Conscience & Peace Tax
Peace Tax Fund
International
By H.A. Penner, Treasurer, Peace Tax Foundation/National
Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund
You’ve likely heard the phrase, “Let’s go to London to see the queen.”
Thanks to a special designated gift to the Peace Tax Foundation,
Executive Director Jack Payden-Travers and I had the good fortune
of being able to go to London last March. And we even were able
to get to the front gate of the queen’s house—Buckingham Palace.
But we weren’t invited in, not even for tea! So we didn’t get to see
the queen.
But we did get to meet with our contemporaries of Conscience and
Peace Tax International (http://www.cpti.ws), the global organization
of which the Peace Tax Foundation is a member. That had to be
more enriching than seeing the queen, anyway!
Some of you remember Marian Franz, the former Executive Director
of the National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund who for many years
was a “persistent voice” lobbying the U.S. Congress on the human
right of not paying for war. Marian was also instrumental in the
formation of the global organization--Conscience and Peace Tax
International—that works to obtain recognition all over the world
for the right to conscientious objection to paying military taxes.
Based in England, Conscience and Peace Tax International—
“CPTI”—is an association of organizations from about a dozen
countries, primarily in Europe, that are seeking the human right
of conscientious objection to participation in war — whether that
participation is physical or financial. Fifteen of us from six of
those countries met in London for two days last March in a
“general assembly” to plan for the future following the untimely
deaths of two key members of the organization’s international board–
one from Belgium and the other from England.
Our time together focused on developing an action plan for
ongoing international cooperation and coordination. Contract staff
persons at the United Nations, both in New York and in Geneva,
The WTR Penalty Fund provides a process of mutual support through which war tax resisters and their supporters
can distribute financial assistance to war tax resisters whose taxes are collected and for whom the collection of penalties and
interest is a burden. In providing this mutual support, the Penalty Fund hopes to sustain and expand war tax resistance as a form
of conscientious objection to war.
To join the list: Send your contact information to
Peter Smith at webmaster@nwtrcc.org.
To request assistance: Send documents to
WTRPF, 1036 N. Niles Ave, South Bend, IN 46617
To contribute to an appeal for funds: Write a
check to our fiscal sponsor CMTC and send it to:
Conscience and Military Tax Campaign
PO Box 2096, Mars Hill, NC 28754
Switzerland, seek to address the fundamental human right of neither
participating in nor paying for war. CPTI’s website promotes the
idea of conscientious objection to military taxation. Other ways
to communicate this idea include an emerging CPTI Wikipedia
site. Social media outlets, such as Facebook, are being pursued.
CPTI cooperates with international peace movements such as War
Resisters International, Pax Christi, the International Fellowship of
Reconciliation and the World Council of Churches in spreading the
idea that paying taxes for peace, not war, is a human right. CPTI’s
15th International Conference on War Tax Resistance and Peace Tax
Campaigns was tentatively scheduled for the spring of 2017 at a site
yet to be determined.
Participating in the March, 2015 CPTI gathering in London was a
very heartening experience! As Monica Frisch of the Conscience
organization in the United Kingdom said, “It’s both gratifying
and inspiring to participate in CPTI conferences and learn of
peacemaking efforts in other countries.”
Reflecting on the experience, I recall the encouraging words of a
pastor from Tanzania who was staying at the guest house where
the CPTI meetings were held. He said, “It’s important to keep alive
conscientious objection to war because it’s fundamental to the
Christian faith. If you want peace, you cannot support war.”
Those wishing to receive email news from CPTI should
send their name and email address to Friedrich Heilmann:
heilmann@friedenssteuer.de.
Note that donations to CMTC for WTRPF are not tax
deductible. More information about its history, how it
functions and how to register for it can be found on the
NWTRCC website: http://www.nwtrcc.org/wtrpf/
The Peace Tax Foundation is
preparing for a new edition of
our pamphlet “CONGRESS SHALL
MAKE NO LAW…” Stories of
Religious Freedom and Conscience
in the United States. Would you
be interested in sharing your story
with our staff?
