TIPS: Changing the Conversation
January 2004 - Yes, Virginia, Taxes Are a Good Thing
Jun 1, 2005, 15:00

By Kim Klein

Recently I talked to a number of school children about taxes and asked them to name things that taxes pay for. With the help of their parents and teachers, we came up with quite a list. At the end the discussion with these young people, an eleven year old said, "So taxes are a good thing. I didn't know that."

Later, in doing some other research, I came across a list of what you would have to be willing to live without if you really didn't want to pay taxes put together on a website called BuzzFlash. The list contains everything the kids thought of, plus a lot more. I reprint just part of it, and encourage readers to go to BuzzFlash for the full list, and to keep this list handy when people complain about paying taxes. If we are to have any public space, we must reclaim the funding for it.

If you don't want to pay taxes...

Don't use paved streets or highways.

Don't call 911.

Don't flush your toilet.

Don't bring your garbage to the curb.

Don't fly in an airplane that uses air-traffic controllers.

Don't use the court system.

Don't call the police when you get robbed.

Don't use the US Post Office, send all your letters via FedEx or UPS.

Don't send your children to public schools.

Don't attend a state university.

Don't expect a social security payment.

Don't let Medicare pay your bills if you are over 65 or disabled.

Don't be rescued by fire department paramedic team.

Don't call the fire department.

Don't drink, bath or otherwise use the water from municipal water systems.

Don't look at or relay a weather report.

Don't expect a unit of measure like a gallon of gas to be a full gallon.

Don't expect an elevator to work correctly or not fall.

Don't expect research into medical problems such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, aging, prostrate, menopause, etc.

Don't use the public library.

Don't go to a state university affiliated hospital.

Don't watch state college sports.

Don't apply for government grants.

Don't use your state's convention centers.

Don't go to a state, city or municipal-run airport.

Don't drive a car that benefits from government safety regulations.

Don't use currency printed by the US Treasury.

Don't use a bank or credit union that insures your deposits through the FDIC.

NONPROFITS SHOULD BE SEEN AND NOT HEARD
(Preferably not seen either.)

Every day we experience new ways that the Bush Administration is suppressing freedom of speech. A few examples:

An 1872 law forbidding people to go aboard ships and lure sailors to bars and brothels is being used against Greenpeace. The case is wending its way therough the federal courts. The last time the law was used was in 1890. (OMB Watch, Dec. 15, 2003)

In the San Francisco Chronicle Sunday, Jan 4, 2004, two back to back stories:

"?Quarantining Dissent: How the Secret Service Protects Bush from Free Speech" by James Bovard, and "Torture by Proxy: How Immigrnation Threw A Traveler to the Wolves" by Christopher Pyle.

The first story tells us that President Bush never sees the protesters who line the streets whenever he appears because they are kept in "free speech zones? or "protest zones? which are anywhere from 1/3 to a full mile from the president (and by default, are also often not in the view of the media.) Those who are not in the protest zone are sometimes arrested. People holding signs or placards supporting Bush are allowed to be nearer to him. As Bovard points out, any semi-intelligent terrorist will not carry an anti-Bush placard, and would probably not carry a sign at all. Bush demands these same restrictions when he goes abroad to promote freedom, leading an Australian columnist to remark, "Protesters will be free to speak as much as they like as long as they can?t be heard." Most chilling is a quote from an FBI internal newsletter encouraging agents to conduct more interviews with antiwar activists "for plenty of reasons, chief of which it will enhance the paranoia epidemic in such circles and will further service to get the point across that there is an FBI agent behind every mailbox."

"Extraordinary Rendition?

The second story concerns a Syrian born Canadian named Maher Arar returning to Canada from visiting his wife?s family in Tunisia. He changed planes at New York's Kennedy Airport and was seized by the police because his name came up on an international watch list. He was not allowed to call his family or to call a lawyer. He was not accused of any crimes and Canadian immigration expected that he would be allowed to return there. However, that was not to be. US agents wanted him questioned by people who are not subject to US laws. He was sent to Syria to be questioned there. This covert operation was legal because Arar is from Syria. (He hasn?t lived there in 16 years and is now a Canadian citizen). He was locked in an underground cell 3 feet wide, 6 feet long and 7 feet high. He was tortured for ten months, and finally released when it was clear he had no terrorist ties.

Sending people to other countries to be tortured is called "extraordinary rendition? and has been authorized by a secret presidential finding. The article?s author, Christopher Pyle, rightly asks where the president gets the authority to have anyone tortured. Pyle, who teaches constitutional law at Mt.Holyoke says, "What our government did to Maher Arar is worse than anything the British did to our Colonial forefathers. It is worse than anything J. Edgar Hoover did to alleged Communists, civil rights workers and anti-war activists during his long program of dirty tricks."

And, if you are thinking, "Well I am so sorry about all that, but I am not a protester or a traveler returning home. I am just a nonprofit staff trying to do my job," then maybe you should read the U.S. Department of the Treasury "Anti-Terrorist Financing Guidelines: VOLUNTARY Best Practices for U.S. Based Charities." You can download your very own copy from the U.S. Treasury.

These guidelines are actually fairly amusing because most of them are already the law and not hard to comply with. For example, the first guideline titled "Governance: The Charity should have an adequate governing structure? suggests obeying state and federal laws and having an active board of directors.

Under Financial Practice and Accountability, the Department of the Treasury offers these guidelines: "The charity should have a budget, adopted in advance on an annual basis that is overseen by the board," and "the charity should account for all funds received and disbursed in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles and the requirements of the Internal Revenue Code."

So far, so good. However, as we come down to the actual Anti-terrorist guidelines, we see a little more scrutiny. First, the guideline is only for funds distributed to foreign groups -- the Charity should collect the following basic information about a foreign recipient organization -- followed by a list of five pieces of information, such as name of the group, jurisdiction it operates in, principal purpose of the organization. The U.S. Department of the Treasury has apparently ruled out U.S. charities being used as funders of domestic terrorism.

The two most onerous guidelines are toward the end of the list. One calls for the charity providing funding to obtain the full names, nationality, citizenship place and date of birth for all key staff and board members. The second says, "The charity should determine the identify of the financial institutions with which the foreign recipient organization maintains accounts. The charity should seek bank references and determine whether the financial institution is i) a shell bank, ii) operating under an offshore license, iii) licensed in a jurisdiction that has been determined to be non-cooperative in the international fight against money laundering." How a foundation or other charity making gifts or grants to organizations in foreign countries are to determine what is a shell bank is not part of the guidelines. (for more information on these guidelines, go to OMBWATCH.org, who has called for them to be withdrawn.)

These stories are all related. They all have to do with scaring people and organizations into saying nothing and going nowhere. Public space includes space to express your opinion and the assumption that your civil rights will be observed and protected. The blanket being thrown over free speech is so large that it will cover all of us eventually unless we organize and speak out now.