Eugene Weekly : Viewpoint : 4.5.07

Taxes for Peace II
Some do it big, some small, some legally, some not at all
BY PEG MORTON

While some in our group, Taxes For Peace Not War, join others around the country who refuse to voluntarily pay all of our federal taxes, others engage in less financially risky actions. We believe that all such actions are important.

One such person was Charles Gray, who lived below the taxable income for many years, thus legally not contributing to the war machine. Another is Guy Prouty, who has refused to pay the telephone federal excise tax for about five years. He and others in our group combine our resisted telephone taxes into one check in order to give a decent amount to a worthy local organization. Others around the country choose to refuse symbolic amounts. There has been a “1040” campaign, with $10.40 in refused taxes sent as donations to a designated national group that serves children in need. There was also a “9/11” campaign, where people refused $9.11 or $91.10. The money was combined and donated to a life-giving cause. Others who pay their owed federal taxes vigorously protest, writing letters and in other ways speaking out.

Whether you are a war tax resister or a war tax protester, or if you wish to learn more, we invite you to join us outside the Eugene downtown post office on Tax Day, Tuesday, April 17, from 11 am to 5 pm. You can participate in the Penny Poll, where YOU decide how your federal dollars should be spent, pick up some literature and get some questions answered. At an event at the noon hour, several of us will publicly redirect our federal taxes to local and other groups.

And join the march sponsored by WAND on Saturday, April 14. Beginning at 10:30 am, we will walk from the IRS to the Free Speech Plaza, holding signs saying “I’D RATHER PAY FOR _____ THAN FOR WAR.” It’s a family-style action, and there will be an Oreo cookie graph and literature about the federal budget, plus ice cream! For more information about the WAND event, call 338-8605.

For more information about war tax resistance, visit the website for the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee, www.nwtrcc.org, or locally, call 342-2914 or 342-1953.