10,000 refuse to pay U.S. taxes to protest Iraq war

[ECH1969]

An estimated 10,000 conscientious objectors chose to withhold some or all of their U.S. income taxes due Monday, April 17, in protest to the use of US military power in Iraq.

The Internal Revenue Service does not distinguish tax resistors from any other person behind on their taxes, and will apply the same fines and interest used against the millions of other Americans that do not pay their tax on time.

http://www.juiceenewsdaily.com/index.php/2006/04/17/10000-refuse-to-pay-us-taxes-to-protest-iraq-war/

[MercutioATC]

1. Ooooh! THAT'LL do some good...

:sarcasm:

...maybe I'll just cut off my nose to protest the war...

[meganmonkey]

7. I highly recommend reading Thoreau's Civil Disobedience

http://www.transcendentalists.com/civil_disobedience.htm

Peace.

[MercutioATC]

15. I'm not suggesting we should be completely passive,

I'm stating that witholding tax payments is a lousy method of civil disobedience. It ensures penalties and interest and, if continued, criminal charges and the IRS will simply seize the money if necessary.

I don't see the value.

[BlooInBloo]

17. Hm. That's what it sounded to me you meant.

I'm not the brightest tho :(

[MercutioATC]

21. No, I meant what I said. Witholding taxes is an impractical method.

The IRS will eventually get the money anyway and the "protestor" will have to deal with penalties and interest and possible criminal charges.

Penalty wothout gain doesn't fit my definition of succesful civil disobedience.

[meganmonkey]

22. Thoreau refused to pay his taxes

That's what his essay 'Civil Disobedience' is ultimately about. Again, I recommend reading it. It explains the logic of this act very well. Here's an excerpt.

A minority is powerless while it conforms to the majority; it is not even a minority then; but it is irresistible when it clogs by its whole weight. If the alternative is to keep all just men in prison, or give up war and slavery, the State will not hesitate which to choose. If a thousand men were not to pay their tax bills this year, that would not be a violent and bloody measure, as it would be to pay them, and enable the State to commit violence and shed innocent blood. This is, in fact, the definition of a peaceable revolution, if any such is possible. If the tax-gatherer, or any other public officer, asks me, as one has done, "But what shall I do?" my answer is, "If you really wish to do anything, resign your office." When the subject has refused allegiance, and the officer has resigned from office, then the revolution is accomplished. But even suppose blood shed when the conscience is wounded? Through this wound a man's real manhood and immortality flow out, and he bleeds to an everlasting death. I see this blood flowing now.

[Terran1212]

11. It would do good if ENOUGH people did it; Don't blame THEM

Blame the people who AREN'T doing it. The protesters are doing what's right; what's not being accomplished as a result is not their fault but yours.

[MercutioATC]

13. No, it wouldn't.

The IRS would just seize the money. It'd take longer than voluntary payment, but the government would get paid.

It's a silly idea.

[Terran1212]

19. Would the IRS do that to a few million people?

It's only silly when you criticize those doing the right thing instead of joining them.

[MercutioATC]

20. Of course they would.

Hey, if people want to make ineffective protests that make their lives difficult, more power to them. I stand by my contention that the idea as impractical.

[bluestateguy]

2. I would like a checkoff form on my taxes

So I can checkoff the programs and agencies that I would like to direct my tax dollars to.

Also, if you expect to get a refund you SHOULD file, to get back every cent you can. That is that much less noney that will go to George Bush's war machine.

[RaleighNCDUer]

3. I've not gotten a refund since the 1st * 'tax cut'.

And my state taxes went up by over $200, from well under $100, each of the last 4 years.

[Rose Siding]

10. I'd check that box too, but I wouldn't just refuse to pay

The war isn't -of course- the only spending done by the govt, so there's that. More importantly, this is not the way the country works. Imagine if, during a Democratic presidency, supremacists refused to pay taxes because some of their money supported schools attended by Black children -Not drawing any moral equivalency at all between the two positions. It's just an example. There could probably be a different example for almost every taxpayer.

[jmatthan]

4. If 50% of US Citizens

do not pay their taxes - the situation could be changed.

When will US citizens decide "enough is enough"?

They are doing this in Nepal presently against the Monarchy.

I refused my contract with a British publisher so that my tax would not be used to kill innocent Iraqis. I quoted a force majeure clause.

[MercutioATC]

16. No, 50% of U.S. citizens would have the funds(plus penalties and interest)

seized by the IRS. The government would still get its money.

[jmatthan]

23. Not if it included 50% of the people

working in the IRS!

[m0nkeyneck]

5. cheat ...please

[mfeher71]

6. I love this idea but...

...in my experience, I *always* end up causing myself trouble. I would love to thumb my nose at the Boosh War Machine but I'd just get socked with extra fines, fees, and black marks on my tax record because of it, most likely (though in years past I have included tartly worded protest letters).

[stillcool]

8. Put your money where your mouth is ?....

good for them. Wish I were in a position to say 'no', and have it mean something. All I have is empty words.

[Fiendish Thingy]

9. I'm not brave enough to refuse to pay taxes, but I will emigrate

and become a patriot-in-exile (versus an expatriot) rather than continue to fund the US war/torture/corporate welfare machine with my wages.

If things don't change in the next 12 months, i.e. Dems in house/senate, investigations, impeachment hearings, etc. I will leave. If they steal another election, start another illegal war, continue to erode our rights, with no opposition or oversight from Congress, I will leave.

[rinsd]

12. Where is the sourcing for this?

Seems like a press release for an anti-tax org rather than actual news.

[davidthegnome]

14. Is it possible

or at all likely, that these people could/will go to prison for refusing to pay taxes? My understanding is that the IRS doesn't take kindly to being told to go fuck itself.

[Jersey Devil]

18. If they refuse to file a return, but not if they refuse to pay

We don't have debtors' prisons anymore, even for taxes. But if they fail to file they can wind up in jail.