(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
The peace tax movement is significant, with activists in a wide range of countries. Many different models for the peace tax are discussed in these circles, and the peace concept is still under development. So far, the peace tax movement has ensured that bills to introduce a peace tax have been presented in ten western parliaments. This has happened regularly since 1980.
Belgium: The first European country to introduce peace tax bills in its parliament, and the country in Europe where popular opposition to war taxes has the longest roots. As early as February 28, 1965, a petition was sent to the country's king, in which the people asked him to introduce a law allowing conscientious objection to military tax. Today there is one Flemish and one Walloon peace tax movement in the country.
The Netherlands: Since the 1930s, there have been individuals in the country who have refused to pay taxes to the military. In 1976, when an additional three percent energy tax was established to pay for a new nuclear reactor, the anti-nuclear movement began demonstrating against the reactor by refusing to pay this tax. When around 10 Dutch people refused to pay the tax, the authorities established an alternative energy fund for them, so that the tax refusers could pay the tax without going against their serious convictions. However, public pressure did not yield, and the authorities eventually had to eliminate the additional energy tax.
Great Britain: In the UK, both The Peace Pledge Union and Conscience: Taxes for Peace Not War have been involved in the peace tax cause since the 1970s and 80s. Conscience supported both those who wanted to work for the case within the framework of the law, and those who believed that for reasons of conscience they had to break British law. In the early 1980s, the campaign had over 3000 members. In 1983, the right to economic conscientious objection was included in the party program of the Welsh party Plaid Cymru, and later of the Green party in Wales and England.
India: In India, many tax refusal actions were organized in connection with the Indian liberation struggle. Also during Gandhi's great salt march in 1930, there was great support for such tax refusal. In 1997, Conscience India was established on the initiative of the peace group Gandhi in Action. Since the late 1990s, this group has been working to introduce a peace tax bill in the Indian Parliament. So far they have not succeeded. This group hosted the Seventh International War Tax Resistance and Peace Tax Campaign Conference in December 1998.
Colombia: In Colombia, the Latin American network of conscientious objectors has been established. The Mennonites in Colombia also focus on the peace tax issue. In 2000, they wrote a letter to pastors in the United States asking them to speak out against US military aid and other policies that helped perpetuate the cycle of violence in Colombia. The letter also pointed out that taxes paid by their church members in the United States help support the annihilation of the Colombian people. Since 2002, Colombia has had its own war tax that only applies to the rich in the country.
Palestine: In Palestine, tax refusal was used in the first intifada (1987–1992) to separate Palestinians from the Israeli economy and administration. In 1989, the population of 10 people in the village of Beit Sahour chose almost unanimously to withhold taxes to Israel. On that occasion it was stated: “We will not continue to pay for the bullets that kill our children, the increasing number of prisons and the costs of the occupying army. We ask for nothing more than what you have: freedom and our own representatives to pay taxes to.” Israel responded by declaring the village a "closed military zone", which meant that the telephone lines to the village were cut, entry was prohibited and a curfew was imposed. The tax collectors seized large amounts of money. The campaign nevertheless continued until the Palestinian Authority was established in 000.
Source: The report "Peace tax 2010 – the case, the history and the movement"
Read the main issue here: «Want to earmark your treasure for peace?»
