2008 War Tax Boycott

[Moorlock]

The National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee is launching a new campaign: the 2008 War Tax Boycott

Here's the background: 1,500 American anti-war activists were surveyed recently, and they were asked, among other things: "Would you consider participating in a one-year commitment to refuse a portion of your federal income taxes and redirect your taxes to a humanitarian cause if thousands joined you publicly?"

Of those who had never done any tax resistance before, fully two-thirds said yes. (Of those who had done tax resistance in the past but were not currently resisting, more than three-quarters said yes.)

So over the last several months, members of NWTRCC have organized just such a campaign. Early endorsers of the campaign include Voices for Creative Nonviolence, the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance, and the Nonviolent Direct Action Working Group of United for Peace and Justice.

What You Can Do

If you're already a tax resister (Russell! Kat! Dada! All y'all!), we need you to sign up at http://wartaxboycott.org/ so we can add you to our roster. If you're comfortable including your name and home town in promotional material related to the tax strike, check the box on the registration form to allow this. The more people register, the bigger the campaign becomes, and the more persuasive our numbers are to people who are hesitating, just waiting for the bandwagon to get crowded enough.

If you're not yet a tax resister, now's the time to start. Sign up for the campaign on-line (if you're not sure whether you're ready to resist or not yet, just check the box beside "I need more information before I can commit to resisting this year.") Then read the brief Getting Started in War Tax Resistance guide (also available at http://wartaxboycott.org/) to learn what steps you need to take now so that you can join us in resisting some or all of your federal income tax next April, and to learn all about how the government is likely to react to your resistance.

Register, Resist, then Redirect

Once you've registered with the campaign and decided how and how much you are going to resist, NWTRCC encourages you to take that money you're refusing to give to the war funders in Congress, and redirect it instead to a more worthy cause. (If you're resisting taxes by lowering your income below the tax line, you may not have anything to redirect, but that's okay too!)

The 2008 War Tax Boycott campaign is recommending two charities: The Common Ground Health Clinic in New Orleans, and Electronic Iraq's Direct Aid Initiative for Iraqi refugees. You can also join with others to redirect your taxes through a tax resisters' redirection fund, such as the People's Life Fund run by Northern California War Tax Resistance. Of course, it's your money and you're the best judge of how it should best be spent.

Whatever you choose, please let NWTRCC know about it so we can keep a running tally of how much money resisters have diverted away from the government and toward worthwhile projects. (If you donate to Common Ground or the Direct Aid Initiative, let them know that you're donating redirected taxes and they'll do the tallying for us.)

Spread the Word!

Once you've signed up, don't be shy about it! Let people know you've taken a stand. And the next time somebody complains to you about the War or about the government, ask them if they've stopped paying for it yet and direct them to http://wartaxboycott.org/.

[Moorlock]

If you're planning to sign on to the 2008 War Tax Boycott, or even if you're thinking about it but aren't sure yet — now's the time to start preparing.

You can't just wait until April 15th rolls around and then make up your mind.

Here's why: most people who file their federal income tax returns in April are due to get a refund.  If you've overpaid during the year and the government owes you money, you can't very well resist, can you?

The key is to adjust your withholding today.  This way the government takes less money from your paychecks now, so that you'll owe something in April — then you'll be able to decide whether or not you want to resist.

Adjusting your withholding is easy.  Most people can adjust their withholding by filing a new W-4 form with their employer. You probably filled out one of these forms as one of the first things you did when you got hired.  People file new W-4 forms all the time — for instance when they get married, have children, begin to support their elderly parents, or for any number of other reasons.

All you have to do is to ask your boss or your Human Resources department for a new form, or you can download one from the IRS web site and print it out (http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw4.pdf?portlet=3).  Then turn it back in to your company, and they'll adjust your withholding for you.

The key to having less withheld from your paycheck is to declare more "allowances" on your W-4 (some people call these "dependents" or "exemptions," but that isn't really accurate). NWTRCC has a good guide on how to do this correctly (http://www.nwtrcc.org/practical1.html).  The more allowances you declare, the less money gets taken out of your paycheck each month and sent to Washington.

If you're not employed by someone else, the process is different. If you're self-employed, you are responsible for paying your own taxes quarterly, and resisting is as easy as reducing the amount you pay or stopping entirely.  If you receive a pension or annuity and have income tax withheld from it, you change your withholding by filing a new form W-4P, which works pretty much the same way as the regular W-4.

