Kate Harvey Barricades Home Against Tax Collector
From the 13 July 1912 issue of The Vote :
Tax Resistance.
Mrs. [Kate] Harvey's barricade is still unbroken. Again congratulations. Among the events of last week were:—
Drawing-room Meeting, July 1 , at Hans-crescent Hotel. Hostess: Mrs. Alfred Nutt. Chair: Mrs. [Caroline] Louis Fagan. Speakers: Mrs. [Anne] Cobden Sanderson, and Rev. Hugh Chapman. Drawing-room Meeting, July 5 , at 17, Kensington-square, W. Hostess: Lady Maud Parry. Chair: Lady Maud Parry. Speakers: Mrs. Cobden Sanderson, Mr. Laurence Housman. Sale of goods, the property of Miss Maud F. Roll, on July 6 , at Rotherfield. Speakers: Mrs. [Margaret] Kineton Parkes, Miss Honnor Morten, and Dr. C.V. Drysdale.
Some historical and global examples of tax resistance → women's suffrage movements → British women's suffrage movement → Anne (& Mr.) Cobden Sanderson
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Tax resisting suffragettes see their goods seized and auctioned off, and the movement turns the auctions into protest rallies.
In the Spring of 1912, there were many auctions of goods seized from women's suffrage activists by tax enforcers. The movement turned each auction into a rally for the cause.
The campaign of the Women's Tax Resistance League kicks into high gear, as reported on this date in 1913.
Kate Harvey writes of "a limit to a woman's patience. The limit is reached when they talk of compelling us to contribute towards the salaries of the men who slam the door in our faces! Resistance is our most effective weapon."
The announcement of the publication of "The Tax Resistance Movement in Great Britain" in 1919, and excerpts from Laurence Housman's "The Duty of Tax Resistance."
The Women's Tax Resistance League produced a series of posters to propagandize their cause. They also came out in force at the unveiling of a new statue of John Hampden at Aylesbury.
Kate Harvey's trial for tax resistance in 1913. "I am not resisting the Act as an Act. If it had come straight down from heaven I should resist it just the same. I am doing what every business man throughout the country does as a matter of course — I refuse to pay for goods which I cannot choose."
Gertrude Eaton's and Marion McKenzie's property is auctioned off for back taxes, giving suffragists opportunities for two more rallies, in 1911.
Tax resistance news from Germany, Venezuela, and Sicily. Also, a profile of J. Tony Serra, a free guide to nonviolent resistance, and an anarchist lemonade-in. And, 1911: a suffragist tax resister has her property taken by the government and auctioned off, and the auction turns into a suffrage rally.
In 2009, activists broke in to the offices of an arms manufacturer and destroyed equipment, they were arrested and charged with criminal conspiracy, but they raise a "necessity defense" that they were acting to prevent war crimes by the arms purchasers — this year a jury acquitted them, unanimously. Meet the "decommissioners." Also: the Women's Freedom League hijacks a tax auction and turns it into a suffrage rally.
When Kate Raleigh had her goods auctioned off for failure to pay taxes, a sympathetic auctioneer took on a dual role as the chairman of a suffragist rally.
A pistol and a hammer: two little articles you'll find come in handy when the tax collector calls, according to a suffragette verse. Kate Harvey's imprisonment further radicalizes the suffragists in 1913.
In September 1913, there was a large women's suffrage protest rally held in Trafalgar Square. Tax resistance was on the agenda, especially with the recent imprisonment of resister Kate Harvey. And an editorial in the suffrage newspaper "The Vote" criticized government and taxation at a more radical level than the basic no-taxation-without-representation argument common to women's suffrage tax resistance.
In 1912, suffragists backed the British government into a corner and put it in the weird position of imprisoning Mark Wilks because his wife refused to pay taxes on her income.
The government throws in the towel and without explanation releases Mark Wilks, who had been imprisoned for refusing to pay his wife's taxes, in 1912. Also: Ethel Ayres Purdie on the plight of women whose incomes were legally the property of their husbands.
From the 15 October 1910 issue of "The Vote" come these reports of speeches given at a mass suffrage meeting in Trafalgar Square.
Joseph Maizlish of Southern California War Tax Resistance is interviewed on the Spirit In Action radio show. Also: more reports of tax resistance in the British women's suffrage movement. And: Vivien Kellems strikes again, in 1971, at age 75.
Mark Wilks and Elizabeth Knight go to the mat with their tax resistance for women's suffrage in 1912.
They say Mussolini made the trains run on time, and the chairman of the League of Nations' Permanent Mandates Commission thought he could also teach New Zealand a thing or two about forcing the Samoan natives to pay their taxes to their occupiers. Also: the Women's Tax Resistance League gets up a head of steam in 1910.
