Dear friends,

As we approach the third anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, I'm preparing to attend the rally being planned in New York City to protest this brutal war and current occupation. At the same time, tax day approaches and I'm preparing to protest the incredible amount of money being spent to fund war and occupation (close to $7 billion a month for military expenditures in Iraq and Afghanistan). (1)

As a U.S. citizen, I'm outraged by the acts of aggression, war, and torture that are being carried out in my name-from the war in Iraq, to the atrocities documented at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib, to the continued bombings and killings of civilians in Afghanistan. I'm also deeply concerned by the persistent attack on civil liberties here in the U.S. being carried out in this so-called "war on terror." And I'm horrified that my tax dollars are helping to fund all of these acts.

This year, approximately 50% of federal taxes will be used to support current and past military expenses. (2) In protest, I am refusing to pay 50% of the of the money I owe the IRS. I will donate that half to the People's Life Fund, which makes grants to community organizations working for peace and justice. This act of noncooperation, as much as my marching and my chanting, is my resounding declaration of protest against a war that I am profoundly opposed to, and is an act that the government cannot ignore.

A statement of support for those who refused to pay for the war against Iraq and continued military aggression by the U.S. government, signed by over 900 individuals including Joan Baez, Noam Chomsky, and Howard Zinn, includes this thought:
"It is clear that the U.S. government's ability to threaten, coerce, and, if deemed necessary, make war on other nations is a direct result, not only of our economic might, but also the unprecedented size of our military arsenal, which is now far larger than that of all our allies and 'enemies' combined. It is equally clear that the maintenance of this arsenal depends upon the willingness of the American people - through their federal tax payments - to finance it." (3)

I will no longer willingly participate in financing this arsenal. I share this letter with you in hopes that you too will consider actions that you can take to voice your opposition to acts of war carried out by the U.S. government. I've included links below that provide more information about war tax resistance. And, as I am always a poet before I am anything else, I'm including a poem I wrote at the beginning of the Iraq war, and before I became a war tax resister.

With love, ferocity, and poetry,
Tamiko

Notes:
1. "U.S. Annual War Spending Grows," David Rogers, March 8, 2006, The Wall Street Journal Online
2. Where Your Income Tax Money Really Goes, War Resister's League
3. "An Appeal to Conscience"

Some resources for war tax resistance:
* National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee
* Northern California War Tax Resistance/People's Life Fund
* War Resisters League