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War protesters withhold taxes
SAN FRANCISCO — Dorothy Hansen used to pay her taxes faithfully every year — until the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Since then, the 87-year-old Sebastopol, Calif., resident has stopped filing her income tax returns to show her disapproval of the war.

"I am very sure that I don't want to have any part in killing people, and I certainly don't want a part in any wars that do just that," Hansen said.

With the tax-filing deadline a little over a week away, some Bay Area residents are using it as an opportunity to protest the war by withholding their tax dollars to fund it.

Known as war tax resisters, they consider it an act of civil disobedience. Some withhold only a symbolic portion of what they owe — $10.40, for example, to represent the 1040 tax form — while others, like Hansen, refuse to pay anything. Many will redirect their tax dollars to a charity.

The risks can be costly if a resister is caught. The Internal Revenue Service recently increased the penalty for people who fail to pay their taxes to $5,000 from $500. Some resisters have had their wages garnisheed or property seized.

"There is no law that permits taxpayers to refuse to file a tax return or refuse to pay their taxes based on an estimate of what the government spends on programs or policies with which they disagree on moral, ethical, religious or other grounds," the IRS said in a prepared statement. "These frivolous positions are variations of arguments taxpayers have made in the past about religion and taxation, and that courts have repeatedly rejected."

The IRS added that by not paying what they owe, tax resisters place an undue burden on the people who file their taxes legitimately....