More meetings and auction protests by the Women's Tax Resistance League in 1911.
"If anyone fears that he has not courage to go to prison he will soon find, when he is inside, that one of its peculiar characteristics is to produce a determination and courage undreamed of to resist, not its discipline, which is a farce, but its tyranny, which oppresses the weak, and vanishes like the mist before the strong." — women's suffrage tax resister Mark Wilks
Auctions of distrained goods, public meetings, marches and processions, court hearings… all opportunities for suffragist tax resisters to get their rally on.
Tax resisters Kathy Kelly and Karl Meyer as they were profiled fifteen years ago today. Also: Lively protests accompanied the government's actions against suffragist tax resister Kate Harvey in 1912.
Dr. Winifred Patch keeps fighting the Crown's attempts to tax her during World War One, and has a crowd of well-wishers behind her.
In pre-suffrage Britain, husbands were legally 100% on the hook for taxes owed by both halves of a married couple. So married women started taking legal action to prevent the tax collectors from touching their property.
War tax resister Francis Costello: "If I have any fear at all in my lifetime, it's knowing exactly where my conscience is going to take me." Also: the Women's Freedom League expands their tax strike in 1914.
"We are not so much concerned about the pecuniary loss or sufferings likely to be sustained by our Society from this law, as we are that all our members should stand firm, and be faithful in bearing their testimony against war and military operations; taxes and fines appertaining thereunto, either directly or indirectly," wrote the North Carolina Yearly Meeting in 1831. Also: suffragettes successfully convince an auction crowd not to bid on a wagon seized from a resister. And: in 1982, Ralph Dull tries to pay his tax bill in corn.
Tax auction, protest rally, tax auction, protest rally. The women's suffrage movement in Britain knew how to make the most of government retaliation. Also, Joan Baez speaks out: "This country has gone mad. But I will not go mad with it. I will not pay for organized murder. I will not pay for the war in Vietnam."
Concluding our year-long review of tax resistance articles from "The Vote" with tales of distraint on a duchess, the official robbery of married women, and an array of tax auctions and seizures — all accompanied, naturally, by lively protest rallies.
Dora Montefiore, in her book "From a Victorian to a Modern" told the story of her tax resistance and the "Siege of Montefiore."
An unusual method of tax resistance is to deliberately make yourself taxable in order to owe a tax that you can then resist, or, similarly, to defy some legal condition of your tax-exempt status. Here are some examples. Also: a convergence of conservative tax critics and anti-war tax resisters in 1970.
A tactic that I've encountered on many occasions in my research into tax resistance campaigns is that of disrupting government auctions, particularly those of goods seized from tax resisters. Here are several examples that show the variety of ways campaigns have accomplished this.
Some historical and global examples of tax resistance → women's suffrage movements → British women's suffrage movement → Caroline Frances Fagan
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Tax auctions, imprisonments, and releases from prison: all opportunities for the Women's Tax Resistance League to rally supporters.
It took a battering ram to break the blockade of Kate Harvey's Brakenhill home at Bromley when the tax collectors came to seize her goods. Also: speakers promote tax resistance among the English suffragists in 1913.
Government Methods Applied to Business: Lady Customer: "I wish to see some dress materials to choose from." Shopkeeper: "Excuse me, madam. We do not permit our lady customers to 'choose.' You pay the bill — we supply the goods we think best for you."
Mutual aid and war tax resistance; tax resistance news from Trieste, Greece, and Croydon; and the suffragist tax resistance of Julia & Abby Smith and Caroline Fagan.
Some historical and global examples of tax resistance → women's suffrage movements → British women's suffrage movement → Kate Harvey
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A profile of Kate Harvey, a tax resister from Britain's women's suffrage movement. Also: an I.R.S. audit forecast for the coming year. And: the right-wing media discover the wacky world of freegans.
Kate Harvey and Mary Anderson barricade their homes against tax collectors, protesters at a tax auction face off with local hooligans, and a chapter from Flora Annie Steel's new novel is auctioned off for her tax debts: just a typical week in the 1913-era British women's suffrage movement.
Edward Koryto protested his increased property tax assessment by razing the home it took him seven years to build from scrap lumber. Also: more tales of suffragettes being harassed by the tax collector.
War tax resister Frank Donnelly was sentenced to a year in prison yesterday. Also: notes on Vivien Kellems's tax resistance strategy. And: women's suffragists rally around the new John Hampden statue at Aylesbury.
Barricades, property seizures, and shady auctions: another week of action for the Women's Tax Resistance League.
War tax resisters George Monk and Molly Schaffnit went off-the-grid and back-to-the-land to stop funding the military. Also: Patrick O'Neill on the sentencing of war tax resister Frank Donnelly. And: Murry Rothbard on the 17th century French tax rebellion of the Croquants. Also: the latest news on I.R.S. enforcement efforts. And: The "contumacious" Kate Harvey refuses to pay her taxes or her fines, and other suffragists refuse to license their dogs, in 1913.
