By Lincoln Rice
Since Israel's invasion of Gaza last October, largely using weapons provided by the United States, more Americans have begun looking into how they can stop funding a genocide.
The US provides Israel with over $3 billion each year in military aid, an amount that has increased since October. And since the end of World War II, the US has provided more military aid to Israel than any other country in the world, to the tune of $317 billion.
After removing Social Security and Medicare, which are dedicated trust funds raised and spent separately from income taxes, the War Resisters League asserts that military spending accounts for 45 percent of federal expenditures.
For President Biden’s proposed budget for 2025, this will amount to $2.52 trillion.
All of that money comes from US taxpayers, whether they like it or not. But a resistance movement is growing.
War tax resistance
The National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee (NWTRCC) was founded in 1982 by a coalition of groups working to maintain and build a national movement of resistors to military taxes.
Essentially, war tax resistance means refusing to pay some or all of one's federal income taxes or living in ways that eliminate tax liability.
The exact number of people who conscientiously refuse to pay their taxes is hard to determine, but we believe it is well over 10,000. Before the invasion of Gaza, the NWTRCC had 40,000 unique visitors to our website each year. Now, we have nearly 20,000 unique visitors each month.
In early November, as more people discovered NWTRCC's website, our server crashed. This happened two more times in late 2023, until we had properly upgraded our website to handle the increased demand.
People are coming to our website to learn how to decrease the amount of federal income taxes automatically withheld from their paychecks. They also want to know how much actual risk is involved with refusing to pay these taxes.
In the US, it is a crime to willfully fail to pay one's taxes. However, in recent decades the IRS has for the most part not criminally prosecuted war tax resisters as long as they did not file a fraudulent return by understating income or taking unwarranted deductions.
Endless war
In addition to the current situation in Gaza, the United States has continued its endless "War on Terror" through drone warfare in places like Afghanistan, Syria and Yemen. The US also maintains a strong global military presence through over 800 overseas military bases.
War tax resistance is another form of conscientious objection. For those of us who would refuse to participate in military service, how can we in good conscience fund war? This question prompted many Americans to become war tax resisters during the Vietnam War and beyond.
My own war tax resistance solidified in the late 1990s after hearing then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright state in an interview that the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children who died as a result of US sanctions was "worth it." Since then, I have not voluntarily paid any federal income taxes.
This tax season, the NWTRCC office coordinated online workshops on the various methods and possible risks associated with war tax resistance on almost a weekly basis. These have included sessions sponsored by the National Lawyers Guild and Healthcare Workers for Palestine in the Bay Area.
Most of those joining the sessions are under 30 years old and racially diverse. The most common way they found out about war tax resistance was on Instagram, where we have seen interaction with our account grow exponentially. Before the invasion of Gaza, we had less than 500 followers, and now we are nearing 20,000.
Protesting military spending
On and around Tax Day (April 15) this year, thousands of people across the United States—from Chico, California to Manhattan, New York—protested US military spending.
Many promoted war tax resistance and highlighted the deep flaws of our current budget. We do not have a consensus on where tax dollars should be spent, but we all agree that over $2 trillion for US militarism is unconscionable.
For example, during rush hour on Tax Day, resisters in Portland, Oregon, held signs protesting tax dollars for genocide on a downtown bridge. In several cities, local groups hosted penny polls, where passers-by were given pennies to distribute among different budgetary priorities.
In southwestern Wisconsin, one man decided to don a homemade Captain America outfit and bike to the state capital, stopping in small towns along the way to talk to people about war tax resistance.
To be clear, war tax resistance is not about avoiding one's fiscal responsibility to one's community. War tax resisters who refuse to pay federal income taxes redirect those funds to underfunded organisations.
Often this redirection is done individually, but it is also performed communally. For example, Shenandoah Valley Taxes for Peace in Harrisonburg, Virginia organises an annual "Redirection Vigil" at LOVE Park next to the Harrisonburg Farmers' Market. They publicly redirect taxes to peace and justice organisations.
In Oakland, California, the Northern California War Tax Resistance & People’s Life Fund redirected $67,000 of withheld federal income taxes during a granting ceremony in April to 17 local organisations that are building community and working for social justice.
The climate crisis is also an issue for war tax resisters. The US military is the largest user of oil in the world. At top speed, an F-35A jet ignites more fuel in a single hour than the average US car owner consumes in two years.
In addition, climate accords like the 2015 Paris Agreement exempt military compliance. Highlighting the connection between the US military and environmental harm, the New York City War Resisters League continued its collaboration with Extinction Rebellion NYC and other climate action groups this past Tax Day.
Although it is a criminal act to willfully refuse payment of one's federal income taxes, the most common repercussion is an automated letter, with the possibility of a bank levy or wage garnishment.
If a resistor is collected on, there are those in our network who will pass the hat to reimburse the resistor for any fines and penalties collected as a result of the levy.
The author, Lincoln Rice, has been the Coordinator of the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee (NWTRCC) since 2018 and a war tax resister since 1998. He earned his PhD in Christian Ethics in 2013 from Marquette University. He has published books and articles in the areas of social ethics and racial justice.
Disclaimer: The views expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect the opinions, viewpoints and editorial policies of TRT Afrika.
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