Smithfield Friends Meeting 108 Smithfield Road, Woonsocket, RI 02896

August 2005

War Tax Resistance

I want to thank all the Friends who have expressed your support of my witness. I’m glad to answer questions or discuss any of this with interested Friends.

Susan Furry
FurryOne@verizon.net
617-924-6667
August 2005

Current events

Cambridge Meeting received a levy on my salary at the end of July, for a total of about $2,400, which includes interest and penalties as well as principal. The demand is that in each biweekly payroll the meeting pay me only $315.38 (which, if I read the charts correctly, is the amount of my biweekly salary which is exempt from the levy) and pay the rest of my normal salary to the IRS, until the total amount of the levy has been paid. Cambridge Meeting has not yet made a decision on how to handle the situation.

My personal history

I have been a war tax resister in one form or another for over 30 years, an income tax resister since 1976, when I decided to undertake the witness after meeting with a clearness committee appointed by Ministry and Counsel of Cambridge Meeting. In recent years, my stance has basically been to file normal tax returns, but not to write checks to the IRS.

Generally the amounts involved have been minor, but for 2003 I ended up owing about $3000. I filed in the normal way, sent a check to the New England Friends Peace Tax Fund, and waited, expecting quicker action by the IRS because of the larger amount. In the summer of 2004 I received a phone call from an IRS collection official, and refused to pay. Later that year I received a "final notice." I borrowed enough from a Friend to ensure that my bank account would not be overdrawn, because I expected the IRS to seize the money from there and didn’t want my mortgage checks to bounce. Nothing happened, until in the spring of 2005 the IRS notified me that it had seized my income tax refund for 2004.

What will happen to me now?

Whether because the IRS seizes money from the meeting’s bank account or from mine, or because Cambridge Meeting decides to pay the levy, I suppose that at some point (one would think it would be soon, but the IRS is unpredictable) the IRS will succeed in collecting the money it believes I owe – at least $2,400, perhaps a good deal more because interest and penalties never stop compounding.

I can claim a refund from the New England Friends Peace Tax Fund of the conditional gift I made to the fund in 2003. That is the principal, in other words the original amount of the tax I didn’t pay.

I estimate that the total of interest and penalties will be substantial, perhaps well over $1,000. If this feels burdensome to me (I expect it will) I will have the option of requesting full or partial assistance fromCambridge Meeting’s Fund for the Support of Conscience and/or the New England Yearly Meeting Fund for Sufferings. There is enough money in those two funds to cover the full total of interest and penalties, if I decide to ask for it and if the responsible committees think it wise to grant it. So it is not necessary for me to suffer undue financial hardship, thanks to the support of Friends.

As for the future, my current plan is to continue filing normal tax returns but not writing checks to the IRS. Whether this will result in further tax liability depends on the vagaries of tax law and my personal financial situation.

What happened in New England Yearly Meeting in 1998?

The specifics are found in the minute books for 1997 (p 95) and 1998 (pp 13, 31, 32) In summary:

In the fall of 1996 the Yearly Meeting Treasurer received a "Notice of Levy on wages, Salary and Other Income" for a staff member. The Permament Board instructed the Clerk to reply that the Treasurer was not authorized to honor the Levy. This was reported to the yearly meeting at the 1997 annual sessions.

In August of 1998 the Permament Board presented a proposed policy on Levies, which was approved by the yearly meeting on Wednesday August 5. The text reads:

New England Yearly Meeting reaffirms that conscientious objection to paying taxes for military purposes is an appropriate and traditional individual expression of Friends Peace Testimony. (See Faith and Practice, page 210) Consistent with this affirmation, and believing it wrong to force and employee to violate his or her conscience, New England Yearly Meeting will refuse to honor Internal Revenue Service levies which arise from an employee's conscientious refusal to pay taxes for military purposes. New England Yearly Meeting will urge the Internal Revenue Service to deal with the staff member directly.

At some point the IRS got tired of Friends’ slow process, and seized the money from the employee’s bank account.

Would the same thing happen again?

Not necessarily. I’m not an expert, but it would seem to me that an IRS collection agent could decide that every paycheck issued to me after the Levy was received was a violation, and could seize the money from the meeting, plus 50% penalty. Part of the fine print reads: "if any person required to surrender property or rights to property fails or refuses to surrender such property without reasonable cause, such person shall be liable for a penalty equal to 50% of the amount recoverable" (the levy amount). I assume, that "person" in this case might mean the corporation of Friends Meeting at Cambridge. The definition of "reasonable cause" is obviously crucial – are Friends’ processes and scruples reasonable cause? Apparently in 1997-98 the IRS was willing to respect Friends’ ways – whether that would be the same now, God alone knows.

Are there other alternatives?

