax Resistance (MA) (or the information) to update our Network List. peace and justice for all. Michiana War Tax Rufusers (IN) If you have not responded yet, please do. Sonoma County Taxes for Peace (CA) Subscriptions to All updates will appear on the website by mid- More Than a Paycheck and the Oregon Community for War Tax Resisters are $15 per year. (Portland) for their special appeal October. Print versions of the Network List are NWTRCC to members to help raise funds for the video project available on request from the NWTRCC office, and international travel. PO Box 150553 and regional listings are also mailed to Brooklyn, NY 11215 and to each of you who made a contribution to bring (718) 768-3420 a representative from Palestine to the international individuals who contact us for more information. conference (page 1). We are sorry to report that our (800) 269-7464 Contact the NWTRCC office if you would like a FAX: (718) 768-4388 traveler could not get a visa, so we may set aside these funds for the next meeting in 2010. email: [email protected] print version of the list, 1-800-269-7464. Web: www.nwtrcc.org Note: Apologies to Canadian resister Joshua Goldberg for neglecting to ask permission before printing parts of his letter in the last issue. Keep up with news from our friends in Canada at www.consciencecanada.ca. PAGE 2 More than a paycheck • October 2008 book reviews the rights and privileges of citizenship.” challenging question of whether people of An Uncommon Path: 2,000 Women’s voices are here too, adamant as conscience should pay for war. Years of Tax Resistance members of the Women’s Tax Resistance When David was assembling his first vol- League, a tactic that Beatrice Harraden called ume, We Won’t Pay: A Tax Resistance Reader, Reviewed by Clare Hanrahan “the most logical phase of the fight for suf- covering tax resistance of many kinds, he We Won’t Pay! A Tax Resistance Reader frage. …a culmination of the Government’s envisaged this Quaker collection as a small Edited by David M. Gross injustice and stupidity to ask that we pay an spin-off. But the material he found could “…the great sum required is made up of income tax on income earned by brains, barely be squeezed into a 466-page book. littles; and if all those littles are withheld, the when they are refusing to consider us eligible The first Quaker case reported dates from effusion of human blood may be at an end.” to vote.” In more recent times, Caroline Urie 1666. The collection shows dramatically —James Mott, 16th century Quaker wrote to President Truman: “I’ll never pay any how American Quakers have labored ever who refused payment of postage taxes used more money for war,” and Juanita Nelson since with questions about what stand to to support the Revolutionary War whose belief “that it is more important to do take, what portion of one’s taxes to pay, what is right than what is lawful or expedi- whether to break the law of the land, how ent,” led her to jail in her Sears-Roebuck much to suffer for the sake of conscience.