FYI: LP activist Aaron Biterman just sent me this...
For Immediate Release:Tuesday, October 14, 2003
Contact: For Julia Butterfly Hill
Paul Bassis, 707-923-4619
Northern CaliforniaWar Tax Resistance
Susan Quinlan, 510-843-9877
National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee
800-269-7464
www.nwtrcc.org
www.warresisters.org
Internationally Known Activist Carrying Out Single Largest War Tax
Resistance inUSHistory
Renowned for 2 year tree-sit, activist/author Julia Butterfly Hill
announces her refusal to pay taxes that support war and government
corruption
What: Press Conference to announce the redirection of over $150,000
in federaltaxes away from theUSgovernment and into various
not-for-profit social service and environmental organizations.
When: Wednesday, October15th, 2003,12:00Noon
Where: FederalBuilding,San Francisco, 450Golden Gate@
Polk,LowerPlazaArea
Why: To speak out and stand up against the devastating effects of
the US led war machine.
Statement of Julia Butterfly Hill:
“The annualUSmilitary spending far exceeds that ofChina,Iraq,Iran,North
Korea,Syria, andLibyacombined. Yet, for all this spending, we as a
nation are not safer, only more brutal. We live in a time of profoundly
devastating war—a war that threatens our democracy, human rights, free
speech, education, health care, social security, environment and of
course, there is the murdering of an unknown tens of thousands of
innocent people in Afghanistan and Iraq who we dare to marginalize as
‘casualties’.
“United Statessoldiers are being killed nearly every day. And what is
this war for? To protect the big-money, oil interests of the elite. Now
the Bush Administration is demanding $87 BILLION DOLLARS
($87,000,000,000) from theUScitizens to rebuild a country that was
destroyed by our bombs on the exaggerated pretense ofIraq’s alleged
possession of Weapons of Mass Destruction.
“Meanwhile, the greatest accumulations of weapons of mass destruction
exist right here—in theUnited States. These weapons of death are funded
byUScitizens’ tax dollars stolen from the basic necessities that better
our society such as social services, education, health care and the
safeguarding of human rights and our environment. For example, under
the Bush tax cuts that help to provide for war funding, Medicaid
benefits are cut by $93 billion; Food Stamps will be cut by $13
billion; Temporary Assistance for Needy Families will be cut by $8
billion and in a move that reminds us who truly benefits from war and
who loses, $14.6 billion is being cut from benefits for Veterans,
including money for disabilities.
“Furthermore, our tax dollars are not only being spent to build the
largest death machine humankind has ever known, but also the largest
prison industrial complex in the world. We seem to be able to come up
with endless billions for war, yet we have children without textbooks
in schools that are falling apart, where it is statistically more
likely for a child of color to end up in prison than to get into
college, where the laws that protect air and water quality and
biodiversity are being destroyed, and health services are not equally
accessible to all citizens as is the case in every other civilized
nation on earth.
“I was raised by Christian parents who taught me about the Ten
Commandments, the first of which is ‘Thou Shall Not Kill’. Paying for
the murder of innocent people with my tax dollars is something that I
cannot do in good conscience. It goes against every moral fiber of my
being to support this cycle of uncontrolled madness, especially at the
expense of such critical human necessities,”
“I find it especially disturbing to see the Bush Administration having
blatant ties to convicted corporate criminals such as Haliburton, which
formed 35 offshore tax shelters when Vice President Dick Cheney was
CEO. While Haliburton has been avoiding paying untold millions of
dollars in federal taxes, it was awarded a closed-door, no-bid contract
from the Bush Administration to secure the oil supply
ofIraq. Unfortunately, this is just one example of the many instances
where a corrupt system allows politically connected, mega-corporations
to avoid paying taxes while the working class is forced to pay
subsidies for big business with their hard-earned tax dollars.
“Thousands of others before me have taken this stand. I am not avoiding
paying taxes. I have thought through this very carefully, and with a
clear mind and heart I am humanely re-directing my tax payments to
where they belong, because our current federal government refuses to do
so.”
National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee
PO Box 150553
Brooklyn, NY 11215
800-269-7464
718-768-3420
Fax: 718-768-4388
www.nwtrcc.org
nwtrcc@nwtrcc.org
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