As the surge of nuclear resistance has cut broader and deeper channels into the mainstream of the U.S. church, new and encouraging voices of Christian protest are being raised. Following years of dissent from the so-called peripheries of the church, these new voices are earnestly imploring a vigorous, sacrificial witness by the church as a whole against impending nuclear catastrophe.
Although many streams feed the currents of resistance, the refusal to pay military taxes is receiving increasing public attention. Both as a means of protesting the arms race and as a denial of funds that fuel it, war tax resistance is slowly building momentum.
In this issue of Sojourners, we offer Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen's strong letter to his parishioners explaining his decision to withhold the war portion of his income taxes. Attorney William Durland updates the state of war tax resistance litigation. And one of the best military tax refusal guides available is reviewed. Also in this issue we want to explain how we at Sojourners practice war tax resistance.
Non-payment of war taxes has always been a vital concern. We began publishing in 1971 during the height of the Vietnam War, a conflict that we unequivocally opposed. It soon became clear that refusal of war tax payment was for us as morally necessary as our refusal of military induction. We could not oppose that war in every other way and then help pay for it. In those early days we refused war tax payment by holding our earnings below the taxable income level and withholding the war tax portion of our phone bill.
With the heightening nuclear arms race and the widening conflict in Central America, our stand on war tax resistance has remained resolute: We cannot with good conscience provide our government, through our tax dollars, with the necessary means for nuclear preparedness and ideological military exploits.
Our war tax resistance is both institutional and personal. A non-profit corporation provides a legal entity for our magazine, as well as our peace and neighborhood ministries. Everyone working in these ministries earns a subsistence income. For most of us, subsistence is below the taxable level; for others a small tax liability is incurred.
Like all organizations, we are legally bound to withhold federal income taxes (including war taxes) from the salaries of liable employees and to submit them to the government. Since we refuse to serve as a war tax gathering agency, we decided years ago to withhold, but not submit, federal income taxes from these employees' wages. To date, the Internal Revenue Service has threatened to remove our tax exemption status and take us to court. So far, it has settled for levying our bank account. We continue to refuse payment of our telephone tax.
We are equally committed to war tax resistance as individuals. All members of Sojourners Fellowship pool our incomes. Nearly two-thirds of the community are either children, have no personal income, or earn below the taxable income level. None of these incur any war tax liability.
The rest of the community earn taxable incomes. Where that income is not subject to employer withholding, we have refused payment of war taxes. Some have had less tax withheld than was due and refused to pay the remainder. Those whose taxes are automatically withheld have employed various methods of reducing their war tax liability to zero, sometimes with limited success. Our goal is that no member of Sojourners Fellowship pays war taxes.
We do not ask that others respond to war taxes exactly as we have. But we do hope that you will wrestle with this crucial, often overlooked moral issue and that God will lead you into some conscientious choice.
Our prayers are with you; please remember us in yours.
Joe Roos was publisher of Sojourners when this article appeared.
Got something to say about what you're reading? We value your feedback!