Civil Disobedience III

#54

The third No Kings demonstration on March 28^th was uplifting for all who participated. It sent a loud message that 8 million people have had enough of this regime, that we want our imperfect and tattered democracy back, and we are prepared to fight for it.

Local and national demonstrations are necessary but not sufficient to bring an end to the Trump regime. We need to undermine the pillars that support his regime through civil disobedience. The pillars of support are institutions and groups that provide the regime with legitimacy, labor, funds, and resources. The pillars include security forces, the bureaucracy and civil servants, the business community, organized labor, media, religious institutions, and the educational system.

I’ve written about civil disobedience before. Civil disobedience is the active refusal of a person or group to obey a government’s laws, demands, or orders that one considers unlawful, unjust, or harmful to the general good.

Civil disobedience has been committed when people realized that demonstrations, petitions, phone calls, and letter-writing campaigns were important but not sufficient to bring about needed change. Will civil disobedience be committed if ICE agents are present at voting places, voting by mail is eliminated, the federal government controls elections, and 20 million people get thrown off the voting rolls? Civil disobedience is used when democracy becomes a sham.

It is time for people who are outraged that Trump is creating an authoritarian dictatorship to consider civil disobedience.

This Substack focuses on one form of civil disobedience: withholding payment of taxes. Future issues will focus on other forms of civil disobedience.

The History of Withholding Taxes

Earlier campaigns

Successful efforts by individuals and organizations to withhold taxes include:

· The 1773 Boston Tea Party. This act did not repeal the tea tax but increased resistance to British rule.

· Mahatma Gandhi defied the British salt taxes in 1930 by producing salt from the sea. This action strengthened the Indian independence movement.

· In the early 1970s, 200,00 to 500,000 Americans reportedly refused to pay the “telephone tax”, a 10% tax on phone bills that was levied to subsidize the Vietnam war.

· During the Vietnam War, tens of thousands of Americans participated in some form of tax resistance, with several hundred prominent individuals doing so very publicly. These included James Baldwin, Dorothy Day, Joan Baez, Noam Chomsky, Allen Ginsberg, and Gloria Steinem. The tax resistance did not significantly impact war funding, but it did contribute to the widespread opposition to the war. Most individual tax resisters eventually had to pay the taxes and a penalty. Very few were convicted of a crime.

· In the UK in 1990, there were tax riots and mass non-payment of the Community Charge (poll tax) introduced by Margaret Thatcher. Millions refused to pay which contributed to the repeal of the tax and to Thatcher announcing her resignation eight months later.

Current campaigns

Several organizations and grassroots movements have recently emerged or expanded their efforts to organize campaigns to withhold taxes. These are nonviolent civil disobedience campaigns. As Rachel Cohen, a lawyer who is withholding her income tax and organizing others to protest Trump’s use of their tax dollars, said, “I would certainly run the risk of a misdemeanor, as opposed to actively supporting concentration camps,” referring to ICE detention centers. You can read about current campaigns to withhold taxes in THE GUARDIAN.

Three prominent organizations are supporting tax resistance campaigns:

The National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee (NWTRCC) which began in the 1980s, has recently experienced a massive surge of interest in tax resistance. In January, NWTRCC held a “War Tax Resistance 101” training. Nearly 500 people showed up; their website has had over 110,000 unique visitors.

NWTRCC is coordinating a campaign of people who are refusing to pay taxes for Trump’s war in Iran and the Middle East, and to protest other unconstitutional uses of our tax dollars. You can read about withholding strategies, the impact, and risks of withholding taxes at NWTRCC.

The National Tax Strike is a new group that provides educational resources on tax resistance. They provide information on how to adjust withholdings and navigate the legal risks of withholding taxes. Their information is available at NATIONAL TAX STRIKE.

War Resisters League (WRL) provides the comprehensive War Tax Resistance: A Guide to Withholding Your Support from the Military. It has specific strategies for the 2025-2026 tax years. You can get it free from your library or purchase a copy here, WRL.

Two ways to withhold taxes with minimal risks:

· Revise your W-4 form to reduce or eliminate the money you pay in advance to the government.

· File your taxes, but withhold 15% that goes to fund the military and ICE. 60% of the federal government’s discretionary budget goes to the military.

