Taxation and Activism

Taxation and activism have a long and conjoined history. As long as there have been taxes, people have protested, avoided, and resisted them; all of these activities are forms of tax activism. Oliver Wendell Holmes described taxes as the price we pay for society, and as with any price, each person has his or her own opinion on what is fair, equitable, and just. Taxes create active supporters and opponents, and individuals and groups promote tax policies to advance their causes and beliefs while opposing and resisting those inconsistent with their beliefs.

Taxes are the foundation and tangible manifestation of government, power, policy, and politics, and taxes both shape and reflect the values and structure of a society. The collection and disbursement of any tax has six components: who gets taxed; how they are taxed; how the taxes are collected; who gets the tax; what form the redistribution takes, be it cash, services, property, or other items of financial value; and how the redistribution is allocated to the recipients, that is, by equal shares, by need, by rank, or some other definition. Not only is there the opportunity to disagree with the general purpose and concept of a particular tax or taxes in general, it is also possible to take issue with any or each of the six components in the process of collection and redistribution. As with any distribution or redistribution, taxation involves value concepts of equality and equity, and inevitable conflicts arise over defining these values.

Tax activism has included revolts, wars, civil disobedience, avoidance, resistance, political action, evasion, legal challenges, and protests. Famous examples of tax activism include Lady Godiva, the Boston Tea Party, the Whiskey Rebellion, and Henry David Thoreau's refusal to pay a poll tax as a form of conscientious objection. In recent years, there have been taxpayer-led “revolts” to limit property taxes or to institute tax and expenditure limits at the state level, which cap the ability to raise taxes, increase expenditures, or both. Currently, 30 states in the United States have spending or revenue restrictions in place.

Much of the tax activism in the United States over the years has been driven by citizens' perception of the degree to which the tax structure has deviated from principles of reliability, equity, adherence, efficiency, neutrality, and accountability, particularly in regard to unequal wealth distribution and lack of progressivity in the tax structure. Pacifism is another driving force. War tax resistance is a persistent and [Page 1361]recurring theme in tax activism, because wars are expensive and are often the impetus for taxes. The Civil War, in 1862, was the reason for the first income tax in the United States. Wars sow their own seeds of activism, as people oppose the war, and its associated taxes, on both moral and financial grounds. War tax activism includes resistance, protest, and refusal; the redirection of military taxes to other areas; support of the U.S. Peace Tax Fund Bill to legalize the conscientious objection to military taxation; and lifestyle adjustment to avoid tax liability.

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