Oct./Nov. 1982 RAIN Page 11 My hometown and my family were all burned, and I Dm A7 Dm Gm Dm Gm 5 4 ^ G (7 buried their bones deep in the black and niined earth, Now a fragile , blossom of Dm A tc ^ pale flowers bloom. We must not allow atom bombs anymore. Dm Gm Dm Gm Dm A7 Dm f-v $c nto <9 *f I- Never, oh never atom bombs anymore, no never again in our town. Anthem of the Japanese A-bomb victims - sung by anti-Trident peace activists, August 1982 1st translation, Keiko Mizutani. Final translation and poetry, Stephen Soderland. Peace & War Guide to War Tax Resistance, by the War Resisters League, 128 pp., 1981, $6.00 plus $1.00 postage and handling, from: War Resisters League 339 Lafayette Street New York, NY 10012 People PayforPeace, by William Durland, 104 pp., 1982, $4.00 plus $1.50 postage and handling, from: Center on Law and Pacifism P.O. Box 1584 Colorado Springs, CO 80901 Five years ago it was nearly impossible to • find comprehensive information on war tax resistance. Now it is perhaps as strong a statement as any on the growth of the resistance movement that three excellent reference works are available on the subject: a 1980 edition of the Peacemaker's Handbook on the Nonpaj/ment of War Taxes and the two books covered in this review. People Pay for Peace and the WRL Guide to War Tax Resistance arrived at the Rain- house at a most opportune time for Ann and me. We withheld 50% of our income tax this year and sent it instead to the local chapter of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, explaining to the IRS that we simply couldn't pay for nuclear holocaust and remain Qiristians. A series of reminders followed by the 10-day pay- up-or-else notice have since arrived, with the latest computer letter (no longer opening with "Dear Taxpayer:") informing us that a lien can now be put on our property at any time in order to recover the diverted tax money. As an otherwise conscientious, law-abiding citizen with no previous brushes with the law, 1 started feeling rather paranoid when these letters started arriving. It was very reassuring, therefore, to read in these books about what the IRS can and cannot do to collect the diverted tax money, and through this to get a perspective on the movement in general. The War Resisters' Guide is a well- planned, easy to read manual and source book on war tax resistance that will be useful to people at all stages of involvement. After a short review of the major issues surrounding tax resistance (religious, political, etc.) the book immediately gets down to details: How do 1 do it, and what might happen if 1 do? Chapters on analyzing the federal budget, personal histories of resisters, and guidelines for conducting a seminar on war tax resistance are interesting and help to give a rounded picture of the movement, but it is in the personal "how-to" sections that the editors excel. Sample 1040 and W-4 forms, explicit directions for alternative ways of resisting, clearly-stated consequences of each method, and an explanation of the IRS collection process make this a valuable reference work. People Pay for Peace will be most useful to the reader who needs a more in-depth examination of the history and philosophy behind war tax resistance and also to the resister at the other end of the spectrum who faces legal action as a result of his or her stand. Dedicated to St. Hugh, Bishop of London, who refused to pay his war tax to King Richard 1 (and won!) in 1197, the book was written by Bill Durland and reflects his wide experience in defending war tax resisters as coordinator and legal counsel for the Center on Law and Pacifism. Although chapters on IRS procedures and government legal battles with resisters are too involved for my immediate (or hopefully future) needs, they are interesting as backgroimd. A discussion of the history and philosophy of war tax resistance is presented with the same attention to detail, and is prefaced with an explanation of the book's title: instead of paying for "peace" through tax dollars, people need to start paying for real peace with "our souls, our consciences, and our bodies" by not participating in the headlong rush to nuclear holocaust. Refusing to pay war taxes, by itself, does not pay for peace. Just as important is the positive action that must accompany it, and both books stress the donation of diverted taxes to local human service programs (many of which now lack funding due to President Reagan's strange definition of community self- help) and the creation of alternative funds. Escrow accounts are also now receiving money on behalf of the World Peace Tax Fund, which needs grassroots support from resisters and sympathizers in order to be approved by Congress. The number of war tax resisters has tripled in the last three years, but lest we become overconfident in our new sense of power and unity, both authors remind us that there has been more witness than victory in the movement, and as long as the courts remain wedded to the government's interests and to "national defense" this will continue to be the case. They put this into perspective, though, with the reminders that the IRS is primarily a collection agency (it rarely proCont. on next page
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