Tax resistance

In Colombia we do not know exactly the payment of which tax directly contributes to the war. All national taxes come together in a common fund and then the government redistributes it, sending more than 50% of the national budget to debt issues: Internal and external and militarisation.

War Resisters' International has been asked to explain to Inland Revenue why it has not paid a portion of its employees' income tax deductions. Office coordinator Andreas Speck has sent the following letter in response.

What is war tax resistance?

It is the decision to resist the State in war spending and the maintenance of the military structure, the army and other armed groups by actively disobeying to pay income taxes.

The Guardian reported on 25 July on the judicial review of the "Peace Tax Seven" to guarantee the right to conscientious objection against military taxation:

'A group of conscientious objectors today lost a high court bid to stop their taxes being put toward military spending.

The "peace tax seven", backed by more than 50 supporters, asked Mr Justice Collins, sitting in London, for permission to seek a judicial review of a continuing government refusa

While the new Spanish government has withdrawn troops from Iraq, Spanish troops remain in Afghanistan and on hand for further interventions. Weapons factories; the traffic in arms; the distortion of scientific research ... There is no underlying change. Yet if it seems that our protests are ignored, more than we imagine we have in our own hands the possibility to counter the pervasive influence of militarism.

Without tax refusal, we might have no codified human rights today. The cry "No taxation without representation!" ignited the American Revolution, transforming the ideas of Paine and Rousseau from philosophical abstractions to principles of government.

In September 2001, shortly after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the WRI Council issued its "Say No!" statement, urging "all those who pay tax: demand that your taxes are used for peace, withhold the proportion of tax used for war, Say No!" Back from the meeting the then WRI staff decided to practice what WRI was calling for, and asked the WRI Executive (as employers) to withhold the proportion of their income tax used to fund war. This was implemented from January 2002 on and continues until today.

War Resisters' International will continue to withhold war tax

Today, a tax collector of the Inland Revenue visited the office of War Resisters' International and collected the withheld war tax for the financial year 2002/03.

On Wednesday, 4 August 2004, the Inland Revenue will come to the WRI Office to collect outstanding war taxes of War Resisters' International for the financial year 2003. The Inland Revenue informed War Resisters' International that one of their tax collectors will call at the WRI office after 1pm, to take the taxes, which WRI refused to pay on behalf of its employees, which now total £454.55.

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The City of London Magistrates Court ordered for War Resisters' International to pay war tax yesterday.

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