National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee – 2005-04-12 07:39:00
http://www.nwtrcc.org/taxday2005.htm
Nationwide Tax Day Protests Set for April 15
BROOKLYN, NY (April 11, 2005) — In at least 50 communities across the US, demonstrations will be held at Internal Revenue Service offices, Federal buildings, post offices, and other public places on Friday, April 15, to protest the use of tax dollars to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many of these events will include people giving their tax dollars to community groups instead of to the IRS.
Among the actions will be a War Breaks the Budget Tax Day Protest in Tulsa, OK; a Death & Taxes Resistance Festival in Andover, MA; demonstrators will be hanging signs demanding No Money for War from the Burnside Bridge during the morning rush in Portland, OR; while others will be out in the evening until the midnight sharing coffee with last-minute filers at post offices in White Plains, NY, and Manchester, NH, and handing out flyers showing where income tax money goes.
Still other protests are making the connections with corporate profiteering from war: You Pay; Lockheed Martin Profit$ is the slogan for protests in Valley Forge, PA; and taxpayers at the main Baltimore City post office will find mailboxes labeled Halliburton, Bechtel, and Lockheed Martin to mail their checks straight to the corporations.
At a time when approximately $5 billion per month is going to pay for war and occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan and programs such as housing for low-income families, environmental protection, and even the No Child Left Behind act are cut or underfunded, more taxpayers are questioning the deadly budget priorities of the federal government, according to Joe Maizlish, an organizer with Southern California War Tax Resistance in Los Angeles. A growing number are considering making their protest stronger by refusing to pay some or all of their federal taxes that help pay for war.
The Bush Administration s war in Iraq and the thousands of deaths of soldiers and innocent civilians weigh on the conscience of thousands of US taxpayers some will take to the streets on tax day, while many will refuse to pay their taxes to the IRS. In Berkeley, CA, New York City, and other towns and cities, war tax resisters will publicly redirect their federal tax dollars to community organizations.
Redirection is an intricate part of refusing to pay federal taxes to the IRS: resisters instead pay their taxes by giving the money to organizations that meet human needs, care for victims of war, and work for peace and justice.
The National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee (NWTRCC) is a coalition of local, regional and national groups founded in 1982 to provide information and support to people who are conscientious objectors to paying taxes for war.
Members include the Mennonite Central Committee, Episcopal Peace Fellowship, War Resisters League, Voices in the Wilderness, and the National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund, which advocates for legislation enabling conscientious objectors to war to have their federal income taxes directed to a special fund to be used for non-military purposes only.
NWTRCC also promotes protests on tax day and collects a listing of tax day actions (see below):
Listing of Tax Day Actions
If there is no contact information for an event, call or email the NWTRCC office at 800-269-7464 or>/i> nwtrcc@nwtrcc.org.
Arizona Tucson Women s International League for Peace and Freedom, Local Chapter. birnie@gainusa.com. Leafletting at the Sun Station Post Office.
California Berkeley Northern California War Tax Resistance. (510) 843-9877 or nowartax@yahoo.com or
Chico Chico Peace and Justice Center. chris4pax@chico.com. Leafletting at two local post offices.
Fresno – Women s International League for Peace & Freedom (WILPF). socialjustice@sti.net. Leafleting at Cardwell Post Office, 1606 E Griffith Way. 8 am – 5 pm
San Francisco Leafletting at the Fox Plaza P.O. with Peace Tax Return and other flyers. 2 – 5:30 pm.
San Luis Obispo Anti-war Rally and March on Saturday, April 16. Meet at Mitchell Park. Noon 4 pm. Look for the table with war tax resistance materials!
Colorado Fort Collins Center for Justice, Peace & Environment. (970) 484-8039. Distribute literature and hand out pieces of pie to take back the pie chart. Penny poll.
Connecticut New Haven Peace & Justice News & Views and the Gr. New Haven Peace Council, sjoughin@earthlink.net. Leafletting with the Where Your Income Tax Money Really Goes flyer at two post offices on April 15: Noon at the downtown Post Office, Orange Street Federal Bldg. and 10 pm at Brewery Street Post Office.
District of Columbia Washington DC Area War Tax Resistance. info@dcwtr.org. Vigil and redistribution of resisted tax money at IRS Headquarters, 1111 Constitution NW, Noon.
