Past News & Photos - DC War Tax Resisters

April 15, 2004 War Tax Resistance Protest
at IRS Headquarters, Washington DC
See our 2004 Statement Below.

One member made a big cookie showing how he thought tax dollars should be re-allocated.

Redistributing money to Peace Brigades International, among other groups.

Several war tax resisters speak out about why they resist.

This photo made it too Yahoo News and probably was in a number of newspapers.

Statement of the Washington DC War Tax Resisters

April 15, 2004

Today we are gathered at the IRS building in Washington, DC to give away resisted federal taxes to some worthy organizations that are working to alleviate some of the ills of the world. This demonstration here is one of dozens around the country being held today on "Tax Day."
We are people of conscience who are saddened by our government's continued occupation of Iraq. We mourn
the loss of untold numbers of lives, both American and Iraqi, that have been lost in that conflict. In refusing to pay part or all of our federal taxes and re-directing that money, war tax resisters are intentionally violating the law to withhold our support and of the illegal, immoral and unjust war in Iraq--as well as untold future wars our government may lead us into. Many of us are conscientious objectors to military service as well as conscientious objectors to PAYING for our country's military. Not in our names are these illegal and immoral actions taking place--now or in the future.
We join together here at the IRS to publicly declare that we will not cooperate with our government's policy of advocating and enacting violent responses to international conflict. Not in our names will the U.S. government continue to uphold a military system that all too often threatens and takes lives around the world, while government programs that meet human needs are routinely cut or eliminated.
Today, Instead of paying war taxes to the IRS, we are re-directing them to organizations that work non-violently for peace and social justice. The Washington Area Alternative Fund is giving away refused federal taxes to the American Friends Service Committee--for their relief work around the world, to Peace Brigades International--for their work of providing non-violent support of human rights in Colombia, South America., and to Jubilee Housing--for their work in providing residents of the District of Columbia with decent affordable housing.
Many of us will continue our war tax resistance until our government prioritizes human needs, peace, and social justice over international aggression, war and violence. In closing, we recall the wise words of John F. Kennedy: "War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today."
Hopefully, that day is not so far off.

        Today we are gathered at the IRS building in Washington, DC to give away thousands of dollars in resisted federal taxes to several worthy organizations that are working to alleviate some of the ills of the world. This demonstration here is one of dozens around the country being held today on "Tax Day."
        We are people of conscience who are appalled by our government's illegal aggression in Iraq. We mourn the loss of untold numbers of lives that have been needlessly taken at the hands of our military.
        In refusing to pay part or all of our federal taxes and re-directing that money, war tax resisters are intentionally violating the law to further withhold our support and our cooperation from the illegal, immoral and unjust war in Iraq--as well as any future wars our government may lead us into. Many of us are conscientious objectors to military service as well as conscientious objectors to PAYING for our country's military. Not in our names are these illegal and immoral actions taking place--now or in the future.
        We join together here at the IRS to publicly declare that we will not cooperate with our government's policy of advocating and enacting violent responses to international conflict. Not in our names will the U.S. government continue to uphold a military system that all too often threatens and takes lives around the world, while government programs that meet human needs are routinely cut or eliminated.
        Today, Instead of paying war taxes to the IRS, we are re-directing them to organizations that work non-violently for peace and social justice. The Washington Area Alternative Fund and the Louisa (Virginia) Alternative Fund are giving away refused federal taxes to groups including the American Friends Service Committee--for their war relief efforts in Iraq, Jospeh's House--for their work with local homeless men with AIDS or cancer, the Mennonite Central Committee-- for their reconciliation work in Colombia, South America, the Charlottesville Free Clinic--for their free health care clinic in central Virginia, and to the Richmond, Virginia Peace Education Center.
        Many of us will continue our war tax resistance until our government prioritizes human needs, peace, and social justice over international aggression, war and violence. In closing, I'd like to recall the wise words of John F, Kennedy, former president of the United States. He said that "war will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today." Hopefully, that day is not so far off.

Today, on “Tax Day” 2001, we gather at the IRS in Washington, D.C. to give away thousands of dollars in resisted federal taxes to worthy organizations that are working to alleviate the ill-effects of the militarized U.S. economy. Our demonstration here is one of dozens of similar events being held across the country today. We join with other citizens of conscience who refuse to pay for war.

We are motivated by our strong religious and/or ethical beliefs, which prohibit participation in military activities. Many of us experience a moral dilemma between breaking the law and violating our consciences. Military spending in the U.S., including debts on past wars, represents nearly half of the money collected by the IRS every year. This level of military spending is an outrage--it literally takes money away from the people and programs that need it the most.

