This idea of tying taxation to morality and conscience is not a new one. The 1773 Boston Tea Party was, in part, a moral response to the British levying a tax on tea without New World citizens having representation. This action eventually led to the American Revolution and independence from Britain.

Throughout American history, anti-war protesters have refused to pay taxes. In fact, several member of the Peace Center of South Central Kansas in Wichita have used their taxes to protest America’s military spending. Their system of protest is simple: On April 15, they distribute flyers at area post offices educating people mailing their tax returns on what percentage of their taxes go to pay for the military. These protestors also figure out what percentage of the taxes they owe will go to the military and put that amount in a savings account. When the IRS confiscates the money owed for back taxes and fees, the money is there. These citizens have made their protests while satisfying the government.

When California Senator Barbara Boxer spoke on the Senate floor in opposition to the both the Stupak-Pitts amendment and the Nelson amendment, she made several points. To paraphrase one of those points, she asked what would happen if all American citizens decided not to pay the taxes that pay for the services and institutions they find immoral or that are against their conscience.

For example, what about those who are opposed to war? What would happen to our military if our representatives passed a bill saying that citizens who oppose war could withhold that part of our taxes that pay for war? What about a bill that allowed those who oppose automobile pollution not to pay the taxes used to build our highways? Or a bill freeing those who oppose public education from paying the taxes that support public education?

We all have moral objections to many things our government does. It’s a matter of conscience for me to oppose the death penalty. Should I figure out what percentage of my taxes pay for judges that preside over death penalty cases or for the mechanics of executing a criminal then withhold those taxes? Right now, the death penalty is a legal punishment in most states. My helping to pay for its use through my taxes is no different from the government requiring that taxpayers pay for abortion, a legal procedure that some may find violates their conscience.

For years, women, especially poor women, have literally and figuratively paid the price for lawmakers deciding whose conscience they are going to pay attention to and whose conscience they will ignore. Some of these lawmakers have said during the health care debate that they want to end legal abortion and they see denying funds to pay for the procedure as the way to do it.

I want to end war and the death penalty. Maybe the next amendment to a spending bill could take care of that—just to satisfy my conscience and my sense of morality.