Town Common Vigils and leafleting on effects of military budget planned

“The biggest tax day elephant in the room resides in the five-sided military mansion, the Pentagon, with its criminally large budget — nearly a trillion dollars each year siphoned from our tax dollars.” – Pat Hynes

With the new deadline for filing federal taxes now May 17, area peace activists will focus on where the public’s money goes during two upcoming Saturdays in May.

The Tax Day vigils, called by members of the Franklin County Continuing the Political Revolution (FCCPR) peace task force and Traprock Center for Peace & Justice, will join the weekly Saturday vigils held on the Greenfield Common from 10 am to noon.

Traprock’s Pat Hynes wrote in her April 30th My Turn, “Elephants in the room: Tax day 2021” about how our tax money was spent this year:

“Fifty-five cents of each dollar we paid in our discretionary taxes went to support the military, our wars, weapons, and bases, including 800 military bases abroad and military operations in an estimated 150 countries.

A few pennies of each discretionary tax dollar went to support each of these essential human security needs: environmental protection, education, housing, public health, food and agriculture, research on renewable energy, road and bridges, public lands and parks, diplomacy and more.”

Organizers call for examining and cutting the ever more bloated military budget, and remembering Dr. Martin Luther King saying: “It challenges the imagination to contemplate what lives we could transform if we were to cease killing.”  

Information will also be available at the Common on the National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund’s efforts to pass The Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund Bill. Thislegislation would create a fund in the Federal Treasury to receive taxes of conscientious objectors which would then be used for non-military programs.

The Peace Tax Fund’s slogan is “Paying for War is participating in War.”

The Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund had been spearheaded in Congress by the legendary Representative from Georgia, John Lewis, until his death. Peace and racial justice activists hope that Rep. Jim McGovern will now take the lead.

The ongoing weekly Saturday vigils for racial justice, peace and democracy, are open and all are welcome. On May 8 and 15th there will be a special focus on informing the public about the realities of where tax dollars are going. All are welcome; bringing appropriate signs and wearing masks is advised.