Tax resistance

A tax resister resists or refuses payment of a tax because of opposition to the institution collecting the tax. Often tax resistance comes from pacifists, conscientious objectors or members of religious groups, such as the Quakers, who choose not to fund violent government activities. It has also been a technique used by nonviolent resistance movements, such as India's campaign for independence led by Mahatma Gandhi.

Arguments against tax resistance

Many arguments can be made against the tactic of tax resistance. Most basic, of course, is from those who support the entity collecting the tax and feel that other people should as well. But even those who are sympathetic with the tax resister?s complaints may question the methods. Some common arguments against tax resistance are:

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• What if everybody only paid for the parts of government they like? Wouldn?t that create weird and awful imbalances in what the government funds? Only by ceding this appropriations power to some wise overseers can you get a rational result, but that means that you have to allow them to spend your taxes on things you might not like.
• If you don?t pay your taxes, the government will just have to take the money from someone else, which is unfair to them.
• If you don?t pay your taxes, you become a free rider ? getting government services like police protection and so forth without paying your share of the bill.
• Tax resistance is too passive and ineffective a way to gain political change. Currently, only about 60% of Americans pay any federal income tax at all. If the government can thrive with so many people avoiding the income tax, wouldn?t it take an unlikely number of tax resisters to have any effect either as a protest or as an actual curb on government policy?
• Won?t the government respond to tax resisters by assessing fines, interest, and/or penalties against them? And won?t this just mean they end up with more money in the end?