But the important thing is: do it now!  There are only a few more pay periods left in the year, and if your withholding is too high, you're out-of-luck.  Not only will you be unable to resist when you file your return in April, but when the government finally writes you a refund check for all that extra money it took from you during the year, it won't add any interest, and you'll feel like a sucker.

[Russell Kanning]

I filled out the form


... they ain't "my taxes" ... but I am not paying those either

[error]

I was going to fill out the form, but then they asked me where I lived. So perhaps I will boycott not-my-taxes without saying anything about it.

[Moorlock]

If you're shy about telling some form on the Interweb where you live, you can leave your address blank.  Just make sure to uncheck the "share my contact information with other tax resisters near me" and "use my name and hometown in promotional material" boxes and the form won't complain when you submit it without an address on it.

The tax resistance movement needs anonymous people too.  ;-)

-- David Gross
   http://sniggle.net/Experiment/ - The Picket Line

P.S. Thanks, Russell!  We're one person closer to convincing that Joe Schmoe who "would resist taxes, if only there were enough of us."

[Raineyrocks]

If you're planning to sign on to the 2008 War Tax Boycott, or even if you're thinking about it but aren't sure yet — now's the time to start preparing.

You can't just wait until April 15th rolls around and then make up your mind.

Here's why: most people who file their federal income tax returns in April are due to get a refund.  If you've overpaid during the year and the government owes you money, you can't very well resist, can you?

The key is to adjust your withholding today.  This way the government takes less money from your paychecks now, so that you'll owe something in April — then you'll be able to decide whether or not you want to resist.

Adjusting your withholding is easy.  Most people can adjust their withholding by filing a new W-4 form with their employer. You probably filled out one of these forms as one of the first things you did when you got hired.  People file new W-4 forms all the time — for instance when they get married, have children, begin to support their elderly parents, or for any number of other reasons.

All you have to do is to ask your boss or your Human Resources department for a new form, or you can download one from the IRS web site and print it out (http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw4.pdf?portlet=3).  Then turn it back in to your company, and they'll adjust your withholding for you.

The key to having less withheld from your paycheck is to declare more "allowances" on your W-4 (some people call these "dependents" or "exemptions," but that isn't really accurate). NWTRCC has a good guide on how to do this correctly (http://www.nwtrcc.org/practical1.html).  The more allowances you declare, the less money gets taken out of your paycheck each month and sent to Washington.

If you're not employed by someone else, the process is different. If you're self-employed, you are responsible for paying your own taxes quarterly, and resisting is as easy as reducing the amount you pay or stopping entirely.  If you receive a pension or annuity and have income tax withheld from it, you change your withholding by filing a new form W-4P, which works pretty much the same way as the regular W-4.

But the important thing is: do it now!  There are only a few more pay periods left in the year, and if your withholding is too high, you're out-of-luck.  Not only will you be unable to resist when you file your return in April, but when the government finally writes you a refund check for all that extra money it took from you during the year, it won't add any interest, and you'll feel like a sucker.

I am not very good with math and I don't understand the idea behind this.  Okay so my husband works for someone else and his taxes are already taken out of his paycheck, so how can he avoid that?  What is the 2008 War Tax Boycott?  Is it something like he should change his amount of dependents to a higher amount and then not file at all in April?  I just want to understand.  Is this like a world wide boycott?  Sorry for all the questions, I'm trying to understand.

[ArcRiley]

I am not very good with math and I don't understand the idea behind this.  Okay so my husband works for someone else and his taxes are already taken out of his paycheck, so how can he avoid that?

Just as the above post says, have him file a new W4 form which says not to take anything out of his paycheck because he has enough deductions to realistically not be taxed.  If asked he could say that you're (his wife) starting a new business and the business expenses are natural deductions.  It will not change anything come April 2008 but it will change your April 2009 filing.

While on the subject, that is something you SHOULD be doing.  Up to a certain income level you can legally and realistically pay no taxes at all with a home based business "being started" (ie gets little to no income) which your income is going to support.  Without going into depth on this the list of things which can be deducted are huge, so long as they can arguably be for business purpose.

