A Taxing Proposition

—PeaceNik

The Roller Girl says: Depends how into serving jail time you are. Refusing to pay taxes for reasons of conscience is called civil disobedience, and Henry David Thoreau served time in jail for it. If you really believe this, you certainly should do what your conscience dictates. But that means you have to accept the consequences too.

And just a word to the wise, here: From a PR standpoint, it’s not going to look very convincing if the only thing you happen to do out of your selfless belief in peace is stop paying taxes, because in case you hadn’t noticed, that’s most directly going to benefit you and in fact people do that very thing for purely selfish reasons all the damn time. If you then donated all the money you didn’t give the government to a peace-supporting charity, or directly to war-torn Afghan villagers, then people might believe you more. I’m just sayin’.

But you’d still go to jail. You’d just look better doing it.

Sales Guy says: A very interesting question. Many feel the same as you—the immoral nature of the Iraq war, the lives shattered, the dead and wounded both military and civilian, an estimated $7 trillion dollar price tag with much of it going to the war profiteers who got us into this mess in the first place…

It begs the question: Why should we give these criminals a penny. The reality is this. If you do not belong to a recognized religious “tax exempt” organization and you try this anti-tax strike gambit on your own with no political cover, it’s major fines, court time and possibly jail.

Play it smart—vote Democratic and, after sweet victory, enjoy the war crimes trials, firing squads and public hangings.

But that’s how I roll…

Dr. Sigmund Fraud says: You remind me of a young “me.” I remember those college days well. There was always some kind of demonstration going on—against the invasion of Grenada, against Burger King for chopping down the rain forest to raise cattle, against corporate radio for never playing bands like the Clash. It didn’t matter, I was in, and I’d carry a sign protesting anything from animal testing to student aid cutbacks. I was young then and I had lofty goals. One of them was to “make a difference” with as many open-minded coeds as I could. To this day, the smell of patchouli oil and clove cigarettes sends an arrow through my heart.

You see, I was in it for all the right reasons. Grenada quickly played itself out, the rain forest, well, it’s still screwed, and the Clash finally made it onto mainstream radio with a catchy single that sacrificed political commentary for cute caricature. The only thing that really changed in that whole time period was the depth of my carnal knowledge, and I wouldn’t trade that for the world.

This “Christian Peacekeeper” thing sounds fishy to me. When Jesus was asked if it was lawful for people to pay taxes, he pointed to the image of Caesar on the coin. Then he famously advised, “Give to Caesar that which is Caesar’s, and give to God that which is God’s.”

Look man, it’s only money. The government made it, so let them keep some of it. You’re wasting precious time that could be spent angling in on that cute little theater major who models for figure drawing class and shuns meat and fur.

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