Refuse the slush fund
There is so much to be infuriated by. I don’t know why this is the tipping point, but it is.
If the Justice Department’s new $1.8 billion account for compensating Trump supporters claiming mistreatment by the Biden administration is used as advertised, including a slush fund for Jan. 6 rioters, and Republicans in Congress refuse to act, then we should.
Someone said there comes a moment when citizens must decide whether conscience matters more than compliance. Surely this is it. Americans should refuse to allow our tax dollars to be handed out to felons convicted of sedition and assaulting Capitol officers.
A few years ago I met Dave, a conscientious objector who withholds a portion of his taxes each year, redirecting it from the Pentagon to charities. Every April, he mails a letter to the IRS explaining exactly why. Echoes of Shays’ Rebellion.
Dave is the first person I thought of when I read about Trump’s proposed settlement of his absurd $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS for not safeguarding his returns — the ones he promised for years to release voluntarily but never did.
If Trump can syphon off public money to settle personal grievances, then we citizens have every right to engage in transparent civil disobedience. Come tax season 2027, I propose everyone withholds their estimated share of his $1.8 billion fund and donate it to nonprofits worthy of your support.
That amounts to $11 per taxpayer, hardly enough for the IRS to come calling. But collectively, it makes a statement… and someone will have to read all those letters of disobedience.
Ted Barber
Northampton