Many Quaker organizations have had experiences as employers with issues arising from the tax resistance of some of their employees. The variety of situations and outcomes is very broad. The case of NEYM in 1997-1998 is interesting because it is remarkably parallel to the current levy on my salary, but there are also differences in circumstances, and there are many other possibilities for action by both the meeting and the IRS. Cambridge Meeting needs to make its own decisions based on its discernment of divine leading in the current situation. IRS policy and strategy may also be different. So there are many other alternatives for everyone involved. I believe the most stable factor is that, like the NEYM staff eight years ago, I will probably continue to feel that voluntary payment of this tax would violate my conscience.

What can Friends do to help?

The most valuable support Friends can give would be to give prayerful attention to the witness of war tax resistence. There are quite a few tax resisters among us, though in the past few years they’ve been rather quiet. Many of them have interesting and inspiring stories to tell.

There is no one right way to approach this subject. Friends who are called to tax resistance may be led to very different methods, and may find, as I have, that different methods are appropriate at different stages of life. It’s not important that one always does it exactly the same way, nor that we all do exactly the same thing. Rather, what’s important is that each of us be faithful to witness as we are able in our changing circumstances. I remember one wise Friend who said, "I expect to be a tax resister for the rest of my life, so I need to find ways to organize it so that I can sustain it over the years, rather than adopting a witness so strenuous that I need to drop it after a while."

Other Friends may not be called to tax resistance at all, but may be able to offer support to resisters in various ways. Contributions to the yearly meeting’s fund for sufferings, for example, may provide vital financial support to people who have been led to various forms of witness, including tax resistance. Assistance with the administration of the New England Friends Peace Tax Fund helps provide tax resisters with a place to put the money they have refused to pay to the government. Support for the proposed Peace Tax Fund law, both financial and political, is another way to get involved.

Perhaps it’s time to revisit a minute the yearly meeting approved 25 years ago (#46, page 29, 1980)

We are increasingly mindful of growing militarism at grass roots and governmental levals and readiness to look to military solutions of international problems. Most evident is the reinstatement of draft registration, which challenges our youth to examine their consciences and re-examine the spiritual basis of the Quaker Peace Testimony and its meaning to each of them, personally.

In the face of these circumstances, New England Friends are seeking God’s leading in their lives. We know God’s will is for us to live in peace with one another and to refuse to participate in or to support acts of violence. Many Friends feel that those of us who are not compelled by law to register for the draft face a similar challenge in our payment of taxes which fund the preparation for war. Therefore, we of New England Yearly Meeting will give prayerful consideration to witnessing to peace by non-payment of war taxes.

The New England Friends Peace Tax Fund

Established in 1979, this is a trust fund under the care of the yearly meeting, currently administered by a Trustee under the oversight of the Permanent Board. Tax resisters put their refused taxes into the fund as conditional gifts. If five years goes by without the IRS seizing the money, it becomes a completed donation to the yearly meeting. If, however, the IRS seizes the money from the tax resister, the trust fund returns to the resister the amount of their conditional gift.

The Fund for Sufferings

This fund of the yearly meeting is derived from contributions from individuals, and is currently under the overisght of the Peace and Social Concerns Committee. It was established in 1978 to "lend spiritual and material support to Friends who may suffer because of their faithfulness to our testimonies." It has been used to assist Friends who have gone to jail or have lost jobs because of their peace witness.

The Fund for the Support of Conscience

This is a fund similar to the Fund for Sufferings, but under the care of Friends Meeting at Cambridge.

The Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund Bill

The National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund was organized in 1971 to pass federal legislation which would provide a way for persons to participate in the tax system without violating their conscientiously held beliefs. The proposed legislation would amend the Internal Revenue Code to provide that a taxpayer conscientiously opposed to any participation in war could have his or her income, estate, and gift tax payments spent for non-military purposes only. The Campaign advocates and educates on behalf of citizens who are petitioning the government for the right to pay 100% of their taxes without violating deeply held religious or ethical teachings. As the law now stands, they cannot. The organization’s central affirmation is that each individual has the right not to be coerced into participation in killing other human beings-whether that participation is physical or financial. Ultimately this right is based in the freedom to exercise religion according to the dictates of conscience.

HR2631, the most recent version of the bill, was introduced on May 25 2005 with 34 cosponsors, including four from New England (William Delahunt MA, Barney Frank MA, James McGovern MA, Bernie Sanders VT) www.peacetaxfund.org

My own reflections on what it all means

Thank God, Friends continue to actively work for peace and oppose war. In these days, the urgency of our peace witness is clear to us all. But new times bring forth new ways of expressing that commitment. We seldom hear now of the kind of civil disobedience that was so important among us in opposition to the war in Indochina and the nuclear arms race. There is no current draft, so conscientious objection is not much emphasized, and new IRS regulations have made tax resistance more difficult and more expensive. We no longer need to raise money for the Sufferings Fund to help Friends who have lost jobs or gone to jail for nonviolent demonstrations and civil disobedience.

