PEACE TAX
Up to 42% every tax dollar we pay goes to pay for WAR. Are you okay with this?
"The rights of conscience we could not submit [to the state].
We are answerable for them to our God." - Thomas Jefferson
On this page:
Death and Taxes - What is the Peace Tax Fund?
A sample letter you can send to your elected officials
Another sample letter
Update - new bill
Peace Tax Links
Will you pay for killing or go to prison?
On July 1, 2005, three conscientious objectors from New Jersey were sentenced to prison terms of 6, 24 and 27 months for refusing to pay taxes for military purposes. Please join me in asking Congress to respond to these harsh sentences by supporting the Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund bill. This bill would allow conscientious objectors to pay their Federal taxes into a fund for non-military purposes only.
Take action now at http://www.democracyinaction.org/ncptf/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=1003
Death and taxes: The unconscionable connection
by Timothy Godshall
No one argues the certainty of death and taxes. It is the connection between the two that weighs heavily on the consciences of many.
In 2003, nearly 42 cents out of every U.S. income tax dollar paid for the military. And this year we will be asked to pay even more for high-tech weaponry while billions of dollars are cut from social programs. The president's 2005 budget proposal calls for a 7% increase in military spending. By comparison, the increase in domestic, non-homeland security spending is 0.1%. When adjusted for inflation, this negligible increase is actually a net decrease in funding for domestic programs.
The Cold War gave rise to the Military Industrial Complex, but the Cold War's end has not brought about a decrease in military spending. Retired Admiral Eugene Carroll Jr. assessed the situation in this way: "For 45 years of the Cold War we were in an arms race with the Soviet Union. Now it appears we're in an arms race with ourselves." The president's proposed military budget, $421 billion, exceeds the combined military budgets of the 25 next-biggest military spenders in the world!
The U.S. military, funded by our tax dollars, does violence on two levels. Obviously, missiles, bombs, and guns are designed to destroy. But even if they are never launched, dropped, or fired, these weapons do violence by consuming resources that could otherwise have gone to feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, and healing the sick. Many people hold the deep conviction that they cannot pay for this double violence.
U.S. draft law since World War II has acknowledged the right to conscientious objection to military participation. Draftees have been given alternatives to serve their country non-militarily. Tax law, however, continues to draft the tax dollars of conscientious objectors who see no moral difference between killing and paying for someone else to kill.
Despite the lack of legal recognition, conscientious objectors continue to refuse to pay for war, risking fines, bank account and property seizures, levies on their wages, and sometimes jail sentences. Some even impoverish themselves and their families rather than be legally bound to pay such taxes. These are people deeply driven by values born of conscience. In a country founded on ideals of freedom of religion and belief, shouldn't conscientious objectors to military taxation be given a way to pay their taxes without paying for war?
A bill currently before Congress, H.R. 2037, would provide just such an option. The Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund Bill would recognize conscientious objection for taxpayers who, on religious or ethical grounds, cannot participate in the funding of war or preparation for war. Taxpayers who now unlawfully withhold the portion of their taxes that support military spending would be able to pay their full taxes once again, while still giving voice to their conscience.
The Peace Tax Fund Bill is molded in the image of conscientious objection to military service. It would not reduce an individual's tax liability, nor would it directly alter the level of military spending as established by Congress. It would channel the current military portion of an objector's income tax to life-affirming governmental programs.
A Peace Tax Fund would provide an opportunity for as many as 160 million taxpayers to examine their consciences each year on the question of war and taxes. Each year, Congress would report the level of usage of the Peace Tax Fund, providing a measure of the nation's conscience regarding the inhumanity of war.
H.R. 2037 was introduced into the House of Representatives by John Lewis (D-GA). It currently has 37 additional co-sponsors. At a time when many legislators are caving in to pressure to restrict civil liberties and rely heavily on military might, it is refreshing to see the courage shown by these co-sponsors who believe in the value of conscience, regardless of their own personal beliefs on war. Support for a Peace Tax Fund Bill has expanded beyond just the historic peace churches to many mainline religious bodies that formally endorsed the Peace Tax Fund Bill as a matter of freedom of conscience.
"Both morals and sound policy require that the state should not violate the conscience of the individual," said Chief Justice Harlan Fisk Stone. "All our history gives confirmation to the view that liberty of conscience has a moral and social value which makes it worthy of preservation at the hands of the state.... It may well be questioned whether the state which preserves its life by a settled policy of violation of the conscience of the individual will not in fact ultimately lose it by that process."
The movement to respect freedom of conscience continues to grow, even during the current climate of fear and militarism. If this country is to live up to the ideals on which it was founded, conscientious objectors must be given alternative service for their drafted dollars.
Timothy Godshall is outreach and development associate at the National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund. For more information, call (888) PEACETAX; visit www.peacetaxfund.org; or e-mail info@peacetaxfund.org.
ACTION ITEM: Copy this text to create a letter for your Congressional Representative, Senators, and the IRS. Feel free to add your own personal touches, and please send us a copy as well!
