A tax resister resists or refuses payment of a tax because of opposition to the institution collecting the tax, or to some of that institution’s policies. Often tax resistance has come from pacifists, conscientious objectors or members of religious groups, such as the Quakers, who choose not to fund violent government activities. It has also been a technique used by nonviolent resistance movements, such as India’s campaign for independence led by Mahatma Gandhi. Tax rates around the world Tax revenue as % of GDP Economic policy Monetary policy Central bank   Money supply Fiscal policy Spending   Deficit   Debt Trade policy Tariff   Trade agreement Finance Financial market Financial market participants Corporate   Personal Public   Banking   Regulation        A tax is a financial charge or other levy imposed on... Pacifism is the opposition to war or violence as a means of settling disputes or gaining advantage. ... It has been suggested that Conscientious objection throughout the world be merged into this article or section. ... Various Religious symbols, including (first row) Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Bahai, (second row) Islamic, tribal, Taoist, Shinto (third row) Buddhist, Sikh, Hindu, Jain, (fourth row) Ayyavazhi, Triple Goddess, Maltese cross, pre-Christian Slavonic Religion is the adherence to codified beliefs and rituals that generally involve a faith in a spiritual... The Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as Quakers, or Friends, is a religious community founded in England in the 17th century. ... Nonviolent resistance (or nonviolent action) is the practice of applying power to achieve socio-political goals through symbolic protests, civil disobedience, economic or political noncooperation, and other methods, without using violence. ... Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (Gujarati: , Hindi: , IAST: mohandās karamcand gāndhÄ«, IPA: ) (October 2, 1869 – January 30, 1948), was a major political and spiritual leader of India and the Indian independence movement. ...

Unlike tax protesters who deny that the legal obligation to pay taxes exists or applies, tax resisters typically recognize that the law commands them to pay taxes but still choose to resist taxation. A tax protester is an individual who denies the obligation to pay a tax (for which the government has determined that person is liable) based on a belief that the government is acting outside of its legal authority when imposing such taxes. ...

History of tax resistance

Main article: History of tax resistance

Tax resistance has probably existed as long as those in a position of power have imposed taxes. ...

Motives

Tax resisters are typically motivated by disagreement with the policies of the government or institution that is collecting the tax. This may include opposing that government or institution entirely, and not just specific policies (for instance, Gandhi’s opposition to British Imperial rule).

Anarchists who resist taxes oppose anybody or any institution that demands tribute. Christian anarchists in the pacifist tradition resist taxes that fund a violent civil defence force or military. Some people suggest that a right to deny tax payments is in the spirit of democracy, giving people a veto right and forcing government spending to be done with the consent of the governed. Christian anarchism is any of several traditions which combine anarchism with Christianity. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

What a tax resister hopes to accomplish may be personal or political or some combination of those two. Some tax resisters want to “wash their hands” of complicity in immoral government policies by not contributing to funding them. Some resist taxes as a form of protest that communicates the strength of their opposition through an act of civil disobedience. Some see tax resistance as a form of nonviolent political force – cutting off funds from the government as part of a campaign to force concessions from that government or to cause it to relinquish control. Schoolchildren washing their hands before eating lunch. ... Anti-war activist Midge Potts is arrested for civil disobedience on the steps of the Supreme Court of the United States on February 9, 2005. ... Nonviolent resistance (or nonviolent action) is the practice of applying power to achieve socio-political goals through symbolic protests, civil disobedience, economic or political noncooperation, and other methods, without using violence. ...

Methods

There are many methods of tax resistance. In war-tax resistance circles in the United States it is sometimes remarked that there are as many ways to practice tax resistance as there are resisters.

Redirection

Some tax resisters refuse to pay all or a portion of the taxes due, but make an equivalent donation to charity. In this way, they demonstrate that the intent of their resistance is not selfish and that they want to use a portion of their earnings to contribute to the common good.

For instance, Julia Butterfly Hill resisted about $150,000 in federal taxes, and donated that money to after school programs, arts and cultural programs, community gardens, programs for Native Americans, alternatives to incarceration, and environmental protection programs. She said: Julia Butterfly Hill in the redwood tree Luna. ...

I actually take the money that the IRS says goes to them and I give it to the places where our taxes should be going. And in my letter to the IRS I said: “I’m not refusing to pay my taxes. I’m actually paying them but I’m paying them where they belong because you refuse to do so.”^[1] Seal of the Internal Revenue Service Tax rates around the world Tax revenue as % of GDP Part of the Taxation series        “IRS” redirects here. ...

