Tax resistance is the refusal to pay tax because of opposition to the government that is imposing the tax or to government policy or as opposition to the concept of taxation in itself. Tax resistance is a form of direct action and if in violation of the tax regulations, a form of civil disobedience. Examples of tax resistance campaigns include those advocating home rule, such as the Salt March led by Mohandas Gandhi, and those promoting women's suffrage, such as the Women's Tax Resistance League.
War tax resistance is the refusal to pay some or all taxes that pay for war and a form of nonviolent resistance. War tax resistance may be practiced by conscientious objectors, pacifists, or those protesting against a particular war. As a percentage of income tax funds military expenditure, war tax resisters may avoid or refuse to pay some or all income tax. For example, war resisters may choose to avoid taxes by living simply below the income tax threshold.
Tax resisters are distinct from tax protesters who deny that the legal obligation to pay taxes exists or applies. Tax resisters may accept that some law commands them to pay taxes but they still choose to resist taxation.
Read more about Tax Resistance: History, Views and Aims, Methods
Famous quotes containing the words tax and/or resistance:
“But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’”
—Bible: New Testament, Luke 18:13.
“The free man is a warrior.—How is freedom measured among individuals, among peoples? According to the resistance that must be overcome, according to the trouble it takes to stay on top. The highest type of free man must be sought where the highest resistance is constantly overcome: five steps away from tyranny, close to the threshold of the danger of servitude.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)