War Tax Resistance

If you don't believe in war, why pay for it?

War Tax Resistance: A Guide to Withholding Your Taxes from the Military, by Ed Hedemann and Ruth Benn, is an indispensable resource to help reduce our complicity with ongoing U.S. war-making, as well as guiding the reader through a type of protest the government finds difficult to ignore. The most comprehensive book available on war tax resistance, covering everything from legal issues to the history of war tax resistance, to the hows and whys.

This 6th edition, published in 2025, is updated and expanded from the 2003 War Tax Resistance: A Guide To Withholding Your Support from the Military. The print edition available at warresisters.org/store.

Based on the experiences of thousands of war tax resisters, this book covers the whys and hows of resistance, potential consequences of violating tax laws, common myths about resistance, along with budget analysis, history, philosophy, and community organizing campaigns. The text is enlivened with dozens of inspiring, real-life stories of resistance.

War Resisters League was founded in 1923 and began supporting war tax resisters not long after World War II. For decades the authors, Ed Hedemann and Ruth Benn, have openly refused to pay federal income taxes to protest military spending and have redirected their tax dollars to humanitarian causes instead of the IRS. Both serve as counselors for those considering taking the dramatic step of resisting their taxes.

"Though the IRS is concerned about the money, it is more concerned that the idea of people saying NO not get out of hand. That's why we have to continue to build a movement of resisting authority." - Ralph DiGia

War Resisters League • www.warresisters.org • 212-228-0450