The previous version had stories
which were listed under the
following categories:
• Religious and Civil Liberties
• Seizure of Funds
• Voluntary Impoverishment
• Seizure of Property
• Imprisonment
Please contact the office if you are
interested in participating.
A special thank you to the James R. & Mary Jane Barrett Foundation that has made the publication of this newsletter possible.
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Dear Friends,
The PTF UPDATE you have received is our first in seven years. Hopefully it will not be the last. You can
request to receive it electronically and save trees, printing & postage costs making your contributions
go further.
I wish to receive my copy of UPDATE via email.
National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund & The Peace Tax Foundation ISSUE 1 JANUARY 2016
I wish to receive a printed copy of UPDATE.
(please print)
Name: Rep. John Lewis Introduces Bill into 114th Congress
Address:
On May 15th, International Conscientious
City: State: Zip: Objector Day, Rep. John Lewis of Georgia There are 26 sitting members of the House of Representatives who co-sponsored the
NCPTF, 2121 Decatur Pl, NW Washington, DC 20008-1923 introduced the Religious Freedom Peace Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund bill in a previous Congress. These Representatives
Tax Fund Act of 2015, HR2377, into the are the ones the NCPTF office will be approaching initially. If one of these individuals
info@peacetaxfund.org • 888-PEACETAx (888-732-2382)
114th Congress. is your Congressperson please contact them requesting that they once again sign on to
Congressman Lewis’ bill, HR 2377.
The “Religious Peace Freedom” banner
Dear Peace Tax Fund Supporter,
headline of the Congressman’s website states:
Previous Co-sponsors presently in the House of Representatives:
Running a national office here in the District of Columbia is an expensive undertaking. Please
Rep. Corrine Brown (D-FL5) Rep. Shelia Jackson-Lee (D-TX18)
consider making a special contribution to help us grow the Peace Tax Fund. Please use the I am proud to have introduced the Religious Freedom Peace Tax
Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay (D-MO1) Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX30)
Return Envelope enclosed with this edition of Peace Tax Fund UPDATE. Thank you for your Fund Act of 2015 (H.R. 2377). This bill provides a way for Americans
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II (D-MO5) Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA4)
continuing support. who oppose war to pay their taxes with a clear conscience. It
protects both freedom of religion and freedom of speech. Rep. John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI13) Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA13)
Some of our members have established annuities that will continue their support after their
Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-MD7) Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA7)
death. If you are interested in learning more about setting up an annuity or including the The First Amendment says that Americans are free to practice their
Rep. Danny K. Davis (D-IL7) Rep. James P. McGovern (D-MA2)
Peace Tax Fund in your will/estate planning please contact the office. religious beliefs and that Congress cannot infringe on those beliefs.
Rep. Peter A. DeFazio (D-OR4) Rep. Gregory W. Meeks (D-NY5)
Since 1940, the federal government has allowed Americans who
oppose war to declare themselves conscientious objectors in the Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN5) Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC)
event of a military draft. This means that people opposed to war Rep. Anna G. Eshoo (D-CA18) Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-NY13)
for religious or moral reasons may choose alternatives to military Rep. Sam Farr (D-CA20) Rep. Bobby L. Rush (D-IL1)
service. Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-PA2) Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA38)
Rep. Raul M. Grijalva (D-AZ7) Rep. José E. Serrano (D-NY15)
Unfortunately, they have no such choice when paying their taxes.
Rep. Michael M. Honda (D-CA17) Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez (D-NY7)
My bill allows citizens who oppose war to declare themselves
conscientious objectors for tax reasons. They would follow the same
Reclaiming Childhood in a Hostile World rules in place during a draft. Their tax money would then go into a However each of us should now send a personal letter to our Representative, regardless of
Johann Christoph Arnold’s Their Name is Today:
special fund in the Treasury that could pay for any federal spending whether or not they have been a co-sponsor of this bill, asking them to become co-signers.
