Ed Pearson: Report on The Peace Tax Payers
Since the last international conference, THE PEACE TAXPAYERS have come to
recognize how large the military taxpaying ocean is and how small the peace
taxpaying boat and how few taxpayers there are ready to row the boat. Convinced that
change must come from within the individual, THE PEACE TAXPAYERS have formulated
a creed. "I BELIEVE that to have war, we must pay for war; and to have
peace, we must pay for peace. I BELIEVE that common sense, the law and
morality support my choice to pay my taxes toward peace. I BELIEVE that by
making a commitment to begin the process of paying my taxes toward peace, I
am making a valuable and necessary contribution towards helping to bring about
Peace on Earth."
And since most of the six billion humans who inhabit our planet pay war taxes
in some form, THE PEACE TAXPAYERS have a high degree of job security. The
role of THE PEACE TAXPAYERS in this process of change toward peace by way of
peace taxpaying is to attempt to communicate the truth of THE PEACE TAXPAYERS
CREED. We are using print and electronic media as well as personal contact
to share this message.
Because our organization is so tiny, we are focusing our energy and
resources on those who are already engaged in some form of peace, social
justice, or environmental action. THE PEACE TAXPAYERS recognize that for most
individuals and organizations the implied and actual sanctions of not
accepting the authority of war tax collecting governments produces paralyzing
fear. We are especially interested in being heard by those who have
responsible leadership roles in the aforementioned categories. We
regretfully report that we have had little success to date.
However, we are pleased to note that the term "peace taxpaying" is being used
more and more in various communications among war tax resisters and peace tax
campaigners. We also wish to take this opportunity to ask you to consider
seriously the suggestion that the next conference take place in North America,
preferably in the United States, if this can be arranged. Also, it would be
nice if the VIIth International Taxes for Peace Not War Conference was
called in the name of war tax resisters, peace tax campaigns, and peace
taxpayers.
We look ahead to seeing you all at the next gathering with more progress to
report.
by Ed Pearson for THE PEACE TAXPAYERS