(no subject)
- From: "Micheal J. Mc Evoy" <chewy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 19 Apr 2006 19:51:46 -0500
From: David.E.Ortman.guest.069167@xxxxxxxxxxxxx (David E. Ortman, Seattle, WA)
To: menno.org.peace.d@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: Tax Resistance (or lack of it)
Date: Wed, 19 Apr 2006 19:12:31 CDT
FR: David E. Ortman (Seattle, WA)
The following appeared in Monday's Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Otherwise,
tax day came and went without any comment at Seattle Mennonite Church on
Sunday. I guess everybody was too busy celebrating Easter to worry about
paying for war.
==========
Seattle P-I
Monday, April 17, 2006
Taxpayer says no more for war
DAVID B. BERRIAN
GUEST COLUMNIST
To the IRS:
I can't do this any more. I will no longer pay for war -- the murder of
civilians -- with my tax dollars.
For more than 40 years, I have paid federal taxes accurately and regularly.
I've often supported new taxes when the proceeds would help people. Now I
have to stop. Attached is my 2005 tax return that shows I have taxes due. I
won't be paying them voluntarily. Although I'll continue to pay state and
local taxes, I will no longer pay federal income tax.
The costs of war (past, present, future) now take nearly 50 percent of every
federal tax dollar. U.S. expenditures on the military are now more than the
military spending of all other countries in the world combined.
War is no longer a battle of armies. Today it is the policy of our country
to fight an endless war against terrorism -- against virtually anyone,
anywhere that political leaders find it expedient to call an enemy.
It used to be that it was mostly soldiers who died in war; civilian
casualties were few. Now civilians are more than 80 percent of the war dead,
and this is not counting the massive deaths of the elderly, women and
children due to hunger, lack of clean water, and lack of basic medical care
directly caused by war.
It's hard to distinguish between terrorists and civilians, so now we make
homes, markets and civilian infrastructure direct military targets. Of
course, this is contrary to international law to which this country is a
signator, but this does not stop us. Our war on terrorism has quite
literally become a war on women and children.
It is no longer necessary for a country or group to harm the United States
for us to go to war with them. It is the policy of our country to use
pre-emptive military strikes against anyone we feel fearful of or who does
not have policies we think are correct. We state that no international
agreements, even those the United States was instrumental in developing,
will dissuade us from those strikes. Even first use of nuclear weapons is a
policy option.
The rule of law is disparaged. Our U.S. Constitution is ignored. We openly
use torture and indefinite detentions without any access to due process. How
is it possible for any moral person not to be appalled by all this?
To be true to my conscience, I have to stop my collaboration with war. I
realize that not all of my taxes go for war; there are many government
services I support. If I could pay only for those, I would gladly do it. But
I know that for every dollar I pay you, you'll take half to perpetuate war.
So I need to stop altogether. Every year I will calculate my taxes, and I'll
make sure to provide at least that amount to community groups that provide
human services and that promote peace and non-violence.
Your job is to collect taxes and I respect that you need to do it. However,
I will no longer be paying federal taxes voluntarily so long as our country
continues to promote its current policies for war.
David B. Berrian lives in Bothell.
-------
Austin Mennonite Church, (512) 926-3121 www.mennochurch.org
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