EXCEPT the military. This way, patriotic Americans do not have to You can send a letter directly from our website but a personal letter in your own words is
—Tom & Sandy Farley in Friends Journal review of
violence-preoccupied society. compromise their beliefs in order to fulfill their tax obligations. much more persuasive than a form letter received electronically.
but the utterly predictable result of a
and schools are not “senseless” violence, I have always stood for nonviolence, which is why I am sponsoring Please send a copy of your correspondence and the Representative’s reply to this office.
loving care suffers. Shootings in our streets this important bill. No one should ever have to go to war – or pay for We maintain files on each member of the House and Senate as regards their stance on the
harming others for a cause dominate our society, war – when his or her beliefs forbid it. Together, we can make sure RFPTF bill. We consult these files before we lobby a particular individual.
the principles set by First Amendment are followed. Please help me
When militarism and its justification of
pass the Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund Act of 2015.
2121 Decatur Place NW, Washington, DC 20008-1923 Complicity and Collection: Religious Freedom and Tax
FOR THE SAKE OF CONSCIENCE By Jennifer Carr, Director of Academic Success at the University of Nevada Law School
Peace Tax Fund supporters will find Complicity and Collection Professor Carr spoke at the November 2015 Las Vegas meeting of
useful as a quick review of the history and legal arguments for the the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee with
passage of the Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund bill. It can serve as which the Peace Tax Foundation is affiliated. She writes: “This article
the basis for a study group on the issue and as preparatory reading focuses on pacifists who feel paying federal income tax violates
when preparing yourself to talk with your Representative and their religious conscience. I suggest that, just as the military has a
Senators. It appeared in the University of St. Thomas Law Journal conscientious objector status which permits alternate service, the
and is available online via the Social Science Research Network: Internal Revenue Service should have a conscientious objector status
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2625741. which permits alternate tax.” A video of her presentation will be
available on the NWTRCC website: www.nwtrcc.org.
 Peace
FROM Tax Fund
THE DIRECTOR
National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund & The Peace Tax Foundation
“Change is always painful being as it is a goodbye” is a line from a
poem I first read back in the 1960s and that is truly the case for me as
I step down from my position with the Peace Tax Fund. It is bittersweet
to be leaving a job that has nourished me but I am ready to experience
the life of a non-salaried social activist not tied to a desk or deadline.
The Buddhists have a saying: “The path of the journey continues the
return.” Coming to work at the Peace Tax Fund in 2011 was like that
for me. When I was a Junior Year Abroad student in Japan in 1967,
I met a Quaker, Bob Blood. He and his wife Margaret were to be my
mentors for many years. They were conscientious objectors to military
taxation. Bob, as my first draft counselor, helped me explore what I was
called to do as a result of the US War in Vietnam. 48 years have passed
and I find myself figuratively back where the first steps were taken
working on conscientious objection to war and militarism. It has been
my guidepost over the decades. Although little talked about today in
church or meeting or synagogue, it remains for me a core principle.
My leaving is intentional. My wife and I are both retiring from our
“paying jobs.” We plan to continue sowing the seeds of social change
we have each been involved in over the years. However, we want to be
free to do more things like the trip this past summer with our family
when seven of us including daughters, son-in-law and grandchildren
studied Spanish in Nicaragua for five weeks.
At the end of December I will join the list of former staff. It has been
an honor to have served as the Director and I look forward to my
Would You Like to Buy a Drone?
By Jack Payden-Travers
“Would You Like to Buy a Drone?” was the phrase that came to me
recently as I was perusing the books for sale at Koinonia Partners
in Americus, Georgia. I was traveling on the Justice Journey from
Blacksburg Presbyterian Church in Virginia to the School of the
Americas Watch gathering in Columbus, Georgia. My thoughts were
prompted by a copy of Ted Swartz’s biography, Laughter is a Sacred
Space. Ted is the author and one of the actors in the comedy “Would
You Like to Buy an Enemy?” I saw it while a student at the Center for
Justice and Peacebuilding of Eastern Mennonite University. Koinonia
Community has been a bright light for many as it has always striven
to create the “kingdom on earth as it will be in heaven” without regard
to race or color since its founding in 1942.
