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Dear ,

Millions of War Resisters League pie charts have been handed out on the streets, mailed to elected officials, slipped into IRS literature racks, and tacked to public bulletin boards since it was first published in 1984. WRL sells thousands, and these days unknown numbers are created from website downloads. There’s a Spanish version that can be downloaded
from WRL’s website too.

Besides being an educational outreach tool, the pie chart was designed to guide taxpayers who can’t reconcile marching for peace while paying for war. When the first pie chart was written Ronald Reagan was president and presiding over massive increases in the military budget while making casual jokes about nuclear war.

The anti-nuclear movement was strong and hundreds of activists were moved to refuse some portion of their taxes.

Athough participation in war tax resistance tends to rise and fall with the strength of the antiwar movement, the War Resisters League doesn’t stop working against war. Forty years (!) of pie chart flyers are one aspect of this work, demonstrating through the budget analysis how this country prioritizes war and war preparation over needs that could bring true security. Your donations are critical to making our unwavering voice heard.

Today we are once again witnessing the horrors of paying for military solutions rather than investing in peacemaking. The brutal October 7 attack by Hamas on Israeli citizens underscored the lost peacemaking opportunities of the past 78 years. The destruction and genocide in Gaza, made possible by $3.8 billion in U.S. miltiary aid to Israel, shake us to the core.

More and more protesters are seeing war tax resistance as an obvious next step.

The National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee (NWTRCC) has experienced an upsurge in interest, with visits to their website skyrocketing and participants, including those quoted here, packing workshops. War tax resistance counselors around the country are getting contacted like never before.

WRL is a founding affiliate of NWTRCC and pays annual dues to maintain that unique network of resisters and its network of counselors around the country. WRL itself provides war tax resistance information, as we have since the 1950s, and we’ll be updating and publishing a new edition of our book, War Tax Resistance: A Guide to Withholding Your Support from the Military, this year.

Your donations are important in making sure that these resources are available when new activists come along. We are grateful for your support and for everyone who is part of the outcry against the crime of war.

Peace, love, resist!

Ruth Benn

P.S. Read Ed Hedemann’s "Pi Day" blog post here.

"This year it has become abundantly clear to me that not only are my and my fellow taxpayers’ dollars not going back into our cities, roads, education systems, affordable housing, health care, transit systems etc… but in fact our hard earned money is funding the imperialist war machine known as the U.S. I will not aid this country in funding the genocide of Palestine, Sudan, DRC.... I am terrified of the world we are currently living in and horrified to learn how far back these evil practices go.”

- Jocelin, San Francisco, CA

Tax Day protest at IRS, New York City, Apr. 18, 2023

"The first political opinion I remember having was being against the Iraq War in 2001. Resisting war taxes brings me in line with my most deeply-held and longest-held value"

- Jaqui, Chicago, IL

Protest against destruction of Gaza, Brooklyn, NY, November 2023 (Photo by E. Hedemann)

“This year I am planning on resisting federal income taxes because I am against funding a genocide in Palestine....

Our government leaves us no choice when it comes to where our federal tax money goes and what it funds so I am proudly participating in war tax resistance in 2024.

When they refuse to hear our calls for a permanent ceasefire, we have got to take the money they use for war out of their hands.”

- Sera, Buffalo, NY

Protest against destruction of Gaza, Brooklyn, NY, November 2023 (Photo by E. Hedemann)

“My partner and I will resist federal taxes this year out of moral principle. The U.S. war machine has never held the interests of peace or humanity in mind or practice, and continues to be complicit in the Israeli government’s genocide of the Palestinian people. We
will redirect our tax money to support local organizations working toward peace and justice here in our community.”

- Patricia & Justin, Worcester, MA

It's possible to end war, but it will take all of us. War Resisters League needs every single person to stand with us in the fight against US imperialism, militarism, and the expanding war machine during a time where fascists are in power across multiple countries. Like what you're reading? Forward this email to a friend. New readers can subscribe here.

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