To many people, it may seem that the main reasons for opposing war are those of political opinion or practicality. But the Quaker peace testimony has always been based, not on practical politics, but on the overwhelming experience of God’s love. The very outrageousness of civil disobedience and conscientious objection makes it very clear that their basis is not practical. What good does it do in the "real world" to burn a draft card, or pour blood on the floor of the Pentagon, or get dragged off to jail from Draper Labs, or go to prison for years rather than register for the draft? What sense does it make to refuse taxes when the government just gets your money anyway, by seizing your bank account, your salary, or other assets, not only for the tax you refused but also for penalties and interest? The reason for such impractical and apparently futile actions are spiritual, not political. It is not a matter of how to influence the government, but rather how to obey the Divine Will, as God has made it known to us.

Like many tax resisters, I am quieter now. I no longer struggle with W-4 and 1040 forms or war tax credits or Tax Court. The IRS has found ways to block most of the techniques we used in the 70’s. But I am still a tax resister, as I have been for over thirty years. I file my 1040 like everyone else, but I just don’t write any checks to the IRS. Instead, I send letters explaining my action. There are many others who have built tax resistance into our way of life, not for an immediate, dramatic witness as we sometimes did at first, but for the long term.

When I began resisting the income tax, my parents tried to talk me out of it, not because they thought I was wrong, but because they were afraid I would get hurt. My mother was using all the familiar practical arguments: "They’ll take your money anyway, or if they can’t get yours they’ll use other people’s, but your action won’t make any impact on government policy." Suddenly my father turned to her and said, "Don’t you see what she’s doing? She’s refusing to put a pinch on incense on the altar of the ‘divine’ Caesar." That memory is precious to me; my father understood me so completely, and put it so simply.

In these imperialist days, my father’s reference to Caesar’s claims of divinity and absolute authority is particularly poignant. My loyalty, my allegiance, my dedication is to God. No human government could have first place in my life. God has let me know that tax refusal is a form of witness that is required of me. I have no idea whether it will "do any good" or not; that’s not my business. My concern is obedience and faithfulness, as long as God lends me the strength to continue.

In this witness, Friends’ support has been more helpful to me than I can express. The clearness committee that helped me discern the leading, the Friends who helped me figure out how to fill out the forms, those who accompanied me to Tax Court, the fellowship of others called to the same witness – and very importantly, the New England Friends Peace Tax Fund. Over the years, most of the Friends involved in its administration have not been tax resisters themselves, but they saw this as a way to support conscientious action. Through the Fund, I can look the IRS in the eye and say, "I’m not keeping the money for myself, I’ve given it to my yearly meeting." Just knowing I can say that, just knowing that other Friends are standing by me, has given me strength and inspiration.

Nowadays, few Friends put their money in the Fund, because usually the IRS gets it through withholding. But for those who do end up with some tax money in hand, as happens to me from time to time, it is wonderful to know we can give it into the care of our religious community. I am very grateful to New England Friends for this witness of love and support.

Three Other Voices

"No person can decide for another what his or her witness shall be. But it has always been the practice of Friends to act upon the leadings of their consciences and to support each other in their right to do so. The conscription of tax money to build weapons of destruction is something that many Friends find immoral. William Penn, in refusing to send money to England for war with Canada, said, "No man can be true to God and false to his own conscience, nor can he extort from it a tribute to carry on any war, nor ought true Christians to pay for it." Therefore, we stand in loving support of any of our members who are called by conscience to oppose and refuse taxes that are to be used for military purposes." —Iowa Yearly Meeting of Friends, 1983 (NEYM Faith & Practice, 1985, p. 186)

"Every human being is a child of God with a measure of God’s light. War and other instruments of violence and oppression ignore this reality and violate our relation with God. Let us keep primary, therefore, Friends’ concern for removing the causes of war. Let us seek, through God’s power and grace, to overcome in our own hearts the emotions that lie at the root of violence. At every opportunity, let us be peacemakers in our homes, in our communities, and in our places of work. Let us take care that we who declare against war do not nourish the seeds of war in our possessions. Friends are urged to support those who witness to their governments and take personal risks in the cause of peace, who choose not to participate in war as soldiers nor to contribute to its preparations with their taxes. Let us support in all possible ways the development of international order, justice, and understanding." —Advice on Peace and Reconciliation, NEYM Faith & Practice, 1985, pp. 209-210

Sonnet

To the eight students who refused to register for conscription

by Kenneth Boulding, 1940

Most men will call you fools. Yet you belong

To an eternal country whose bound lies

Beyond the restricted frontiers of our eyes:

Its anthem is an unforgettable song

Sung once to shepherds by an angelic throng,

And on its ancient flag three crosses rise

Whose blessed folly shall confound the wise

Who seek by prison terms to probe you wrong!

I hear a salutation faintly borne

On silver trumpet notes from ancient days

From fellow citizens who counted scorn

As little as they counted human praise,

Who suffered underneath a Roman sword,

From sprinkling incense only to the Lord.

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