Groups like the National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund (United States), Peace Tax Seven (United Kingdom), Netzwerk-Friedenssteuer (Germany), and Conscience and Peace Tax International work to legalize a form of conscientious objection to military taxation which would enable conscientious objectors to designate their taxes to be spent only on non-military budget items.^[2] They see this as a legalized form of war tax redirection. The National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund (NCPTF) is a non-profit organization located in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1971 to address conscientious objection to military taxation. ... Conscientious objection to military taxation (COMT) is a legal theory that attempts to extend the concessions to conscientious objectors that many governments allow in the case of conscription to the realm of taxation — thereby allowing conscientious objectors to insist that their tax payments not be spent on the military. ...

Refusing specific taxes

Some resisters resist only certain taxes, either because those taxes are especially noxious to them, or because they present a useful symbolic target, or because they are more easily resisted.

For instance, in the United States, many war tax resisters resist the telephone federal excise tax. The tax was initiated to pay for the Spanish-American War and has frequently been raised or extended by the government during times of war. This made it an attractive symbolic target as a “war tax”. Such refusal is relatively safe: because this tax is typically small, resistance very rarely triggers significant government retaliation. Phone companies will cooperate with such resisters by removing the excise tax from their phone bills and reporting their resistance to the government.^[3] The Telephone federal excise tax is a statutory Federal Excise Tax imposed under the Internal Revenue Code in the United States under on amounts paid for certain communications services. ... Combatants United States Republic of Cuba Philippine Republic Spain Commanders Nelson A. Miles William R. Shafter George Dewey Máximo Gómez Emilio Aguinaldo Patricio Montojo Pascual Cervera Arsenio Linares General Ramón Blanco Casualties 3,289 U.S. dead (432 from combat); considerably higher although undetermined Cuban and Filipino... A war tax stamp is a type of postage stamp added to an envelope in addition to regular postage. ...

Refusing to pay

The most dramatic and characteristic method of tax resistance is to refuse to pay a tax – either by quietly ignoring the tax bill or by openly declaring the refusal to pay.

Some tax resisters resist only a portion of the taxes due. For instance, some war tax resisters refuse to pay a percentage of their taxes equivalent to the military percentage of the government’s budget.

Other resisters withhold a symbolic amount – for instance, in the United States, some might hold back $17.76/17.76% (symbolic of the revolutionary year 1776) or $10.40/10.4% (in tribute to Form 1040, which is used in federal income tax returns). Year 1776 (MDCCLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Thursday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar). ... The Form 1040 is the starting form for personal income tax returns filed in the United States. ...

Paying under protest

Some taxpayers pay their taxes, but include protest letters along with their tax forms. Others pay in a protesting form – for instance, by writing their check on a toilet seat or a mock-up of a missile. Others pay in a way that creates inconvenience for the collector – for instance, by paying the entire amount in low-denomination coins.

Tax avoidance

A resister may lower the tax due by using legal tax avoidance techniques. This article contrasts tax evasion, tax avoidance and tax mitigation. ...

Tax evasion

A resister may lower the tax due through illegal tax evasion. For instance, one way to avoid the income tax is to participate in the underground economy – earning money that is never declared to the government. This article contrasts tax evasion, tax avoidance, tax resistance and tax mitigation. ... This box:      The underground economy or shadow economy consists of all commerce that is not taxed. ...

Reducing expenditure and income

Other tax resisters change their lives and lifestyles so that they owe less tax. For instance; to avoid an excise tax on alcohol, a resister might home-brew beer; to avoid excise taxes on gasoline, a resister might take up bicycling; to avoid income tax, a resister might decide to take in less income and take up a simple living or freegan lifestyle; and so forth. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Homebrewing beer. ... Vehicular cycling, or VC, is the practice of driving bicycles on roads in a manner which is visible, predictable, and in accordance with the principles for driving a vehicle in traffic. ... Tax rates around the world Tax revenue as % of GDP Economic policy Monetary policy Central bank   Money supply Fiscal policy Spending   Deficit   Debt Trade policy Tariff   Trade agreement Finance Financial market Financial market participants Corporate   Personal Public   Banking   Regulation        An income tax is a tax levied on the financial income... Simple living (or voluntary simplicity) is a lifestyle individuals may pursue for a variety of motivations, such as spirituality, health, or ecology. ... Freeganism is a lifestyle based around the belief that almost all work and monetary exchanges within a capitalist economy contribute to myriad forms of exploitation - worker abuse, animal exploitation, hunger, ecological destruction, mass incarceration, war, inequitable distribution of resources, commodification of women - almost all issues addressed by social, ecological, and...

