JoePublicFilmsBlog

« An Open Letter to Sen. Judd Gregg Re: the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge | Main | Happy Decorating, Mrs. Gregg! »

April 04, 2005

If You Resist, They Will Listen

The story goes that when Henry David Thoreau was in jail for refusing to pay his federal taxes in protest of the US invasion of Mexico (commonly referred to in the US as the Mexican-American War), that he was visited by his friend Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson walked into the jail and said to his friend, "What are you doing in there?!" Thoreau, without skipping a beat, retorted, "What are you doing out there?!"

It’s crunch time for paying this year’s taxes. For the many who put this unsavory task off until the last minute, and for those who are strongly opposed to myriad policies of the Bush administration, there has never been a better time to consider tax resistance.

More than 50% of your tax dollars are allocated to war making. I’ve met very few people who know that fact and consider it a good thing. More people consider it a tragedy, particularly when added to the fact that we don’t have universal health care, 15% of Americans have no health insurance at all, and the cost of higher education is through the roof. The money we pay in taxes is not going to our real priorities. And just so there’s no revisionist history, let me point out that the percentage of your tax dollars going toward military before 9/11 were approaching 50%. This is not a new thing.

Tax resistance, in the past, has been a conversation stopper, even among most progressives. After all, people falsely believe that they, like Thoreau, will be thrown in jail for not paying their taxes. Almost as frightening is the prospect of losing one’s hard-earned property—a home or a new car. And then there’s paycheck garnishing. Well, it is quite rare for any of these things to happen, the latter being more likely than the others. Still, when I bring up tax resistance, many eyes glaze over until the subject is changed.

There are additional reasons why many people don’t consider tax resistance an option:

Some people point out that tax resistance will also adversely effect good programs run by our government. Personally, I think our current government is by far the worst enemy of those programs. Funds from an organized tax resistance can be put toward programs that are working to help people in the US and elsewhere. Another way of looking at it is that it’s a temporary refusal—just until there’s a massive wholesale change in our foreign and domestic policies. I’ll pay what I owe, but not until my government learns to play nice with the rest of the world, and takes some genuine responsibility for people in need here at home.

Some people suggest boycotting US products as a way to make our people in power listen. I think it’s one good approach, but by itself it won’t work. After all, some of the companies benefiting the most from the invasion and occupation of Iraq and to which neoconservatives are most beholden are companies that either don’t trade directly with the public, or make their greatest profits off government contracts: Halliburton, Raytheon, DynCorp, and many other war profiteers are not easily effected by consumer boycotts. Tax resistance will effect them. If our government suddenly doesn’t have billions to spend, those companies are, to borrow a phrase from Clint Eastwood, shit-outta-luck.

Comfort is among the worst enemies of social change. Fear of losing what we have is natural, but consider the greater losses looming close by. Continued invasion and occupation of sovereign nations, continued use of hazardous products like depleted uranium, continued foot dragging in changing from oil use to renewable energy. A realistic look at history shows that change only comes when people are willing to take risks to achieve it. If we truly desire peace and respect for human rights, and we sincerely hope to save the ecological health of the Earth (assuming it’s not too late already), we must make substantial sacrifices and take risks to bring about the changes we seek.

In 1982, Reagan administration Secretary of State Alexander Haig made a telling statement. Hundreds of thousands of people had marched in New York City, protesting the administration's Latin American foreign policies. When asked what he thought about the huge protest, Haig stated, "Let them protest all they want, as long as they pay their taxes." Although I disagree with Mr. Haig's disparaging view of the value of public protest, his point is well taken. Money is the primary language of the military-industrial-media complex. An organized, public, large-scale tax resistance movement will speak volumes to them.

PS: I do put my money where my mouth is. I owe taxes from 1999 and 2000. Since then, with inspiration from the Catholic Worker movement and elsewhere I have, by choice, lived below the poverty line.

For more about tax resistance, check these websites:

National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee
http://www.nwtrcc.org/

War Resisters League
http://www.warresisters.org/wtr_menu.htm

Posted by Joe Public at April 4, 2005 05:40 PM

Comments

Posted by: StuartH at August 30, 2005 04:06 PM

Post a comment