Washington /National National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund (NCPTF). (202) 483-3751 or timgodshall@peacetaxfund.org. Letter-writing to IRS and elected officials about the Peace Tax fund bill. Sample letter or email:
Idaho Boise Idaho Peace Coalition. 208-424-8475 or peacenow@arczip.com. Penny poll to find out what are the priorities of Idaho s citizens. Each person who participates gets ten votes to place in containers representing the budgets for education, military, health care, Department of Peace, etc., to compare the priorities of Idaho citizens to the priorities shown by government spending. Borah Station post office on 750 West Bannock Street (just east of 8th Street) in Downtown Boise. 8:30 am – 5 pm.
Illinois Chicago Chicago Area War Resisters Support Group. info@vitw.org. Penny poll, music, speakers, leafletting. Federal Plaza, downtown Chicago, 11am – 1 pm, and at downtown post office after 5 pm.
Indiana South Bend Michiana War Tax Refusers. psmith@saintmarys.edu. Handing out Where Your Income Taxes Really Go flyers and holding signs about U.S. spending priorities at main post office.
Iowa Dubuque Citizens Tax Moratorium. (563) 583-2586. Tax day vigil and leafleting at U.S. Courthouse, 6th and Locust, 5-7 pm. Anti-war vigil every Sunday morning 8 8:30 a.m., U.S. Highway 20 and South Locust near bridge to Illinois.
Iowa City War Resisters League of Iowa City. wrliowacity@yahoo.com. Vigil and leafletting at the main post office on South Clinton Street starting at 3 p.m. to protest the enormous amount of tax payers money being spent on war. At 5pm walk to Washington and Clinton Streets for the weekly anti-war vigil.
Maine Augusta, Bangor, Belfast, Blue Hill, Brunswick, Damariscotta, Farmington, Portland Maine War Tax Resistance Resource Center. (207) 525-7776 or invert@acadia.net. Leafletting with pie chart and local flyer on budget priorities at post office.
Maryland Baltimore The Pledge of Resistance. mariarichard@verizon.net. Action at the main Baltimore City post office on Fayette Street with mailboxes labeled Halliburton, Bechtel, and Lockheed Martin along with our Bush masks and other assorted goodies – for people to deposit their checks directly to the companies that receive them! 5:30 – 7:30pm.
Massachusetts Andover 2005 Death & Taxes Resistance Festival. (617) 338-9966 or email organizing@massglobalaction.org or
Cambridge New England War Tax Resistance. deirdredoran@hotmail.com. Penny poll, tabling, leafleting, etc. Central Square Post Office, Pleasant St. & Mass. Ave., 5:30 8 pm.
Greenfield Pioneer Valley War Tax Resisters (PVWTR). (413) 773-8655. Tabling and leafletting in downtown Greenfield outside the Greenfield food coop.
Michigan Ann-Arbor/Ypsilanti Women s International League for Peace and Freedom joined by Ann Arbor Coalition Against the War and other local peace groups. bruthgraves@provide.net. Tax Day Demonstration and leafletting about misplaced priorities in the federal budget, etc., with posters and speeches at the Ann Arbor Federal Building, Liberty at 5th, Noon to 1 pm.
Missouri St. Louis – Covenant Community for War Tax Resistance. 314-725-5303 or hras@humanrightsaction.net. Vigil and leafleting at the downtown Main Post Office (Market and 18th Street), 11:30 am to 1 pm.
New Hampshire Manchester Leafletting and asking folks to join us in not paying federal income taxes. Main Post Office, 955 Coffs Falls Rd. 11 am to midnight. bookish_lass@yahoo.com
New Mexico Albuquerque Albuquerque War Tax Alternative Fund. (505) 247-2788. Penny poll and leafleting at weekly anti-war vigil in front of bookstore at the University of NM and leafleting at the main post office. 11 am – 1 pm.
Silver City Progressive Forum of SW New Mexico. jerome@greenbicycle.net. Teach-in at town park about how the Iraq war is funded.
New York Ithaca Ithaca War Tax Resisters. moongoddessmary58@yahoo.com. Vigil at the post office.
New York City NYC War Resisters League (nycwrl@att.net, 718-768-7306) and NYC War Tax Resistance. Leafletting, vigiling, and other actions at Manhattan IRS office (110 W. 44th Street, just west of Sixth Ave.) from noon to 2 pm.