Dear Congressman/woman,
I write to encourage your active support for the Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund Bill (H.R. 2037 in the 108th Congress). This legislation would affirm the religious freedom of taxpayers who are conscientiously opposed to participation in war, provide that the federal taxes of such taxpayers be used for nonmilitary purposes, create the Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund to receive such tax payments, and improve revenue collection.
Many U.S. taxpayers are conscientiously opposed to participation in war. They seek a way to pay 100% of their taxes without violating their religious or ethical convictions against paying for war. Many of these people have had their wages garnished, some have had cars and even houses seized, and they are often harassed by the Internal Revenue Service because their convictions do not allow them to pay taxes for war.
The Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund Bill addresses these concerns by directing the Secretary of the Treasury to establish a Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund into which conscientious objectors to participation in war could pay their federal income, gift and estate taxes. The revenue in the Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund could be allocated annually to any nonmilitary appropriation.
Since 1940, U.S. law has allowed conscientious objectors to military participation to perform alternative service rather than be conscripted into the military. This law should be extended to allow alternative service for the drafted tax dollars of sincere conscientious objectors.
I ask you to please support the Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund bill when it is introduced in the 109th Congress. Your sponsorship of this bill can make a big difference, so please contact Senator Tom Harkin or Representative John Lewis to become a sponsor. We need your leadership to obtain legal redress for the religious and ethical freedom of conscientious objectors to military taxation as soon as possible.
Thank you for considering this important legislation.
Sincerely,
Please send this letter to:
Your Representative
U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515
Your Senator
U.S. Senate, Washington, DC 20510
IRS (with your tax return)
IRS regulations prohibit writing directly on your tax return (to write even "see attached" makes you liable for a $500 frivolous filing fee) The IRS does not have a policy against enclosing a letter of protest, however. Do not staple letter to IRS form.
National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund
2121 Decatur Pl, NW, Washington, DC 20008
You can email this letter to your elected officials using the emailing resources that we have on our Get Active Page.
Dear (Elected Official),
I am trying my best to obey both the duties of citizenship and the demands of my conscience. I am conscientiously opposed to participation in war, yet I am required to fund the military every time I pay my federal taxes. My conscientious conviction against paying taxes for military purposes is not based on mere personal or political preference. It is grounded in deeply held beliefs based on universally recognized moral, ethical, and religious teachings.
My conscience must deal with the double violence of our military expenditures. Advanced weapons do violence not only by their incredible destructive powers. They also cause devastation in our communities by draining essential financial resources needed to address basic human needs. Approximately 31 cents out of every federal income tax dollar will pay for current military purposes in Fiscal Year 2005. It staggers my mind to contemplate what this nearly $600 billion dollars could do to alleviate human suffering and thus reduce the likelihood of future wars.
Please do not misunderstand - I am not opposed to paying taxes. I seek a way to pay 100% of my taxes without violating my deeply held beliefs against participation in war. I urge you to enact the Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund Bill when it is introduced in the new Congress (It was H.R. 2037 in the 108th Congress). This bill would allow sincere conscientious objectors to military participation to pay their federal income, gift, and estate taxes into a fund earmarked for nonmilitary governmental purposes only.
Since 1940, U.S. law has allowed conscientious objectors to military participation to perform alternative service rather than be conscripted into the military. This law should be extended to allow alternative service for my drafted dollars.
Sincerely,
You can email this letter to your elected officials using the emailing resources that we have on our Get Active Page.
Click here for full article: http://peacetaxfund.org/news/2005-07-22cosfaceprison.htm
While conscientious objectors to military taxation rarely face felony convictions and prison, they commonly experience a host of other hardships: property and bank account seizure, levies on wages, and fines. The convictions of McKee and the Donatos is a reminder to us of the lack of religious freedom in this country for those whose beliefs forbid participation in war. The struggle for a Peace Tax Fund is more important now than ever. Please tell your members of Congress about this violation of religious freedom, and ask them to support H.R. 2631, the Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund Bill.
reinform action point: Please join us in asking Congress to respond to these harsh sentences by supporting the Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund bill. This bill would allow conscientious objectors to pay their Federal taxes into a fund for non-military purposes only. Take action now at http://www.democracyinaction.org/ncptf/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=1003
Peace Tax Links - more information about the Peace Tax
Peace Tax Fund.org
Conscience and Peace Tax International (CPTI)
National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee
Center on Conscience and War
Friends Committee on National Legislation
The Objector - the website for conscientious objectors
War Resisters League
PAX Christi USA - the national Catholic Peace Movement
The Jewish Peace Fellowship
The Intitute for Peace and Justice
National Priorities Project - includes an interactive pie chart to show you how YOUR tax dollars are spent
Center for Defense Information - an independent monitor the military
National Commission on Restructuring the IRS
Interfaith Alliance
Quakers
One Million Tax Payers for Peace
Code Pink - Women for Peace