Here's an example; I run a studio which produces video games.  I also happen to enjoy this work - why would anyone start a business they hate?  Now I'm low enough income (being as I don't have another job) to not have to argue anything along these regards, but purchasing game consoles, any electronics gear, gasoline and milage to go to gaming-related conventions and events, cost of dinners with current and prospective contractors (artists, programmers, etc), it's all deductible and it's all legal.

What is the 2008 War Tax Boycott?  Is it something like he should change his amount of dependents to a higher amount and then not file at all in April?  I just want to understand.  Is this like a world wide boycott?  Sorry for all the questions, I'm trying to understand.

If you change it now, it'll effect your 2009 filing.  You file in January-April (deadline April 15) for your previous year of income.  What the post is saying is you have only a few weeks left to file a new W4 in order to ensure nothing is deducted for all of 2008, then when you file in early 2009 you can choose to have resisted all the taxes for the previous year.

War tax resistance is something that's been done for a long time, there's several national organizations promoting and supporting it.  There are even a few you can divert some of the money (through 501c3 donation) to which is used to help people the IRS chooses to make examples of.

War tax resisters come from all over the political spectrum.  I think it's wrong to say democrats or republicans are pro or anti war, for anyone who says so I can show a huge swath of people registered to that party who are either for or against it.  It's also wrong to put war tax resisters into a bubble and call them one thing, some resist our government's spending, some resist the fact we've invaded another country, some resist the concept of war at all unless it's to fight back a direct attack on US soil..

You choose why you are doing it and how far you're willing to take it, from only taking a % out (legally - which you donate to a 501c3) which would be spent on war, to putting your tax income into a trust to pay once the Iraq war is over, or as I do calling the IRS system corrupt and unconstitutional refusing to pay it at all.

Also if your gross income is less than $8450 as an individual or $16,900 as a married couple you do not need to file at all.  See the chart on page 12 of your 1040.

[Moorlock]

If you change it now, it'll effect your 2009 filing.  You file in January-April (deadline April 15) for your previous year of income.  What the post is saying is you have only a few weeks left to file a new W4 in order to ensure nothing is deducted for all of 2008, then when you file in early 2009 you can choose to have resisted all the taxes for the previous year.

Actually, it's better than this: if you file a new W-4 now, your employer will also apply your new withholding to the remainder of the paychecks you get this year.  If you don't have any more money withheld from your paychecks from now until the end of the year (or substantially less, anyway), there's a good chance that in April 2008 you'll still "owe" some federal income tax for Tax Year 2007.  Then, you can decide whether you want to cough it up or whether you want to resist.

So if you act now, you will be able to join the boycott in several months when it's tax-filing season.

[Raineyrocks]

Thanks ArcRiley and Moorlock!   I will have Rick read this when he gets home.   

[Russell Kanning]

it is much bigger than a math problem .... you have to have the guts to say no to the big bad IRS machine

[Moorlock]

What do Kurt Vonnegut, Betty Friedan, Thomas Pynchon, Philip K. Dick, Norman Mailer, Benjamin Spock, Gloria Steinem, Hunter S. Thompson, Allen Ginsberg, Paul Goodman, Norman Mailer, Grace Paley, Terry Southern, James Baldwin, and Henry Miller have in common?

They're all authors who pledged to stop paying taxes for the war in Vietnam, publicly, in 1968.  They took out a newspaper advertisement, and joined some 500 other writers and editors in pledging to engage in tax resistance to end the Vietnam War.

There's power in numbers.  The fact that so many people were willing to publicly pledge to personally cut off funding for the war was inspirational.  A couple of years later, they were joined by thousands, including Nobel Prize winners and even the wife of a U.S. Senator.

When the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee surveyed about 1,500 anti-war activists, they found that, of those who had never done war tax resistance before, fully two-thirds would be willing to give it a try -- if they knew they were part of a large-scale tax-resistance campaign.

That's two-thirds willing to engage in direct action to stop the war! Two-thirds willing to stop supporting with their paychecks what they oppose with their consciences.

Let's make this campaign happen!  Let's be willing to put our names out there and pledge to exercise our own "power of the purse" since Congress refuses to do so.  The more of us who are willing to take the lead, the more will find the courage to follow.

Please visit http://wartaxboycott.org/ and register for the 2008 War Tax Boycott.