White Plains NoWar Westchester, cslists@optonline.net. Share coffee with last minute tax filers, leaflet and discuss how 48% of our federal income taxes pay for past, present, and future wars. 5 pm to closing.
North Carolina Greensboro danielwoodham@yahoo.com. Leafletting with Where Your Income Taxes Really Go flyers and Peace Tax Return at Yanceyville St. (tentative) post office. 2 pm and continue until rush hour is over.
Ohio Athens People for Peace and Appalachian Peace and Justice Network. (740) 592-2608. Leafleting and penny poll at post office. 11 am – 7 pm.
Oklahoma Oklahoma City Oklahoma Committee for Conscientious Objectors, jmb@jmbzine.com. Plans are still pending but we will likely be leafleting and have signs.
Tulsa Tulsa Peace Fellowship,
Oregon Eugene Taxes for Peace Not War. jyotisue@yahoo.com. Leaflet and penny poll at the main post office.
Portland Oregon Community for War Tax Resistance-WRL Portland. tee_leaves@yahoo.com. Holding signs on the Burnside Bridge during morning rush hour. Presentation of redirected tax money at 5 pm in Pioneer Square (in the heart of downtown), in conjunction with an on-going, weekly peace coalition gathering.
Pennsylvania Philadelphia Philadelphia WRL. gunorlickton@mac.com. Songs, leafleting, and some skits gathering at 5th and South Street a popular place on a Friday night. People dressed as millionaires and people dressed as people! No Millionaire Left Behind, No work, no insurance, no books are the slogans we will have posted on us, as well as one people in an American flag straight jacket defined as racism, materialism, and militarism. 6-9 pm.
Philadelphia Conscience, Militarism and War Tax Concerns Working Group, Philadelphia Yearl y Meeting. (215) 241-7230. Leafleting by many area Friends Meetings at post offices.
Valley Forge – Brandywine Peace Community. brandywine@juno.com or
Texas Austin Austin Conscientious Objectors to Military Taxation. jeffweb@ realtime.com. Leafletting at Central P.O. with Where Your Income Taxes Really Go flyer. 6 9 pm.
Utah Salt Lake City Day after tax day film showings at Free Speech Zone, 2144 Highland Drive. April 16, info@utahpeace.org or 502-8556.
Vermont Brattleboro Pioneer Valley War Tax Resisters (Brattleboro members). Presentation of redirected tax dollars to community organizations, plus vigil, leafleting, songs, and penny poll. Brattleboro Post Office. 11 am – 1 pm.
Montpelier – Central Vermont WILPF, Raging Grannies, vmullen@together.net. Leafletting for one hour outside the Post Office and Federal Building, followed by a march to the State House to deliver letters deploring budget cuts to social programs. Leaflet includes information about refusing to pay for war by resisting the federal excise tax on telephone service.
Virginia Charlottesville Charlottesville Catholic Worker. hopefull1@excite.com. Leafletting at the main post office. (tentative).
Washington Seattle Nonviolent Action Community of Cascadia (NACC). (206) 547-0952 or nacc@drizzle.com. Leafletting with Where Your Income Taxes Really Go flyers and Peace Tax Return at downtown Seattle post office, at 3rd and Union, and other area post offices. Noon.
Tacoma georod01@msn.com. Leafletting of the WRL pie chart at the Main Post Office in Tacoma in the evening.
Wisconsin Madison Southern Wisconsin Alternative Tax Fund, Madison WILPF, Madison IWW. jerry@lakesidepress.com. Leafletting at the West Side Post Office on Struck St. 6 – 8 pm
Milwaukee Milwaukee War Tax Resistance and Casa Maria Catholic Worker. (414) 344-5745. Federal Plaza, 3rd and Wisconsin Ave. Vigiling outside for an hour with signs and flyers, letter to Senator Herb Kohl in his office, civil disobedience at tax office. Noon.
Contact: NWTRCC, PO Box 150553, Brooklyn, NY 11215 ” 800-269-7464 Fax: (718) 768-4388 ” nwtrcc@nwtrcc.org. www.nwtrcc.org
Contact: Ruth Benn, NWTRCC Coordinator,
(800) 269-7464 (718-768-3420) or nwtrcc@nwtrcc.org
