That is what some are doing.

[Ruth Benn, coordinator of the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee in New York] estimates 8,000 to 10,000 Americans refuse to pay some or all of their federal taxes over war objections. Internal Revenue Service officials say they don’t have figures for that specific category, but earlier this year reported an overall noncompliance rate of 16.3 percent and estimated the annual tax gap at about $345 billion.

Peace activists are considering a mass tax resistance campaign next April to step up pressure to end the war in Iraq, Benn said.

Many tax protesters say they redirect the money they withhold to charities. Some, like Joanne Sheehan of Norwich, keep their income below taxable levels.

“I don’t see the point of working for peace and paying for war,” Sheehan said.

The IRS said that while taxpayers have a right to express their opinions, they still have an obligation to pay their taxes. Tax resisters place an undue burden on taxpayers who pay their fair share of taxes, IRS spokeswoman Dianne Besunder said.

The IRS considers it a frivolous argument when a taxpayer cites disagreement with the government’s use of tax money as the reason for not paying taxes.

Hey, I’ve got a long list of problems with the way the government spends wastes my tax dollars.  Maybe I should stop paying taxes.  Or maybe I’ll try to avoid jail and try to affect change through political means.  It’s really a pretty easy choice.

The Democrats announced earlier this year that they plan on raising revenue by “closing the tax gap.”  Well, here we have people admitting to shirking their tax obligations.  I wonder if the Dems will go after admitted tax cheats on their side in the name of the country.  I’m not holding my breath.

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This entry was posted by Brian on Wednesday, July 4th, 2007 at 4:09 pm and is filed under Taxes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Please note the copyright policy.