National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee

“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”

— Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., April 4, 1967

Dear Friends,

In a time when some accumulate mind-boggling wealth, we find hunger and homelessness have increased across every major city in the U.S. Soup kitchens are crowded, and those seeking a good meal include working families who can’t afford to pay their bills and feed their children too.

In an age where our country invests madly in weapons of war and uses them against people around the world, the same leaders call on other heads of state to refrain from violence. They speak of the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., but do not honor his call to end war and build justice and peace for all peoples of the earth.

In an age where the “war is peace” slogans of 1984 seem to guide our leaders, there is still cause for hope. We are seeing hope rise from the grassroots in places where we did not know the seeds of change were sprouting. People who seemed cowed by their longtime rulers were organizing and studying nonviolence and laying the groundwork for change.

Here in the U.S. we are in the season where Americans are told to pay their taxes. My work over four decades grew increasingly focused on changing the priorities of our government from being a leader in war to a leader of peace and justice. I know I share that conviction with you, and I honor the work of the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee in its support for people who take the step of reversing those priorities with their own money.

We are in an age when we must actively oppose the violence that U.S. tax dollars promote with weapons around the world while stealing resources that could bring people out of poverty here at home. War tax refusal is an honest and bold response to the inequities of our day and a powerful way to show that we are not cowed by the unjust demands of our own government. Let us continue to work together in as many ways as we can to turn this country in a new direction.

Peace,
Thomas J. Gumbleton

Bishop Gumbleton photo

 

Thomas Gumbleton, a retired auxiliary bishop of the Detroit archdiocese, was one of the first bishops to speak out against the Vietnam War and has been a leader for peace and disarmament ever since. Under his leadership his home church in Detroit, St. Leo, began a soup kitchen and other direct services for people in need. He is a founding member and past president of Pax Christi USA, and a founder and former president of Bread for the World.

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