Complicity
posted by saurabh in Angst, What Is To Be Done |I have not paid my taxes yet for 2006.
If I were to pay my taxes, it is likely that a significant portion of those dollars will go towards funding the Iraq occupation, nuclear weapons, and a host of other military-industrial projects that I somehow can’t bring myself to masturbate about.*
I am a poor individual, and my contribution in this regard will be meager. Specifically, I estimate that my total contribution to the Iraq War will be about $160,† a mere billionth of the total cost of the war. I’m not sure what can be purchased for this amount, but I find it an alarmingly large quantity from my own perspective. I’m somewhat dismayed that my material contribution is so substantial. I could certainly do a lot that was less damaging to the world with that $160.
I’m not sure how guilty I should feel about this - refusal to pay means I might end up with severe debt or, in extremely unlikely scenarios, prison. Should I balance this against the fact that I’m purchasing bullets? Maybe those bullets go unused - maybe they’re only fired off in warning and not into someone’s spine. Maybe I pay for a soldier’s insulin supplement or boots. Whatever the case, ultimately I’m pitting a bit of my well-being against that of someone else.
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all.
* Am I un-American?
† Roughly, assuming I pay ~2700 in taxes and the Iraq budget is about $161 billion out of a total of $2600 billion in outlays for 2008.
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You know my answer.
Uh… no, I don’t.
If you are going to get into war tax resistance, or are debating it, I recommend reading the The Picket Line. It’s entirely focused on that topic, from a left libertarian slant in my perspective.
Are you sure you haven’t paid your taxes? Assuming you’re not self-employed, your employer is surely witholding taxes from your paycheck. If you actually owe anything additional it is likely only a small portion of your total tax bill. And if you’ve overpaid and the government owes you money, then letting the government keep it only lets them buy even more bullets (not to mention that they won’t penalize you for filing late in that case).
Of course, if you’re self-employed or otherwise have elminiated witholding from your paycheck you can just ignore me….
I’m not self-employed, but I get a stipend as “payment”. They don’t withhold anything by default.
I am a very big fan of tax resistance. I would say that it imposes on you an obligation to contribute some money or at least time to the sort of thing you would want the money spent on. I realize this doesn’t count for much in court but it counts for something morally.
I didn’t realize until just looking it up, but individual income taxes and Social Security taxes pay about 80% of the federal budget. That is huge. I thought much more of their money came from other sources. So individuals do, in fact, have some control over the fate of the government.
Most of the tax money goes to war. I don’t like that.
I’m not sure I like the WRL pie-chart. Why exclude Social Security from tax computations? It’s being taken out of my paycheck, after all.
I kind of hate pie charts. That graphic is totally not viscerally informative, b/c we are so bad at judging angular areas. Lasagna charts for all!
I am hungry.
How do you feel about Venn Diagrams?
Venn diagrams are much more accurate. After all, Social Security pays disability to people who got, say, Gulf War syndrome and didn’t get the VA to pay for it. And our transportation system’s car-oriented nature — which ends up costing us lots of money — is in part a military prerogative. Venn diagrams for all.
I’m okay with Venn Diagrams. Especially if they are made out of chocolate.
Saurabh, if you would hurry up and move your ass to the bay area, I would have had kheer and sandesh for you tonight. Oh wait, you’re one of those crazy people who doesn’t like mithai. How about paneer sabji and green papaya? No? No food for you!
Ask him about his “achaar as prasad” theory one day.
I moved to Canada in large part for the very same reason. And ya know what? I still owe a grand to the U.S. government this year. How the hell did that happen?
Margareta, Don’t you know? Everyone owes a grand to the U.S. government. Thanks for stopping in.
Saurabh: What’s your achaar as prasad theory? Will it feed you?