April 21, 2003
Awakened Woman's Circle is working for peace
Letter to the IRS at tax time
by Kristen Sandor O'Connor
April 14, 2003
Internal Revenue Service
PO Box 7704
San Francisco, CA 94120-7704
To Whom it May Concern:
I am writing this letter after much agonizing over what to do. I am a law-abiding citizen, and have never done anything like this before. Nevertheless, my conscience forces me at this time to attempt to make my voice heard. I have written countless letters, made scores of phone calls, attended rallies and forums, organized community meetings, and still it seems that no one in this government really cares what I think. It seems to me that as long as I pay my taxes as usual, it doesn‚t matter what my concerns are.
Well, my concerns matter to ME. I am deeply opposed to war, both morally and philosophically, and find the hugely disproportionate use of my tax dollars to fund the US military unconscionable. I simply cannot abide by the fact that dollars that I earn are consciously used for the purposes of death and destruction. I cannot look myself in the mirror knowing that by paying my taxes I am agreeing to participate in exactly the things I have pledged my life to work against. Please do not misunderstand me. I have no problem paying for schools and roads and programs for the elderly. I gladly will help fund libraries, firehouses, and school lunches for low income kids. I will even pitch in SOME money to pay for military personnel and training, etc. But when roughly 50 cents of every tax dollar goes to fund wars past, present, and future (yes, when you add those together they DO add up to approximately 50%, not the 17% we‚re led to believe), I cannot remain silent and I cannot comply. It makes me absolutely sick to think that I worked my tail off last year, all year not having the extra funds to pay for piano lessons for my daughter, and then turned around and handed the US military over $250 to bomb children in Iraq. Three weeks ago over 43% of the teachers in my kids‚ district were given initial layoff notices because of the dire state of the budget in California, yet the military has the funds to drop bombs that cost a million dollars each. How is this sane or right? As a parent, how can I explain it to my children? How is it, they want to know, that their parents and teachers have been telling them since they were toddlers to use their hearts and minds, not their fists, to solve differences, and then their government, at the behest of their president, disregards the will of the United Nations and uses force to get what it wants? Certainly we cannot expect to raise honorable children if we, their role models, are not honorable. We cannot tell them to do as we SAY and not as we DO. And when we steal from programs that nurture and nourish them in order to fund our insatiable quest for world power, what is it that we‚re really saying we care about??
I know I am not eloquent here. I know I ramble. This happens when one cares so much about something that she speaks from her heart and not her brain. I love my children. I love them immensely. Everything I do, I do always with them and their well-being first. I work hard. I don't earn a lot. I try to do right. I try to teach my kids right from wrong, and how to be honorable human beings. I don't want to teach them about breaking laws, but I believe so strongly that the decisions and priorities of this nation are so EXTREMELY FAR OUT OF WHACK that they can no longer be followed without question. When this country returns to caring about kids and families as its top priority, when it spends as much on education and children and the elderly as it does on weaponry and military might, then I can shut my mouth and do whatever is asked of me with respect and complicity. Until that time, I cannot.
For the reasons I have described above, I have decided to join ONE MILLION TAXPAYERS FOR PEACE. I am consciously withholding a symbolic $10.40 from my tax return this year as a way to express this DEEPLY HELD sentiment: I cannot in good conscience pay for taxes that are used so disproportionately for war. I am instead redirecting the money to Oxfam International, an international non-profit group providing food to the hungry worldwide. I am also sending a copy of this letter to President Bush and all of my congressional representatives. I will be sending the check made out to Oxfam International to my senator, Ms. Dianne Feinstein, postage paid, and asking her to forward it for me. Should you have any concerns about the money actually being sent, you may verify with her that it was mailed out. For the record, it was check #1580 out of the same account that was used to pay my remaining tax liability.
Thank you for reading this letter.
Sincerely,
Kristen S. O'Connor