Northern California War Tax Resisters Redirect $60,000 of Tax Money on April 15 to Groups

The People’s Life Fund, a group of Northern California war tax resisters, will grant $60,000 of re-directed tax money on Thursday, April 15, 2021, to 24 community based groups focused on providing essential day-to-day human services, which the government does not adequately furnish, and to educational or other work that identifies and seeks to change the root causes of the problem.

The Fund will make these grants from 6-7:30 p.m. PDT in a public online granting session that will include representatives from the groups and members of the People’s Life Fund. (see list below for list of recipients)

"Those of us who want peace must fight on three fronts: persuade our young people to refuse to enlist and fight wars, refuse to pay taxes for war, protest in the streets against war and militarism,” said Kathy Labriola, a war tax resister since 1978. “We must also vote out of office any legislator that votes for wars."

This event will complement war tax resistance protest campaigns organized across the United States—from San Diego to Manhattan—on or near the traditional Tax Day Thursday, April 15 and the current Extended Tax Filing Day on Monday, May 17. All protests will: promote war tax resistance; call for an end to the endless war on people and the environment and highlight the deep flaws of the $1.5 trillion proposed Federal Fiscal Year 2022 budget. This budget includes funding to militarize our immigration enforcement and terrorize our immigrant communities; and military spending at 48% of the current federal spending with $1.7 billion dedicated to past and present military expenses.

In 1971, war tax resisters in the San Francisco Bay Area formed the People’s Life Fund (PLF). Since its formation, PLF has made grants totaling $342,000 to community organizations working for peace, social justice and a sustainable environment. In 2020, PLF members redirected $32,000 in resisted war taxes to 22 social justice organizations that address human service needs unmet by government agencies and programs.
[LIST OF ORGS]
Arab Film and Media Institute
Canticle Farm
East Bay Cohousing
East Bay Solidarity School
Foodz Mutual Aid
Frailty Myths
Gill Tract Farm Coalition
Green Life project of Earth Island Institute
Hand to Hand Self Defense Center
KXSF.FM / San Francisco Community Radio
Movement Rights
North Oakland Mutual Aid Network
Oakland Print Shop
Omni Commons Collectives
PLACE (People Linking Art, Community, Ecology)
Prevention at the Intersections
Restoring Justice for Indigenous Peoples
Rogers & Rosewater Soup Company
SOS -Village in Oakland
The Berkeley Friends Church Food Pantry
The Refuge
Thrive Street Choir
We Are Their Voices
Weekend-Adventures
Youth vs Apocalypse
as well as the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee