“…Cohen is part of a new generation of Americans refusing to pay some or all of their federal income taxes. It’s not a new form of dissent – one of the first protests in the United States was, after all, a protest of unfair taxation – but it’s also one that’s gaining steam, as Americans reject how their tax dollars are being spent under Trump.
Lincoln Rice, who leads the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee (NWTRCC), said in Donald Trump’s second term, more and more people are removing their money from the federal tax base. In January, NWTRCC – which has been around since the early 80s – held its largest-ever “War Tax Resistance 101” training. A few years ago, such trainings would draw about a dozen attendees; two months ago, nearly 500 people showed up, and the group’s website traffic had over 110,000 unique visitors.
“Some methods of tax resistance are not legal, and anyone who attempts them should be prepared to face the risks of civil disobedience,” Rice explains in his trainings. Penalties can range from threatening letters, to wage or bank-account garnishment, to – in one famous case – the seizure of a person’s home.
To Cohen, these risks are not deterrents when about 13% of Americans’ federal income taxes are spent on the military, and 1% goes to federal law enforcement, including subsidizing Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE).
“In a vacuum, I would certainly run the risk of a misdemeanor, as opposed to actively supporting concentration camps,” she said of ICE detention centers…”