Cindy Sheehan: No More Taxes

So, here’s the deal. This has been bothering me for a couple of days.

There have been rumors circling the web about Cindy Sheehan announcing that she wouldn’t pay taxes to a government that sent her son to die. I haven’t seen this reported on CNN.com, Yahoo!News, ABC News, etc. O’Reilly mentioned it in passing last night and I’ve seen it mentioned on World Net Daily, which appears to be some sort of conservative tabloid-like propoganda e-zine. I even checked out her blog on Michael Moore’s website. The most “credible” is a transcript of her speech for Veterans For Peace’s 2005 convention earlier this month.

Another thing that I’m doing is - - my son was killed in 2004, so I’m not paying my taxes for 2004. If I get a letter from the IRS, I’m gonna say, you know what, this war is illegal; this is why this war is illegal. This war is immoral; this is why this war is immoral. You killed my son for this. I don’t owe you anything. And if I live to be a million, I won’t owe you a penny.

And I want them to come after me, because unlike what you’ve been doing with the war resistance, I want to put this frickin’ war on trial. And I want to say, “You give me my son, and I’ll pay your taxes.:”Veterans For Peace(Cindy Sheehan’s speach at the 2005 convention)”: http://www.veteransforpeace.org/convention05/sheehan_transcript.htm

As much as I respect what she’s doing in Crawford, as much as I respect what she’s become a symbol of, this is wrong.

Seriously, that’s just wrong.

I mean, that tax money goes to lots of things, not just the war.

Granted, I wish the IRS would let me select where I want my money to go like United Way does. I mean, if I had my way, my tax money like my United Way money would be going to Community Services, specifically to Food Banks and the like. Really, I think if the government let people specify the people in charge might be suprised what the people thought was worthy of spending money on.

Then again, it might be like college all over again. Alumni, you know, are more likely to donate to the athletic program of most colleges than new buildings for educational purposes. Maybe if people got to pick where their money went when they did their taxes, I’d be surprised.

Anyway, the point is that not paying taxes isn’t like withholding your rent because your landlord won’t fix the radiator — though I think you can still go to jail or get fined for that too. That money is necessary for the government to run and you may think that your piddly amount won’t be missed but schools, social services, etc. are seriously underfunded. Even the war apparently is underfunded…at least the part where our troops are well-outfitted and their vehicles are properly armored. Every cent counts.

Granted, I still have some admiration for her, but she’s a little more tinged today than yesterday in my eyes.

tags: Cindy Sheehan, stupidity, protestors

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