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This site last updated March 30, 2012.

new york city war tax resistance—
2010 annual report

On Thursday, April 15, New York City War Tax Resistance held its annual protest in front of the Internal Revenue Service office, 110 West 44th Street, 4:30-5:00 PM, followed by a march to the General Post Office (8th Avenue & 33rd Street) at 5:00 PM. Below is the text of our update to membership:

the year in review

After marking the first year of the Obama administration, it is possible to get a clearer picture of his view of the presidency. In a pronounced departure from the Bush era, Obama has an intelligent presence on TV and issues statements in graceful English. However, when one examines the hard facts of policy, it is most disappointing.

Although the banks have been revived, Americans with an unemployment rate of close to 10% (an underestimate, many experts say) are in dire straits.

Midwestern cities have been hit hard by the exodus of the automotive industry and many auxiliary industries that supplied parts. Detroit, a city that had a population of over two million, has been reduced to 65,000. Unemployment benefits last only so long. And then what? In Detroit they are closing 45 schools. The president of the Center on Education Policy said, “I think you can say Detroit has hit bottom.”

Obama, to his credit, is tackling the health issue. The U.S. is the only industrialized country in the West without universal health coverage. Though the addition of approximately thirty million to the ranks of the insured will have to wait four years before taking effect, the bill immediately repeals pre-existing condition clauses. For many, the pre-existing clause has been a plague.

As Congress negotiates the final details, throughout the country, outbreaks of violence have hit the offices and homes of Democrats who voted for the bill. We have to acknowledge that the Republican Party has taken a dramatic turn to the right, and what this portends for the future is difficult to assess at this point.

Perhaps most disturbing is the overtly racist and homophobic attacks that drive many of the protests. All of this is in contrast to the European political systems that expanded to universal health care long ago with little dispute.

In terms of foreign policy, the U.S. is still supporting troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and probably will continue to do so into the foreseeable future. It is not only a tragedy in terms of deaths and injuries, many of which will impair lives for decades, but in terms of the unfulfilled promise to the American people of a better life in the future.

The expectations of Obama were enormous—perhaps on a par with Franklin D. Roosevelt—and for many Americans the reality is a sad disappointment.

what can you do?

  1. Visit our web page for hints on how to get started in phone tax resistance, a relatively risk-free means of resisting the war. Several helpful tips can be found at htp://www.nycwtr.org/first_steps/. At the end of the year your resisted phone taxes can be given to the New York City People's Life Fund to be redirected into grants and discretionary gifts to vital community groups.

  2. Keep in touch with upcoming events and actions at the War Resisters League web site (http://www.warresisters.org/WRL-local-events).

  3. Contribute to New York City War Tax Resistance. Your contribution can be made online through PayPal at http://www.nycwtr.org/contribute/.