• Many tax payers in America say they would rather see tax go to meeting human needs.
• Military spending accounts for nearly half of US government expenditure, with billions going to Israel each year.
Since World War II, the US has given 317 billion dollars to Israel in military aid. Israel is the highest recipient of military aid from the US, and every year, US taxpayers are burdened with 3.8 billion dollars in military aid towards Israel. Ever since October 7th, that number has increased dramatically in the space of 6 months, with the House of Representatives passing a bill back in November approving $14.5 billion in military aid to Israel, and only today did the US House pass another bill of $26.4 billion in military aid to Israel. It’s likely this bill will speed through the senate and be signed off by President Biden very soon, even after Israel’s continuous genocide in Gaza and the repeated attempt to provoke a wider bloody conflict in the Middle East with Iran. Yet what is the average American feeling about their tax dollars being used in this fashion?
Although views of the Israeli government have become more negative amongst Americans since 2022, with only 41% of US adults having a favourable view, according to PEW research, the majority do not oppose military aid to Israel nor support it. However, there has been growing discontent over Israel’s actions, with more and more Americans now taking it upon themselves to avoid paying tax.
The National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee (NWTRCC) is an organisation that was founded in 1982 by a coalition of groups working to maintain and build a national movement of resistors to military taxes. The NWRTCC had 40,000 new visitors every year to its website before October 7th. That number has now increased to 20,000 every month since the Gaza genocide began. According to the coordinator of NWTRCC, in an article he wrote for TRT News, he said, ‘People are coming to our website to learn how to decrease the amount of federal income taxes automatically withheld from their pay checks. They also want to know how much actual risk is involved with refusing to pay these taxes.’ He also claimed that in early November, the number of people visiting the website had become so high that the server had crashed twice. This highlights the dramatic increase in Americans who are feeling anti-tax sentiments because of the ongoing US support for the genocide in Gaza.
The effect of US tax avoidance
More than 34,000 people have been killed in Gaza, and with the entirety of Gaza’s 2.3 million population in a state of starvation, it is not surprising to see this change in American sentiment. Tax resistance is another form of objection to America’s everlasting unjust wars in the Middle East, and unlike peaceful protests, it can have a greater effect by potentially causing more disruption to the American economy in the future. The increase in people taking the route of highlighting their views through tax resistance may well be because the US has for months not pressured Israel enough to accept a permanent ceasefire deal, even though most Americans are in favour of one. The continuous US support of a genocidal blood bath with an ally that has time and time again not listened to American concerns may be a key reason as to why many Americans have grown increasingly unfavourable to paying tax.
If this initiative to resist tax grows, it’s possible a massive domino effect may be ensured amongst US voters and citizens who feel their voices are not being heard by means of peaceful legal protests. It’s possible that if the genocide in Gaza reaches a new level of suffering amongst the already colossal levels of suffering that exist, more and more American taxpayers may decide to find means and routes to avoid tax out of their natural conscience. If the Middle East becomes even more unstable with a full-fledged war between Iran and Israel, it’s very possible that even more voters from across the political spectrum may decide to resist paying tax, especially if it drags the US into another everlasting war in the Middle East. The genocide in Gaza has shown that public opinion does not matter to those in power, as an alternative protest tax resistance may become more popular and end up becoming the new protest that can change the opinions and direction of US foreign policy.
