Conscientious objection to military taxation (COMT) is a legal theory that attempts to extend into the realm of taxation the concessions to

conscientious objectors A conscientious objector (often shortened to conchie) is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. The term has also been extended to objecti ...

that many governments allow in the case of conscription, thereby allowing conscientious objectors to insist that their tax payments not be spent for military purposes. Some

tax resisters Tax resistance is the refusal to pay tax because of opposition to the government that is imposing the tax, or to government policy, or as opposition to taxation in itself. Tax resistance is a form of direct action and, if in violation of the tax ...

advocate

legal recognition Legal recognition of a status or fact in a jurisdiction is formal acknowledgement of it as being true, valid, legal, or worthy of consideration, and may involve approval or the granting of rights. For example, a nation or territory may require a ...

of a right to COMT, while others conscientiously resist taxes without concern for whether their stand has legal approval.

Theory

COMT is thought by its proponents to be a logical extension to conscientious objection to military service. A person with a religious or ethical scruple against taking part in killing people during war is likely to feel no less scruple about paying somebody else to do the killing or about purchasing the mechanism of killing. If a government can respect the right of a person not to participate directly in making war, can it also respect the right of the person to avoid this indirect participation? Proponents of COMT and of "Peace Tax Fund"-style legislation say that it will have numerous benefits that go beyond accommodating individual conscientious objectors, for instance: * It will free people who are unwilling by reason of conscience to pay taxes or to engage in taxed activities to go ahead and pay taxes without fear of violating their consciences. * It will promote freedom of religion and freedom of conscience and serve to educate people about their choices concerning warfare. As one advocate put it, "it will extend the legal recognition due to the absolute value of human life, and the freedom of the individual conscience to acknowledge it." * It will increase government funding by encouraging

to become tax payers. * It will encourage other anti-militaristic legislation and reevaluation of

military spending A military budget (or military expenditure), also known as a defense budget, is the amount of financial resources dedicated by a state to raising and maintaining an armed forces or other methods essential for defense purposes. Financing militar ...

Terminology

In tax circles, to restrict a tax payment ''from'' a particular purpose, or to designate a tax payment ''for'' a particular purpose, is called ''

hypothecation Hypothec (; german: Hypothek, french: hypothèque, pl, hipoteka, from Lat. ''hypotheca'', from Gk. : hypothēkē), sometimes tacit hypothec, is a term used in civil law systems (e.g. law of entire Continental Europe except Gibraltar ) , ...

.''

Historical precedents and legislative proposals

In the more general category of

, there are already well-established precedents: they include the

gasoline tax A fuel tax (also known as a petrol, gasoline or gas tax, or as a fuel duty) is an excise tax imposed on the sale of fuel. In most countries the fuel tax is imposed on fuels which are intended for transportation. Fuels used to power agricultural ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

, which is dedicated to the funding of transportation infrastructure. In the more specific category of military-related hypothecation, there was at least one legal, government-instituted historical precedent: An "alternative tax" related specifically to militia duty lasted for eight years in Upper Canada between 1841 and 1849, as we see in this quote:

In 1793 in Upper Canada, Governor
John Graves Simcoe John Graves Simcoe (25 February 1752 – 26 October 1806) was a British Army general and the first lieutenant governor of Upper Canada from 1791 until 1796 in southern Ontario and the watersheds of Georgian Bay and Lake Superior. He founded Yor ...
offered Mennonites, Quakers and Brethren in Christ an exemption from militia duty, to encourage their immigration to Canada. They were however expected to pay a fee so that others could serve in their place.... In 1841, after years of lobbying, the government agreed to use this tax for public works. In 1849, the tax was eliminated.

Notice that the above quote refers to tax in exchange for "militia ''duty''" and does not mention militia ''equipment'', etc. In that respect it could be perceived as simply another form of quasi-

alternative civilian service Alternative civilian service, also called alternative services, civilian service, non-military service, and substitute service, is a form of national service performed in lieu of military conscription for various reasons, such as conscientious ...

for

. Nevertheless, this tax still stands as a precedent because an alteration was made to a ''taxation system'' (as opposed to simply requiring alternative civilian ''service''). In the 1960s, a

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abili ...

group in the

drafted a prototype law that would allow conscientious objectors to pay their taxes to

UNICEF UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to c ...

instead of to the U.S. Treasury. In the United States, legislation establishing a "Peace Tax Fund" has been proposed in

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

since 1972.''War Tax Resistance'' War Resisters League (2003) p.125 , the current proposal is called the '' Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund Act''. Similar legislation is being considered in many other countries, and an international campaign to encourage such laws began in 1975, but no country recognizes a legal right for a taxpayer to direct his or her taxes for only non-military purposes. A legislative bill was tabled in the

Parliament of Canada The Parliament of Canada (french: Parlement du Canada) is the federal legislature of Canada, seated at Parliament Hill in Ottawa, and is composed of three parts: the King, the Senate, and the House of Commons. By constitutional convention, ...

in 1983, and several others have been tabled, but not passed, since then.

