April 16, 2007 Dear Fellow Citizens, We are paying these taxes under protest. We are Quakers and peace people and, while the Bill of Rights grants us religious freedom, it is interpreted in an increasingly limited manner by the Federal government. Although you are not now drafting young men and women, you are drafting our tax dollars. This is a gross violation of our religious freedom, an undermining of what the founding Fathers intended in the Bill of Rights. Prior to 1776, New York State specifically exempted Quakers from the levies for war purposes. Though not specifically retained in the US Constitution, it was widely expected that the Bill of Rights would continue this recognition of religious conscience. Instead you now write that our insistence upon conscience objection to war is “frivolous.” Nonsense! It is in the highest American traditions. Your claim of frivolity, although supported by court cases, is a scurrilous legalism. We are against the current “wars” (which are not real wars at all, and point to nothing that could be called “victory”), the regime-change campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq and the proxy wars in Lebanon and Gaza, as we are against all wars. We object to being forced to participate in such unproductive military ventures. That is a kind of totalitarian coercion. We would wish to be law-abiding citizens, but you do not provide a mechanism for us as good citizens to pay our taxes and have them earmarked for those programs that we peace-loving Quakers can and should support, such as Medicaid, Headstart, Peace Corps, United States Institute for Peace, foster care services, boosting job opportunities in Latin America, and HIV care in Africa. We would happily pay for any part of the Federal budget that is not directly for the military, nor for payment of interest on the debt caused by military expenditures, nor for military aid abroad. We are frustrated to have our tax dollars used to promote the killing and destruction we abhor. The Bible and other scriptures tell us that our safety comes not from chariots, humvees, and armaments, but from the word of God; and what is the word of God? The word of God tells us to care for the widows and orphans, the poor, sick, and needy. There was a time in the history of New York State when Quakers were given an exemption from paying to support the military, when the State recognized that Quakers could not in good conscience pay for killing and destruction. That exemption was considered to be part and parcel of our Religious Freedom and should be revived. There is proposed Federal legislation that would create a Peace Tax Fund. We urge that it be passed in order to provide a mechanism for all people of conscience to avoid military conscription for their tax dollars. May the Eternal Light shine upon your day, and bless America with peace.