Each year NCPTF staff exhibit at the SOA Watch events outside the
gates of Ft. Benning where the US Army runs the Western Hemisphere
Institute for Security Cooperation, a combat training school for
military personnel from Latin American countries. It has now
expanded to provide training for the US Border Patrol. In 2001 the
School of the Americas was renamed as WHINSEC for the peoples
of the Americas had taken to calling it the School of the Assassins.
From the thousands who come each year we sign up many new
members and Congressional District Contacts (CDCs) who are
looking for ways to respond to the increasing militarization of our
society. As I pen this essay on December 2nd it is the 35th anniversary
continuing association as both a member and contributor. I treasure
the acquaintances, the meetings and correspondence with members,
but most of all the work of building “the kingdom on earth as it is in
heaven.” I am deeply indebted to the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker of
DC that has provided, hospitality, housing and community to me these
past five years. Without them I could not have done this job. Thanks to
each of you for your support of me and let me urge you to continue to
contribute your time, efforts and resources to make the Peace Tax Fund
a reality.
I believe the Campaign and the Foundation need someone to take
them to a new level. Our new Director, Jack McHale, is that individual.
A Virginia resident with a long history of work with non-profits and
social justice organizations, he has just completed two years of service
as the Chairperson of Pax Christi Metro DC/Baltimore, has served on
the Board of Directors of the Guatemala Human Rights Commission-
USA and is part of the Social Justice Ministry of Our Lady Queen of
Peace in Arlington, VA. Jack who studied towards a Masters in Conflict
Resolution at George Mason University has a passion for justice.
We are a small number of folks with a very important mission: to
extend the right of conscientious objection to war to taxpayers. It
is the same goal sought some 43 years ago when Rep. Ron Dellums
introduced the first World Peace Tax Fund bill during the war in
Vietnam.
Peace & Trust,
Jack Payden-Travers And yet the task before us is just as important, if not more so, given our
At the gates of Ft. Benning/ Left to
right: Jack Payden-Travers, Ed Loring
of Open Door Community in Atlanta,
GA and Sr. Megan Rice, one of the
Transform Now Plowshares.
of the assassinations of four US missionaries in El Salvador: Maura
Clarke, Ita Ford, Dorothy Kazel, and Jean Donovan: two Maryknoll
sisters, one Ursuline nun, and a young lay person. SOA graduates were
implicated in their murders.
I asked those who passed our display staffed by myself and Rich
Woodard, chair of the Board of Directors of the Peace Tax Fund, the
question: “Would you like to buy a drone?” Invariably a conversation
ensued and another person was signed up for the Peace Tax Fund.
Ironically in this age of media savvy, the majority of our new
supporters are recruited not over the internet but through exhibits at
events like Call To Action, Church of the Brethren Annual Conference,
Ecumenical Advocacy Days, Mennonite Church USA Convention,
Yearly Meetings, Peace & Justice Studies Association, Spring Rising,
SOA Watch, etc. We now have CDCs in approximately 285 of the 435
Congressional Districts. If you attend a professional conference and are
willing to represent the Peace Tax Fund at it, please let our office know
and we can arrange to send you materials for an exhibit.
Is This the World Peace Tax Fund?
“I thought this organization had closed.” “There still is a Peace Tax
Fund bill?” These and similar comments are received via email, letters,
and phone calls to our office. It’s not surprising that this is the case.
In 1972 many thought our work would be over in a few years. We
didn’t realize that legislative change is akin to geologic change: always
occurring but pre-global warming, not readily apparent for centuries.
Unfortunately our work is not done: our bill has not been enacted into
law and conscientious objectors are still being forced to participate in
the military via our “drafted” tax dollars.