Impact

Tax withholding has been most effective when large numbers of people participate as part of a larger movement. Withholding taxes in the United States has energized movements, increased awareness of resistance to an oppressive government or policy, but generally has not affected the fiscal strength of the government.

Risks

The most common negative consequence of withholding federal taxes has been that people are eventually required to pay the back taxes plus a penalty. If you file your taxes and pay a portion of the owed tax, the penalty (0.05%) is relatively small, and the interest on the withheld funds is 7%. If one does not file federal taxes, the penalty can be severe. In rare cases, people have been charged with a crime and convicted.

May Day Strong Resistance

May Day Strong and thousands of other organizations across the country are calling for a day of “No School, No Work, No Shopping” to disrupt the billionaire takeover of our country and to put working families first. When Trump and his thugs break every rule, it’s going to take more than a rally to stop them.

On January 23rd, 2026, Minnesota held the first day of No School, No work, No Shopping, with more than 1,000 local businesses closing in solidarity. Those businesses closed because customers and employees asked them to close.

I’m going to spend several hours each week for the rest of this month going to stores in my neighborhood asking them to close on Friday, May 1, to protest the war in Iran, ICE’s attack on immigrants, the unfettered corruption of Trump and the billionaires, and Trump’s spitting on the Constitution.

Consider asking your local stores to close for a day. You can learn more about the campaign and print signs to give to businesses at MAY DAY STRONG.

Lawsuits against the Trump administration

The Trump administration, since January 20th, 2025, has been hit with a record number of lawsuits—over 700 as of March 31, 2026, according to the New York Times. By comparison, 133 lawsuits were filed against the Biden administration during Biden’s four years in office.

The Trump administration has lost 75% of the cases that reached a ruling. As of late 2025, approximately 32 cases have been fully adjudicated; 24 decided against the administration and 8 in favor.

On April 1, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Trump v. Barbara, the challenge to Trump’s executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship. Based on the justices’ questions, it appears likely birthright citizenship will be preserved. A listing of all the lawsuits against the Trump administration is available at LAWFARE, the Trump Administration Litigation Tracker.

One more lawsuit: A reader of this Substack, Michael Siris, and Lawyers for Good Government filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on behalf of the Underground Railroad Education Center in Albany, NY. The museum, located on one of the Underground Railroad sites, focuses on educating the public on the pre-Civil War efforts to free slaves through the Underground Railroad. The lawsuit, filed in March in the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of New York, alleges the National Endowment for the Humanities withheld a $250,000 grant in violation of the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment. The suit, which has gotten a lot of national attention, seeks reinstatement of the funds.

Lawyers for Good Government provides free legal services for public interest cases. You can learn more about them and the lawsuit at LAWYERS FOR GOOD GOVERNMENT.

Good News

Trump is badly wounded. Alex Jones, the extreme right-wing MAGA pundit with 4.4 million followers on X and 10 million visitors monthly to his website, had been a strong supporter of Trump. He has turned against him. Jones said Trump and his war in Iran have betrayed MAGA and that Trump is mentally unfit to be president. Media analysts are calling it a “MAGA civil war” with extreme right-wing leaders Alex Jones, Nick Fuentes, and Joe Rogan abandoning Trump.

Trump’s popularity has fallen to a new low. According to the April 1 CNN/SSRS poll, Trump’s overall approval rating fell to 35%, with 64% of the U.S. disapproving of his performance.

Trump’s war in Iran is deeply unpopular. It has already damaged him and is likely to cause further damage as gas prices continue to rise, Iran continues to control the Strait of Hormuz, and the war creates death throughout the Middle East and economic and political havoc throughout the world.

Trump was humiliated at the Supreme Court hearing he attended on April 1. His toady justices made clear their likely intent to support birthright citizenship against his wishes.

Wounded animals fight most fiercely to survive.

Signs of Hope

I imagine the readers of this Substack saw hundreds of posters at No Kings demonstrations, online, on cable and TV, or in pictures people sent you. Here are a few that you may not have seen.

Three from the Grand Lake Vigil in Oakland, CA.

Four from the No Kings March in Oakland, CA

Created by the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee

One from the No Kings demonstration in Hayward, CA

And a wall of posters on Valencia St. in San Francisco

Thanks to Risa Jaroslow for editing and Mike Siris and Risa Jaroslow for information. Unless otherwise indicated, all photographs are by David Tobis.