Tax resisters object to paying in 'public act of conscience'

BERKELEY, Calif. -- Tax day is here, and Susan Quinlan hasn't filed her form 1040 yet. She doesn't plan to.

As an anti-war activist, she objects to paying taxes that fund the nation's defense budget.

Most of the 10,000 or so conscientious tax resisters nationwide send letters to the Internal Revenue Service each year explaining that they are withholding their cash and putting the money into an interest-earning fund. Then they donate the interest to what they deem life-affirming, peaceful causes.

"We're upset that our tax money is funding militarism," said Larry Harper, a war tax resister from Sebastopol.

'Not tax evasion'

"This is not tax evasion," said Bill Ramsey of St. Louis, a spokesman for the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

"This is tax refusal and redirection. It's a public act and an act of conscience."

The practice isn't without risk -- the IRS considers resisters to be tax cheats. Harper said the IRS took $1,200 from his bank account the first time he resisted in 1982 but has left him alone ever since. Others say the IRS regularly takes money out of their bank accounts and garnishees their wages. Critics argue that war tax resisters could take advantage of charity tax credits, already part of the tax system. They also say resisters are selfish because they benefit from government services funded by citizens who do pay taxes.

"The vast majority of salaried employees file and pay voluntarily," IRS spokesman Anthony Burke said.

Just days before Monday's tax filing deadline, Quinlan and Harper led a workshop in Berkeley and dispensed brochures, information and support to 15 tax resister recruits.

The movement started after the Vietnam War and rose again during the Persian Gulf War. Quinlan said interest has been piqued this year by the war in Afghanistan.

"I wondered after Sept. 11 if we'd be deluged with people," Quinlan said. "We weren't initially. But we are seeing more now."

Donation to charities

Instead of putting a check in the mail Monday, Quinlan and some of her fellow Northern California war resisters will have a party and make contributions to charities from the $10,000 from interest earned on their diverted tax endowment, which they call the People's Life Fund.

Ramsey and 50 resisters in St. Louis have purchased $10,000 in medical equipment for clinics in Afghanistan. Outside the IRS office in St. Louis on Monday, they will present the equipment to nurses who will take the supplies overseas.

Nearly 29 alternative funds across the country plan to use $100,000 in interest this year to make grants to battered women's shelters, homeless programs and AIDS prevention.

Some conscientious objectors keep income below certain levels to avoid paying taxes completely. Some just refuse to pay any federal taxes, while others send about half of what they owe, figuring that about half would have gone to military spending for national defense and veterans benefits.

The IRS will collect about $2 trillion this year from 132 million individual income tax returns. Although wealthy individuals keeping money off shore is a bigger problem than war tax resisters, the IRS wants to crack down on all lawbreakers large and small.

"We have to administer the federal law with uniform fairness," Burke said. "We are not serving certain taxpayers well if we are allowing other taxpayers to get a free ride on their backs."

Resisters can face property liens, garnisheed wages, ruined credit ratings and as much as $100,000 in fines and five years in jail.

Quinlan says resisting is a yoke as much as it is liberating. She spends hours each year figuring up the taxes she won't pay, writing letters to government agencies, selecting charities and managing escrow accounts.

"We actually have to do a lot more than if we were actually paying taxes," Quinlan said. "It's not a way of getting off easy."

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On The Net:

National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee: http://www.nwtrcc.org

One Million Taxpayers for Peace: http://www.onemilliontaxpayersforpeace.org