It is actually worse than that. It is more like we are 21st Century
men and women on board US frigates in the early 19th Century
who were illegally taken off their sailing ships by British warships
and “impressed” into serving in the British navy. Each year when
we, conscientious objectors, pay our taxes on April 15th it is as if the
Department of War is once again issuing us an Order for Induction.
Only this time we don’t even have the option of refusing. In most cases
our tax dollars have already been taken out of our paychecks.
Fortunately the Peace Tax Fund is still at work some four plus decades
later. Yes, we are leaner with only a part-time director and a full-time
Brethren Volunteer Service worker. Gone are the days of seven office
staff and state field workers. Come January with the departure of
Keith Morphew, our BVSer for the past year+, we will be down to a
part-time Director.
nation’s penchant for being the number one merchant of militarism on
the planet. We are the leader in military spending, in the production of
nuclear weapons, in the number of military bases, in the militarization
of space. Our military budget is larger than the combined total of
the next nine nations: China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, France, United
Kingdom, Germany, Japan, India and South Korea. In a world where
BOOK REVIEW
Waging Peace: Global Adventures of a Lifelong
Peace Activist
By David Hartsough with Joyce Hollyday
© 2014 PM Press, Oakland, CA
ISBN: 978-1-62963-034-2
Recently I had the privilege of attending a talk held at the Friends
Meeting of Washington by Peace Tax Fund member David Hartsough.
He was inspiring as he chronicled his citizen diplomacy efforts over the
seven decades of his life. He and Jan have raised a family and are now
supposedly retired. The truth is he is anything but retired. David never
mentioned his refusal to pay war taxes during his talk and so I asked
him to share his experience as a tax resister and supporter of the Peace
Tax Fund. In his book Waging Peace: Global Adventures Of A Lifelong
Peace Activist, he notes “I decided while I was at Howard (University)
boots on the ground are increasingly being replaced by drones in the
air, the US is the leader, the major producer, the foremost exporter of
these killing machines.
The Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund Act of 2015, HR 2377, is now
before the 114th Congress. It is up to us to turn this bill into law by
requesting that our Representatives co-sponsor this bill, calling for the
House Ways & Means Committee to hold hearings on this legislation
and creating the groundswell of support that will get the bill to the
floor of the Congress. We also need to seek a sponsor for a companion
bill in the Senate. We have not had a bill in that chamber since the late
Sen. Mark Hatfield retired.
The passage of this bill is no more impossible than was state recognition
of conscientious objection back in the 20th Century when men died
in US and English federal and military prisons during World War I for
refusing to be inducted into the military or refusing military orders
as conscientious objectors in the army. By World War II CO status
was recognized in a number of European nations and the US. In this
100th anniversary period since World War I we need to remember
the courage of those who declared themselves conscientious objectors
to the war to end all war and work for an end to compulsory military
taxation.
to live on $600 a year, to keep my earnings below the federal taxable
level and avoid paying taxes for war” (p 70). Post graduation in 1962
while performing alternative service as the college secretary of the
Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL), he requested a
salary of “fifty dollars a month, so that I could continue to keep my
earnings below the level at which I would have to pay federal taxes to
fund war and nuclear weapons” (p 73).
David and Jan have continued their opposition to paying war taxes
for many decades and each year participate in the San Francisco
Alternative Life Fund’s granting of tax resisted monies to local
community groups. He indicated that a portion of their Social Security
is garnished each month by the Internal Revenue Service as a result of
their refusal to pay war taxes. Jan when asked a question mentioned
that their decision to live in community for many years made their
resistance more feasible while raising a family.
Trip to Colombia
By Jonathan Stauffer, NCPTF Office Administrator 2013-2014
This past May, I traveled to Colombia for a delegation with Christian
Peacemaker Teams and an intercultural course offered through Earlham
School of Religion. The length of the trip was two weeks. While there
we met with an organization called Justapaz. The Mennonite Church
in Colombia established this organization, which actively strives for
building peace. The organization engages over and against the cultures of
violence in a society that has been plagued by socialist insurgent forces
and private militias. We heard from Jenny Neme and Angelica Rincon
about the organization’s work.
