ok to send a citizen's signing statement with my 1040?

i'd like to tell the government that my taxes must not be used to support the war in Iraq and the fat-cat military industrial complex.

If the president can do signing statements, why can't we?

Any suggestions on how to write it?

:evilgrin:

That should be entertaining.

If you owe money this year, withhold one dollar, and include a letter explaining why.

Think the IRS will audit and prosecute over one dollar?

we're dealing with mean vindictive SOBs who like to pluck the wings off butterflies. Not the IRS worker bees, got nothing against them. It's the sicko presidential appointees who run their show.

They'll let the $1 accrue interest and penalities, along with the $500 "frivilous filing" penalty to get things "started"

Once the amounts compounds to a couple thousand, then they'll prosecute.

My friend sent his tax forms in with a letter (written by a lefty lawyer) explaining that his payment was reduced by the percentage of the federal budget that goes to Defense in protest of Bush's misuse of the military. It also said that in lieu of payment he was giving the amount of the reduction to local government and nonprofits.

The result was strange--the IRS wrote him back saying he had miscalculated his own taxes, and they considered him paid-in-full.

I didn't participate because I had money due back, as I do most years. Fat chance of a letter getting them to send me more!

I'm not going to reduce my payment. I'm paying the full amount of what I owe, just enclosing a note saying that I don't want my taxes spent on the Iraq War.

Wouldn't it be fun if we all did that? ;)

They got maybe a few hundred of these letters out of millions of tax returns. Some supervisor decided to put a lid on the thing by letting it slide.

My guess is that letters alone, without a discrepancy between amount owed and amount paid, would be promptly fed to the nearest shredder. I don't think there's anything illegal about sending one, but it would be more effective sent to the White House or your congressperson.

But its possible that it could make your life miserable.

Remember, the folks processing 1040 forms are just regular people like you and me and have no special access to the president.

If someone sympathetic processes your return, they'll smile in agreement. However a nod and a smile is all that they can do. Its not like they'll transmit your comments to anyone in power.

On the other hand,

If a rethug processes your return, they could flag your return as "frivilous", meriting you a $500 fine (I think its $500), then use their inside contacts within the IRS to run you through the audit gauntlent.

There are plenty of other productive ways to make a difference. This isnt one of them.

Give it a shot and let us know how it works out. :D

Imagine, for example, if all people could refuse to pay tax amounts to go to something they find "objectionable".

Such as the Iraq War, campaign funds, corporate welfare, tax cuts for the rich...

Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Education, Social Services, Welfare, Food Stamp programs, ...

Anything else you don't wanna pay for? Becuase if you can except your share from programs you don't like, you can be assured that a RW bigot is just as justified for refusing to fund any of the things I mentioned.

I think if people actually got to decide individually what percent goes to what, we'd at least have much better funding for education and health care. A lot of rich liberals would love to give all their taxes to liberal programs. And there would be enough hawks out there to fully fund Defense (though maybe not bloat it.)

If the system is working the way it's supposed to, ha ha, there would be little difference between the budget set by congress and the one we would directly impose on ourselves.

why does that sound so appealing?

and I don't think we're suffering for any taxes they've withheld from us. Since you don't pay taxes on selling meth or illegal guns, the average Aryan brother's income is probably below the minimum to pay any tax at all.

A few kooks being louder than anyone else does not mean that Americans in general don't grasp the concept of civic responsibility or that they would be wildly irresponsible in making decisions about the public budget. Except for DoD corruption (including this war!), corporate welfare and all the oddball bits of pork in the mix, I think that the budget Congress sets basically resembles the budget people would set for themselves.

The main problem with actually putting it in the people's hands, however, is the influence of advertising.

next time i'll add a smiley face ....

:evilgrin: