War protesters use Tax Day to send message

Go to Bangor News original
BANGOR, Maine — Opponents of the Iraq war spent Tuesday, the deadline for filing income tax returns, working to educate Mainers about the costs of war.

More than half of each federal income tax dollar paid by Maine taxpayers now goes toward past and current military expenses, according to Larry Dansinger, coordinator of the Maine War Tax Resistance Resource Center.

The group, camped outside the Bangor U.S. post office, was one of at least two Maine organizations that spent Tax Day handing out fliers they said "show where our tax dollars really go." The other group, the Maine People’s Alliance, handed out fliers in Portland.

Though Dansinger noted that most Mainers now file their tax returns electronically, he said the resistance planned to hand fliers out to those who still do it the traditional way as a "symbolic" gesture.

"April 15 is a significant day for a lot of people in the U.S. because it’s the day their taxes are due," Dansinger said.

According to data from the War Resisters League, with headquarters in New York City, 54 percent of the federal budget for the 2009 fiscal year — or $484 billion — goes toward past and current military expenses, including an estimated $200 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan war spending.

more...