Justapaz upholds human rights by exposing the misdeeds of the armed
insurgent and militia groups. Each year they publish a record for victims
of violence in the Protestant and Anabaptist churches called “A Prophetic
Call”. On top of private militia violence, the Colombian military has
been known to capture people and force them into service, even though
that method of recruitment is illegal in the country. Justapaz discloses
each of these human rights violations to the public record and calls for
accountability at the government level.
Justapaz also works to oppose the system of mandatory military service
in Colombia by defending the beliefs of conscientious objectors to
violence and war. Currently, students attending seminary are allowed a
deferral to military service, but could later be subjected to harassment
by police for not having a military ID card. In Colombia, conscientious
objectors are often characterized as lazy. This cultural stigma results
because many Colombians believe that a strong military associates with
security. The ongoing support of Justapaz for CO’s encourages those who
wish to participate in methods of building peace instead of perpetuating
violence.
More information can be found at the Justapaz website:
http://justapaz.org/
Reviews by Jack Payden-Travers
I would encourage you to read this book. If I were still teaching
history, I would list it as a text to accompany the standard US History
course requirements. From civil rights to the Cuban missile crisis
to Vietnam and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan this book gives a
glimpse of history one doesn’t find in the usual textbook. I was pleased
to find that it was published by PM Press of Oakland, CA, a group I
first encountered while staffing the National Campaign for a Peace
Tax Fund exhibit at the 2014 Peace & Justice Studies Association
conference at the Kroc Institute at the University of San Diego. I just
wish that David had included a Table of Contents for ease of reference
when using this book.
Although “retired,” David is currently the executive director of
Peaceworkers.
In Memoriam
Emily Conlon I August 19, 2011
Charles DeMere I March 4, 2013
David DeMere, former PTF staff member I November 1, 2010
Bruce B. Graves, 1st Treasurer of the World Peace Tax Fund,
his COMT court case reached the US Supreme Court
June 26, 2015
Harold Guetzkow, Former board member of NCPTF,
Conscientious Objector from World War II
November 11, 2008
Vincent Harding, Civil rights activist, Historian & Theologian
May 19, 2014
Mark Hatfield, US Senator from Oregon, in April 1977
introduced the World Peace Tax Fund Bill in the Senate and
was the main Senate sponsor until he retired in 1996
August 7, 2011
Jane Hart, Vietnam War tax resister, wife of Sen. Phillip Hart
June 5, 2014
Karen Heikkala I July 28, 2009
George Lamborn I 2014
Survived by Suzanne of Nottingham, PA.
Harry Ludwig, Conscientious Objector from World War II
June 9, 2013
Jim McGuiness, Founder and Director of the Institute for
Peace and Justice, St. Louis, MO. Endorser of the Peace
Tax Fund I August 13, 2009
Raymond Millett, Conscientious Objector from World War II
October 26, 2014 and Clara Millett I May 21, 2015
Juanita Morrow Nelson, War tax resister and founding
member of Peacemakers I March 9, 2015
Dirk Panhuis, Long-standing Secretary of CPTI I 2015
Roy Prockter, CPTI Treasurer I 2014
Ibrahim Abdil-Mu’id Ramey, Former PTF Board member
December 11, 2015
John Little Randall, Former PTF Board member
April 29, 2015
Phil & Louise Rieman, Former Board members
December 26, 2008
Mary Ellen Rugg I June 20, 2015
Mary Lucinda ‘Cindy’ Sangree, Rochester, NY
February 2015
Leonard Stark, Conscientious Objector from World War II
October 6, 2014 and Betty Stark I September 13, 2009
Gabrielle Welford I April 2011
Howard Zinn, Endorser and member of the Peace Tax Fund,
historian and proponent of civil disobedience. He is best
known for his book, A People’s History of the United States.
February, 2010