Taxes for Peace Not War / Community Alliance of Lane County / Jobs with Justice / Eugene-Springfield Solidarity Network / Industrial Workers of the World
“Activists gathered at the Eugene downtown post offices on Tax Day, April 18th, to challenge militarism and corporate greed and to call for the re-ordering of federal spending priorities from supporting war to meeting human and environmental needs. Close to 100 people were provided the opportunity to voice how they would spend their tax dollars when they took part in the ‘Penny Poll’. Participants were handed 10 pennies, which they deposited in jars representing a 6-category breakdown of the federal budget. Eugene taxpayers have clearly had it with the Iraq/Afghanistan wars and want their elected officials to do more to bring these wars to an immediate end. If Eugene residents ran the Federal Government things would be significantly different — their tax dollars would be funding social and environmental programs and not endless war. War tax resisters, who object to over half of their federal taxes going to the military, redirected their ‘war’ taxes to local organizations, including Planned Parenthood, Whitebird and Shelter Care, who were on hand to receive their donations.”