We join together here at the IRS to declare that we will not cooperate with our government’s policy of advocating violent means to resolve international conflicts. Not in our names will the U.S. continue to uphold a military system that all too often threatens and destroys lives around the world, while programs that meet human needs are routinely eliminated or grossly under-funded.

Instead of paying war taxes to the IRS, today we are re-directing resisted tax dollars to organizations that work non-violently for peace and social justice. The Washington Area and Louisa (VA) Alternative Funds are giving away almost $4000 in refused federal taxes to organizations including the Washington and Charlottesville Free Clinics, Doctors Without Borders, the International Eye Foundation, Creative Response to Conflict, the American Friends Service Committee, Shelter for Help in Emergency, Freedom House soup kitchen, the Grain of Mustard Seed project, Witness for Peace, the Louisa County Housing Foundation, and the Charlottesville HIV/AIDS Services Group.

Until there is a satisfactory legal alternative that addresses conscientious objection to the payment of military taxes, or until our government prioritizes human needs over war, we see no option but to continue our war tax resistance. We urge our government to use tax revenues for peace, not for war!**

**Editorial note for this web page: Many war tax resisters are anarchist pacifists who consider the collection of taxation through the threat of force also to be immoral and will not comply with coerced taxation if they can help it. See the leaflet Creating a Non-Violent World through War Tax Resistance.

       Seven war tax resisters attempted to enter Washington's IRS headquarters around noon today to invite prosecution for failure to comply with tax regulations, only to find the doors of the taxing institution closed to the public.
     The closed doors were not a complete surprise to the resisters, who had predicted that the IRS would duck the issue to avoid publicizing the fact that there are people in the United States who regularly flout the tax laws with impunity. "We attempted to turn ourselves in," said longtime resister Robert Randall of Georgia, "but the IRS doesn't want to deal with us." The six other resisters were Carol Moore of Washington, Dan Lundquist and Judith Felker of Minnesota, Clare Hanrahan and Steve Megan of North Carolina and Bill O'Connell of Alabama.
       When they were unable to find an IRS official to surrender to, the protesters—some of whom have resisted federal taxes for more than 20 years—gave a helpful officer of the Federal Protective Services documents they had prepared as part of their challenge to the tax agency. Officer Bill Kunkle promised to deliver the documents to an IRS official as soon as he could find one.
     A form of conscientious objection, war tax resistance—holding back all or part of federal taxes in order to prevent theiruse for war—has a long and honorable history in the United States, dating back to the colonial era and including such famous resisters as Henry David Thoreau. The IRS has not prosecuted a resister for decades. A letter from Randall that was among the documents given to Officer Kunkle explained why he and his fellow resisters were nowchallenging the tax agency:
      "Peaceful citizens who are simply constrained by faith and conscience from paying for killing are marginalized as criminals though without the rendering of such a verdict by a jury of our peers. Since I am such a criminal, I believe it is time that you cease being derelict in your duties. I am turning myself in for prosecution as the nefarious threat to society which I am. I will not kill and I will not pay the United States to kill in my name. It is against the law for me not to pay for killing. Prosecute me."
     The surrender was part of a day-long protest against militarism in the federal budget priorities held by the War Resisters League (WRL) and the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee (NWTRCC). It began at 9:00 a.m. at the base of the Washington Monument, where demonstrators held a penny poll in which about 200 passersby "voted" on federal budget priorities they would like to see. The results were:
Health Care: 27% Housing: 15%
Arts/Education: 23% Debt Paydown: 11%
Environmental Protection: 18% Military: 6%
       Those results—83% for human resources and 6% for military expenditures—are consistent with similar polls held across the country in recent years, revealing that the public's priorities diverge substantially from those of the Congress on the issue of military spending. According to WRL's "Where Your Income Tax Really Goes" brochure for 2000, the current federal budget allocates 33% of federal outlays for human resources, 23% for current military expenditures and 24% for past military expenditures.
     The penny poll and war tax resister surrender were part of a 40-day People's Campaign for Nonviolence sponsored by the Fellowship of Reconciliation with broad participation from peace and justice organizations including WRL and NWTRCC. Today's events came at the end of a weekend-long international conference on war tax resistance and peace tax campaigns. More than 120 people from 17 countries participated in the conference, the seventh of its kind and the first one held in the United States.
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