National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Main topics
Tax resistance Part of the Taxation series
Conscientious objection to military taxation History of tax resistance Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund Act Tax resisters
Literature & Film
An Act of Conscience Civil Disobedience (Thoreau) The Cold War and the Income Tax
Organizations
Association of Real Estate Taxpayers National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund National WTR Coordinating Committee Northern California War Tax Resistance Pagal Panthis Peacemakers Women's Tax Resistance League
Campaigns
Beit Sahour Champaran and Kheda Satyagraha Gaspée Affair Salt Satyagraha Vyborg Manifesto War of the Regulation
Related
Civil disobedience Conscientious objection Divestment Economic secession Nonviolent resistance “Render unto Caesar...” Tax avoidance and tax evasion Tax protesters
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The National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund (NCPTF) is a non-profit organization located in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1971 to address conscientious objection to military taxation.

[edit] History and purpose

The campaign exists solely to pass Peace Tax legislation in the United States. Such legislation would provide a way for some conscientious objectors to participate in the tax system without violating their beliefs. The proposed legislation, Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund Act, would amend the Internal Revenue Code to allow a conscientious objector to have his or her income, estate, and gift tax payments spent for non-military purposes only.

The campaign advocates and educates on behalf of citizens who are petitioning the government for the right to pay 100% of their taxes without violating their religious or ethical teachings. Voluntary contributions from some 2,000 individuals and from organizations support the campaign. The annual budget is $140,000. Forty seven national organizations officially endorse the effort.

The bill has yet to be passed. The United States House of Representatives held hearings on the proposal in 1992 and 1995. In the 110th congress, the Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund Act has been sponsored by Representative John Lewis and as of November, 2007 has 29 cosponsors.

Nations which have active Peace Tax Fund campaigns include: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund is the US organization. In 1986, representatives of many of these national organizations united to form Conscience and Peace Tax International[1] in order to assert the right to be free of coerced participation in violence at the U.N. level.

NCPTF was formerly called "National Council for a World Peace Tax Fund."