Death and Taxes: the Unconscionable Connection
By Marian Franz
March/April 2002
Volume 39, Number 2
No one argues the certainty of death and taxes. It is the connection
between the two that weighs heavily on the consciences of many, especially
during this tax season.
Not since the early 1980's has there been such a shrill cry for increased
military spending. The President's proposed budget for next year would
increase military spending by over 14 percent to $379.3 billion dollars.
This year's U.S. military budget already exceeds the combined military
budgets of the 15 next-biggest military spenders in the world and weighs
in at over 23 times the combined military budgets of the seven "rogue
nations" identified by the President. Yet some Republicans now in control
of Congress say that increase is not enough. They are calling for an
additional $60 billion in military spending over 5 years.
At the same time there is an equally strong call for deep spending
cuts for social programs. The necessary cuts would come disproportionately
from foreign aid and domestic social welfare programs, disastrously
impacting millions of Americans and millions of needy people across
the globe.
The connection between death and taxes is very real. Military spending
constitutes a double violence. Weapons of the military kill when they
are used, and these same weapons also kill by denying resources to those
in desperate need.
Citizens who cannot in good conscience contribute to this violence
risk fines and jail sentences to withhold taxes that support war. Some
even impoverish themselves and their families rather than be legally
bound to pay such taxes. Paradoxically, although conscientious objectors
to war have not been forced to serve in active combat for 50 years,
they are still required to support the military through taxation. The
law provides no alternative service for drafted dollars.
There is legislation in Congress, called the Religious Freedom Peace
Tax Fund Bill, that would recognize conscientious objection for taxpayers
who, on religious or ethical grounds, cannot participate in the funding
of war or preparation for war. Taxpayers who now unlawfully withhold
the portion of their taxes which supports military spending would be
able, with a clear conscience, to pay their full taxes once again. As
a result, the government would collect more revenue.
The Peace Tax Fund Bill is molded in the image of conscientious objection
to military service. It would not reduce an individual's tax liability,
nor would it directly alter the level of military spending as established
by Congress. It would provide an opportunity for millions of taxpayers
to examine their consciences each year on the question of war and taxes.
The Peace Tax Fund Bill would, over time, affect our nation's spending
priorities.
The Bill has enjoyed a dramatic increase of support. The campaign that
successfully passed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act brought together
a diverse community of advocates for religious freedom. Many of these
organizations and religious bodies have come to see conscientious objection
to military taxes as a basic religious freedom.
On Capitol Hill, the debate about health care reform has awakened
other organizations to the connection between death and taxes. In the
past, many who objected on moral grounds to federal funding for abortions
drew a boundary excluding conscientious objection to taxes for military
forces. Few now make that exclusion.
"Both morals and sound policy require that the state should not violate
the conscience of the individual," said Chief Justice Harlan Fisk Stone.
"All our history gives confirmation to the view that liberty of conscience
has a moral and social value which makes it worthy of preservation at
the hands of the state. . . . It may well be questioned whether the
state which preserves its life by a settled policy of violation of the
conscience of the individual will not in fact ultimately lose it by
that process."
Democratic Representative John Lewis and Republican Representative
Jim Leach have again introduced the Peace Tax Fund Bill in the House
(HR1186). In the words of former Republican Senator Mark Hatfield and
former Democratic Representative Andrew Jacobs, "If it has ever been
clear in the history of our democracy, it is clear now that we need
to protect the preeminent right of conscience of all our citizens. Freedom
of conscience is a constitutional right."
For more information, contact
the National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund,
2121 Decatur Place, NW,
Washington DC 20008.
E-mail info@peacetax.com,
or visit http://www.peacetax.com/.
Telephone (202) 483-3751,
Toll-Free (888) PEACE-TAX,
or fax (202) 986-066.
Marian Franz is the Executive Director of the National Campaign
for a Peace Tax Fund