The law treated ordinary (male) tax resisters much more leniently than (female) suffragists who withheld their taxes in protest against having no say in government. Here is one example.
Two Leo Tolstoy essays on taxes, war & peace. Also: the British government hints at prosecuting the Women's Freedom League itself for its non-participation in mandatory government employee contributions, to which the W.F.L. responds: oh, we double dog dare you to try!
"A good part of our constitutional history may be said to have been written in the terms of tax-resistance, and it is largely by such means that some of our greatest reforms have been won." Kate Harvey goes to "gaol" for tax resistance in 1913.
Kate Harvey gets some inspiring verse while under siege, Mark Wilks faces arrest for failing to pay his wife's taxes, and Marie Lawson petitions His Majesty the King. Another week in the British women's suffrage movement.
Don't look now, but Congress passed another bill. This one has some good news for this tax resister, and maybe for you too. Also: Kate Harvey's imprisonment for tax resistance led to a flurry of protests in 1913.
Kate Harvey's treatment behind bars outraged her suffragist supporters, as reported on this date in 1913.
A mention of Arthur Evans's release from prison after refusing to disclose financial information to the I.R.S., in 1963. Also: the Women's Tax Resistance League kicks into high gear in 1912.
Several years before Beit Sahour there was another Palestianian tax strike, this one involving the doctors of Gaza City. Also: the tax authorities used a battering ram to break Kate Harvey's barricade and seize her goods for taxes. A hell of a lot of good that did them when the suffragists turned the auction into a mass rally.
More fallout from the imprisonment and attempted sale of the seized goods of suffragist Kate Harvey in 1913.
Tales from the British Women's Suffrage Movement, showing how tax resistance evolved as a tactic between 1884 and 1914.
Tax resistance campaigns can increase their visibility by adopting particular uniforms, badges, ribbons, or other emblems to identify resisters and those working in concert with the campaign. Today I will summarize some examples of this.
Income tax withholding or "pay as you earn" makes it difficult for people to resist paying income tax. Resisters need their employers to be willing to go out on a limb and resist alongside them. Here are some examples of employers who have done just that.
When people are arrested, tried, or imprisoned for tax resistance, their comrades have sometimes used this as an occasion to hold rallies or other demonstrations. This shows support for the people being persecuted, demonstrates determination in the face of government reprisals, and can be a good opportunity for propaganda. Here are some examples.
Other ways to show support for imprisoned resisters are to accompany them as they go to prison, to visit them while they are inside, and to be there to meet them when they are released. Today I'll give some examples.
Other ways to support tax resisters as they go up against the legal system include triggering mass actions in response to arrests, honoring prisoners, issuing formal shows of support, and petitioning the government for leniency. Here are some examples of these tactics in action.
Tax agencies live by bureaucracy and paperwork. Many of the earliest examples of writing in the worlds' museums are tax records. But some mischievous tax resisters have discovered that this is a vulnerability that can be targeted.
Tax resisters and tax resistance campaigns have at times made use of barricades, blockades, and occupations to keep tax collectors at bay. Here are some examples.
From Laurence Housman's autobiography and Agnes Edith Metcalf's history of the British women's suffrage movement, some accounts of how tax resistance was used in that struggle.
Some historical and global examples of tax resistance → women's suffrage movements → British women's suffrage movement → Clemence Housman & Laurence Housman
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The militant women's suffrage movement in Great Britain found tax resistance to be one of their most popular, widely-adopted, and sustained tactics.
Aristotle says that the life of philosophical contemplation is the best possible life for people, which probably explains his career choice. Also: the imprisonment of Clemence Housman in 1911 for refusing to pay her taxes until women could win the right to vote.
A call for more aggressive tax resistance in the women's suffrage movement, 99 years ago today. Also: don't forget to let NWTRCC know about your Tax Day plans this year.
The feds say they can seize Thrift Savings Plan money to settle tax debts, they plan to relax the new 1099 requirements a bit, and they are going to pressure recipients of government checks to switch to direct deposit. Also: arrests, trials, property seizures and auctions… just another week in the British women's suffrage movement.
The Women's Tax Resistance League announces that they're closing up shop in 1918 in the wake of a partial victory for women's suffrage.
Charlotte Despard and Laurence Housman speak out for tax resistance in the suffrage movement as Winifred Patch's property is sold for back taxes in 1910.
When Mark Wilks was imprisoned for not paying his wife's taxes, George Bernard Shaw remarked: "If my wife did that to me, the very moment I came out of prison I would get another wife. It is indefensible."
