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“Let them march all they want, as
long as they continue to pay their taxes.”
—Gen. Alexander
Haig, U.S. Secretary of State, June 12, 1982
“If a thousand [people] were not to
pay their tax bills this year, that would not be a violent and bloody
measure, as it would be to pay them and enable the state to commit violence
and shed innocent blood.”
—Henry David Thoreau,
during Mexican-American War of 1846-48
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click here
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NWTRCC site.
AN APPEAL TO CONSCIENCE
In Support of Those Refusing to Pay for War
To all people of goodwill everywhere:
We stand in profound opposition to our government's aerial
bombardment, military invasion, and armed occupation of Iraq, which
we consider morally reprehensible and an outrage against conscience
and humanity. The reasons for our opposition, in brief, include the
following:
This series of military actions has cost the lives of thousands of
Iraqi soldiers and hundreds of American soldiers, and it has resulted
in even greater numbers of people left injured, orphaned, and widowed.
It has further devastated Iraq's already crippled infrastructure,
which was destroyed by U.S. aerial bombardment in 1991, further depriving
countless Iraqi children as well as adults of adequate electricity,
clean water, sewage treatment, and medical facilities. It has increased
the likelihood of terrorist attacks against the U.S., its citizens,
and those of our military allies. It has caused untold damage to the
environment and human health, including that of American soldiers,
as a result of the depleted uranium used in U.S. weapons. It is costing
tens, if not hundreds, of billions of dollars, thus further diverting
resources from addressing the hunger, homelessness, unemployment,
and other economic problems facing millions of American families.
It was opposed by the United Nations, the great majority of the world's
governments, and an even greater majority of the world's people. And,
as a pre-emptive, unilateral military attack, it violated international
laws, including the Charter of the United Nations, to which our government
is a signatory and which the U.S. Constitution requires us to uphold.
The fact that a large segment of the Iraqi population opposed Saddam
Hussein and suffered greatly under his repressive regime, does not
justify the death, suffering, and destruction caused by our military
assault.
Our opposition, however, is not limited to this one instance
of armed aggression by our government. As citizens of this country,
we are compelled by conscience to speak out against, and avoid cooperation
with, that which has allowed this and other instances of military aggressions
to occur and which makes likely further military aggression against
other nations.
It is clear that the U.S. government's ability to threaten,
coerce, and, if deemed necessary, make war on other nations is a direct
result, not only of our economic might, but also the unprecedented size
of our military arsenal, which is now far larger than that of all our
allies and "enemies" combined. It is equally clear that the maintenance
of this arsenal depends upon the willingness of the American people — through their federal tax payments — to finance it
Refusal to pay taxes used to finance unjust wars, along
with refusal by soldiers to fight in them, is a direct and potentially
effective form of citizen noncooperation, and one that governments cannot
ignore. War tax refusal has a long and honorable tradition among religious
and secular opponents of war.
Refusal to pay all or a portion of one's federal taxes
as a form of conscientious objection to war may involve personal risks.
For that reason, material, and moral support for war tax refusers — including organizing support committees, raising support funds, and
providing legal defense — is an important form of war resistance in
itself.
Therefore, we, the undersigned individuals, believing
that war tax refusal under the present circumstances is fully justified
on moral and ethical grounds, publicly declare our encouragement of,
and willingness to lend support to, those persons of conscience who
choose to take this step.
March 2004
NAMES OF INDIVIDUALS
AND ORGANIZATIONAL SIGNATORIES:
Please include signature, printed name, postal and email
addresses, and telephone number. Thank you.
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Please send signed copies of this
Appeal (or just the names and contact information of signers) to:
National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee, Box 150553, Brooklyn,
NY 11215, www.nwtrcc.org, 1-800-269-7464
Additional copies of this Appeal, as well as information about war
tax resistance, are also available.
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