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * ...

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

Bill Siksay William Livingstone Siksay (born March 11, 1955) is a Canadian politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) who represented the British Columbia riding of Burnaby—Douglas for the New Democratic Party from 2004 to 2011. Early life Siksa ...

tabled bills C-397 (38th parliament, May 2005) and C-390 (40th parliament, May 2009). The latest incarnation of this legislation occurred in 2011 as Bill C-363. It was a private member's bill proposed by NDP MP

Alex Atamanenko Alex T. Atamanenko (born January 24, 1945) is a Canadian politician, who was elected to the House of Commons in 2006, winning the riding of British Columbia Southern Interior for the New Democratic Party in the 2006 federal election, and serv ...

and would put income tax paid by Canadians committed to COMT into a special account to be audited yearly by the

Parliamentary Budget Officer The Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer (OPBO; ) is an office of the Parliament of Canada which provides independent, authoritative and non-partisan financial and economic analysis. The office is led by the Parliamentary Budget Officer ...

and used exclusively for peace building purposes.

Conscientious objector A conscientious objector (often shortened to conchie) is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. The term has also been extended to objec ...

s would be able to register with the Canada Revenue Agency so their taxes could be diverted away from the military.

Objections

There are a number of common objections to COMT. Some people oppose legal recognition of conscientious objection even for military service and conscription, arguing that all citizens are obliged to serve in the military when the country requires it, and that nobody should be able to expect special treatment on conscientious grounds. This argument applies just as well or just as poorly against COMT. Others argue that COMT would be too difficult to implement. Another commonly raised objection is that COMT, if allowed, would establish a precedent for a general freedom for individual taxpayers to opt out of contributions for any tax-funded activity which they do not wish to support, including, for example, public education and healthcare.

Anarchists Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessari ...

argue that to fund government at all is to fund violence, and so the only true pacifist conscientious tax objection is complete tax objection.

Objections from conscientious tax resisters

Some conscientious tax resisters have a different set of objections to COMT. They argue that the legislative proposals that have been proposed so far that would legalize COMT actually would have the paradoxical effect of encouraging more conscientious objectors to pay for more war than before. They point out the ease with which the government can shift money from place to place in its budget, and borrow money when funds are not available. If a conscientious objector who had been unwilling to pay taxes started to pay into a "peace tax fund", this would only mean more money for the government to spend, and the likely result of that is more money for the military. The '' Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund Act'' in the United States, for instance, would give the government more tax revenue and would not change how much or how high a percentage of this money was spent on the military. The analogy to conscientious objection is flawed, these critics say: A conscientious objector to military service does not take up arms and kill. Perhaps somebody else is drafted to do so instead, but the conscientious objector does not. A "peace tax fund" payer, on the other hand, pays just as much money as the ordinary taxpayer, but just cherishes the illusion that her dollars were peaceful ones. It would be as if the government told conscientious objectors that they had to take up arms and shoot at the enemy just like everybody else, but that they didn't have to take credit for their kills if they didn't want to. Another objection is that to make COMT legal is to make it no longer a protest against or a confrontation with evil, but instead a compromise with it. One Christian tax resister wrote that "worldly priorities must be objected to in word and deed. If the objecting deeds are done legally, they register little if any protest. If consciously illegal, they register an unequivocal refusal to agree with the world's values. The latter gets the attention of the state, the former does not."Schenk, Phil "World Peace Tax Fund" ''The Mennonite'' 13 December 1977, p. 735

References

External links

The Peace Tax Seven
(peace tax fund advocates from the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

)
Tax resistanceConscience Canada

Conscience and Peace Tax International
(International

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

works for recognition of the

human right Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hum ...

to conscientious objection to military taxation)
Advantages of a Peace Tax Fund

Conscience Canada
(peace tax fund advocates from Canada) * Gross, David
A (critical) parable about peace tax fund plans
''The Picket Line'' 27 September 2004 * Harding, David
Quaker Tax Protesters Challenge Law
''Accountancy Age'' 10 March 2005 (includes a discussion of "hypothecation") * Pennock, Robert T.
Death and Taxes
On the Justice of Conscientious War Tax Resistance" (PDF) ''Journal of Accounting, Ethics & Public Policy'' Vol. 1, No. 1, Winter 1998 {{Tax resistance Tax resistance Military economics Anti-war protests Conscientious objection Tax law