Ah… good ol' J. Bracken Lee (with a cameo from Vivien Kellems). Also: Suffragists celebrate Clemence Housman's release from gaol in 1911.
Steve Ratzlaff on how some people suffer from irrationally exaggerated risk aversion that keeps them from aligning their lives with their values and adopting war tax resistance. Also: the press in New Zealand and England cover suffragette tax resistance in 1912.
Some historical and global examples of tax resistance → women's suffrage movements → British women's suffrage movement → Honnor Morten
Some historical and global examples of tax resistance → women's suffrage movements → British women's suffrage movement → Margaret Kineton Parkes
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Kate Lelacheur's tax resisting cow. Also: suffragists turn tax auctions of property seized from tax resisters and court cases against them into opportunities for organizing and protest.
A new issue of NWTRCC's newsletter is out, with an update from Julia Butterfly Hill on her resistance, and reports from the Arizona national gathering and from this year's tax day actions, among other things. Also, a member of the Women's Tax Resistance League wrote a history of that movement shortly after it succeeded in winning the vote for women. Unfortunately the only copy I've been able to locate is one continent and one ocean away.
So the I.R.S. got audited the other day… Also: Suffragists in Britain prepare to rally to support a tax resisting comrade whose goods are to be seized and sold at auction.
Frank Sproson reflects on Emma Sproson's tax resistance. Also: suffragists interrogate Winston Churchill about Emma Sproson's imprisonment.
New Zealanders send manure to cabinet ministers to protest against a "flatulence tax" on greenhouse-gas-emitting livestock. Also: auctions of property seized from tax resisters become opportunities for suffrage rallies and parades in 1911.
In 1910, the Women's Freedom League reviewed the history of tax resistance in the British women's suffrage movement up to that point, and started on a new, organized, and precise tax resistance campaign.
Reporting from the first full (very full!) day of the joint National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee Fall gathering / 25th annual New England Gathering of War Tax Resisters and Supporters.
The Samoans also organized tax resistance when they were occupied by the Germans (this example comes from 1887). Also: when Ulster Unionists threaten a tax resistance campaign in 1913, the Women's Tax Resistance League wonders why they can't get the same respect.
1913: Suffragists interrupt an unfriendly auctioneer at a tax sale, suffrage-sympathetic male tax striker Captain Gonne is arrested, Agnes Edith Metcalf refuses to pay her dog license, and Margaret Kineton Parkes gets a hearing for women's tax resistance in Ireland.
The "half-breeds" and "savages" of Dakota take up arms against the tax collector in 1889. Also: a unanimous resolution calls on women to resist taxation until they get the vote, in 1913.
The "people power" movements in Egypt, Tunisia, and elsewhere have been informed by scholars of nonviolent resistance like Gene Sharp. Also: a new tax break for self-employed seniors. And: Obama's awful new budget. Also: Margaret Kineton Parks on the women's suffrage tax resistance movement 100 years ago today. And: Montreal merchants refuse to pay their taxes in 1893.
Homegrown tobacco? In Brooklyn? Taxes will make you do strange things. Also: the I.R.S. announces that it plans to ease up liens against people behind on their taxes. And: an early mention of women's suffrage tax resistance workshops from The Vote.
Another tax auction becomes a suffrage rally in England in 1912, and in 1917 Winifred Patch makes her third court appearance in the same suffrage tax resistance fight.
Ten "non-Communist demonstrators" protested war taxes on this date in 1952, according to the New York Times. Also: from Abadam to Zangwill, the women of Britain were refusing to pay taxes to a government in which they were not represented.
In my annual report I summarize my eighth year of tax resistance and forecast the year ahead. Also: a 1913 tax auction segues into a suffrage rally.
Suffragist tax resisters look back at the tax resistance of the Political Unions during the Reform Act struggle, and look forward to holding a rally at an auction of the distrained goods of a duchess.
Sometimes the decisive turn in a tax resistance campaign has come when the resisters have coalesced into a formal group with the authority to organize and coordinate resistance actions. Today I'll give some examples of this.
When trying to bring new tax resisters into a movement, sometimes there is no substitute for addressing potential resisters individually: whether that be through letters, petitions, face-to-face meetings, or cleverly creative modes of engagement.
See the scripts the I.R.S.'s new private debt collectors will be using. View your I.R.S. account on-line. A look at how Thoreau has aged. A note about a suffragette tax auction. Suspicious packages shut down I.R.S. buildings in Austin and Philadelphia. And the I.R.S. is forced to return hundreds of millions of dollars in ill-gotten gains.
Many examples of tax resisting women, from suffragists to pacifists and anti-war activists to the Igbo Women's War, from the book "You Can't Kill the Spirit".
Some historical and global examples of tax resistance → women's suffrage movements → British women's suffrage movement → Maud F. Roll