Tax Resistance

[Zoot]

Let's say for a moment that I suspect my government's elite pack of soldiers weren't commended by George W. Bush for something of which I would approve. Let's hazard a guess, in fact, that if Bush felt it necessary to commend their efforts, I'd probably find their efforts morally reprehensible.

So.

My government won't tell me who these NZ SAS soldiers have been killing, or assisting in killing, with my tax money.

Is it fair for me to inform the government that I won't be paying taxes until they tell me what the NZ SAS have been doing, and I don't find it morally reprehensible.

And just to say the words before anyone else does: Hitler, Nazis, etc.

[LadyShea]

Sure it's "fair" to ask you government to be accountable to you since you're footing the bills. They will probably jail you for it, but it's fair.

[Petra]

I thought it was for help in Afghanistan.

And what's the Queenie thing all about? Why is she involved?

[Godfather]

I refuse to pay tax while violent criminals have colour TVs in their cells.

I refuse to pay tax while Leighton Smith is allowed to talk on the radio.

I refuse to pay tax while the flesh of dead animals is sold in supermarkets.

I refuse to pay tax while churches do not have to.

I refuse to pay tax while women are subject to patriarchal oppression.

I refuse to pay tax while Islamic terrorist 'asylum seekers' get free room and board.

I refuse to pay tax while shopkeepers who work on Christmas Day are not put to death.

I refuse to pay tax while students have to mortgage their futures.

I refuse to pay tax while Maori are denied sovereignty.

Everyone objects to something about their country, because we're all arseholes.

[Zoot]

Yeah, but none of those things make you complicit in murder.

[Godfather]

Originally Posted by Zoot

Yeah, but none of those things make you complicit in murder.

Oh, is that all? My taxes have already made me an accessory to countless murders: joggers, hitch-hikers and TV designers murdered by recidivist rapists automatically parolled by my justice system; East Timorese children blown apart by landmines sold to Indonesia by my military; transplant patients waiting years for surgery from my public health system; women killed by their abusive partners while my police waste time chasing drug users. I somehow manage to sleep at night.

If you don't like McDonalds or K-mart, you can vote with your wallet. If you don't like the government, you have to vote with your vote. You can write a letter to your MP as well, if you like, or put an axe through an electorate-office window, or 'march' to Parliament in an air-conditioned coach. But witholding tax, on its own, is not a form of protest - it's just tax evasion.

[Sweetie]

Originally Posted by Zoot

Yeah, but none of those things make you complicit in murder.

Kinda like me having my tax money paying for abortions as a Canadian, and who knows, possibly euthenasia in the future? I'm paying for some women to use abortion as birth control, perhaps because birth control is more expensive?

I'm surviving I guess.

Who knows, perhaps I'm supporting not by my own free-will a movement that can put my own life one day in jeaopardy but not supporting, ie: not paying my taxes, puts my life in some sort of jeopardy as well. I'd risk it if it was in the form of a movement.

But that's the thing, either the movement mobilizes to bring in some real changes as a real force, or things just slip through the cracks no matter how strongly we feel about them.