These methods differ from tax evasion in that they stay within the tax laws, and they differ from tax avoidance in that the goal is to pay as little tax as possible rather than to keep as much post-tax income as possible. This article contrasts tax evasion, tax avoidance, tax resistance and tax mitigation. ... This article contrasts tax evasion, tax avoidance and tax mitigation. ...

Arguments for tax resistance

There are a variety of arguments made for tax resistance. Some of the arguments are as follows:

• The government has no legitimate claim to the fruits of one’s labor and so taxation is tantamount to theft and slavery.
• The government engages in immoral, unethical and destructive activities, such as war or capital punishment, and paying taxes inevitably funds these activities.
• The government is non-legitimate i.e. the rulers did not come to power in a legitimate manner.
• The government regime in power is corrupt, serving mainly their own needs.
• The size and scope of government has reached levels far beyond that required of the state.
• The wealthy, or those in power, do not pay their "fair share."
• The government is inefficient and wasteful, providing inadequate return on the tax collected.
• The destitute should be helped through voluntary giving and charities, not funds obtained from compulsory taxation.
• Individuals who chose to take nothing out of the government system (no state pension, healthcare or police protection, for example) need not pay into the system.
• Some taxpayers are non-citizens and are therefore subject to taxation without having a voice in the government.

Everyday instance of theft: the bike which fits on this wheel has disappeared. ... Slave redirects here. ... Look up war in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Capital punishment, or the death penalty, is the execution of a convicted criminal by the state as punishment for crimes known as capital crimes or capital offences. ... Destitution is an extreme state of poverty, in which a person is almost completely lacking in resources or means of support. ...

Arguments against tax resistance

Many arguments can be made against the tactic of tax resistance. Most basic, of course, is from those who support the entity collecting the tax and feel that other people should as well. But even those who are sympathetic with the tax resister’s complaints may question the methods. Some common arguments against tax resistance are:

• In a majoritarian democracy, if everyone funded only those decisions with which they agree, the government would be undermined.
• If taxes are left unpaid, the government will take the money from someone else, which is unfair to them.
• Individuals who evade taxes are free riders, benefiting from government services like road infrastructure and security without paying their share of the bill.
• Tax resistance is too passive and ineffective a way to gain political change. As of 2006, a third of those Americans who file tax returns and 41% of all Americans pay no federal income tax.^[4] If the U.S. government can thrive with so many people avoiding the income tax, it would require an unlikely number of tax resisters to have any effect, either as a protest or as an actual curb on government policy.
• The government responds to tax resisters by assessing fines, interest, and/or penalties against them, which may mean they end up with more money in the end.

In economics and political science, free riders are actors who consume more than their fair share of a resource, or shoulder less than a fair share of the costs of its production. ... 2006 is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Lucky Duckies is a term that was used in Wall Street Journal editorials starting on 20 November 2002 to refer to Americans who pay no federal income tax because they are at an income that is below the tax line (after deductions and credits). ...

Notable tax resisters

See also: Category:Tax resisters

Quotations

See also

• Gulching
• Protest
• Render unto Caesar...
• Tax incidence
• Tax revolt

Gulching refers to the act of physically retreating from mainstream society in company with other freedom-seekers. ... Demonstrators march in the street while protesting the World Bank and International Monetary Fund on April 16, 2005. ... Christ and the tribute by Masaccio “Render unto Caesar…” is a phrase attributed to Jesus in the synoptic gospels. ... First discussed by the Physiocrats in France, tax incidence is the analysis of the effect of a particular tax on the distribution of economic welfare. ... A tax revolt is a political struggle to repeal, limit, or roll back a government-imposed tax. ...

Notes

External links

• What is War Tax Resistance? from the American advocacy group NWTRCC
• History of War Tax Resistance by War Resisters League (U.S. focus)
• History of War Tax Resistance by Peace Tax Seven (U.S./UK focus)
• Resistance to Civil Government by Henry David Thoreau
• Silence and Courage: Income Taxes, War and Mennonites 1940-1993
• The Tax Resistance League — tax resistance in the women's suffrage movement
• The Theory, Practice & Influence of Thoreau's Civil Disobedience by Lawrence Rosenwald
• The Picket Line — resources, history, and commentary on tax resistance issues