War and Taxes
Saturday October 4, 2008
Here's a news item to discuss, from the north Wales Daily Post:
Peace campaigner Siān Cwper, 61, of Llanfrothen, near Penrhyndeudraeth, Gwynedd has withheld more than £2,300 in protest against her tax money being used by the Government for military purposes. ...... Mother-of-two Siān, a Buddhist for 35 years, said: The British Government is infringing our human rights to freedom of conscience and religion.
OK, I admit I used the quote partly because I'm fond of Gwynedd (a section of north Wales), but this is an interesting issue. Do you, or have you ever considered, withholding part of your taxes because the government was using some of it in a way you considered to be akusala?
Comments
No, I haven’t thought of it, and wouldn’t do it anyways. I have a family so me going to jail wouldn’t help my year old daughter. Second, the government will take what it wants when it wants, so if tomorrow they decided they wanted 90% of my check, there isn’t a whole I can do about it, except move to another country possibly.
I look at it the same way as I do owing money to any business. Short of becoming a monk to ensure the money I give to businesses aren’t used to enable them to continue sweat shops in other countries, etc., I pretty sure my money, regardless of who is getting it, is used in someone’s suffering somewhere.
Again, I could take up the vows of a monk and quit paying my taxes, but I admit I have several attachments, including raising my daughter, and I’d like to be around in her life for a long time.
Barbara, I actually withheld a part of my income tax in 1969 as a protest against the Viet Nam war. I ended up paying back what I withheld plus penalties and interest in 1975. Luckily, I was able to negotiate a reduction in the penalty portion of the bill or I might still be paying it back.
The bottom line is that while it might be good for your karma to try to avoid paying for a war by withholding money from your income tax, the IRS is not going to go away, nor are they going to forget what you owed. You will end up paying in the long run, and you could pay quite a bit more than the original amount.
Not a good way to protest a war. Its better to make sure someone who would start a war is not elected to begin with.
srlasky
During the 1970s and 80s I refused to pay the war tax on telephones that had been instituted during WW2. I stopped after a couple of years when they threatened to turn off my phone. Now that I am older and living on Social Security Disability I don’t pay any income taxes so there is nothing I can withold. I can however write and speak out against war and the injustices that lead to war. That has to be enough I guess.