A Valid Form Of Protest?

[Dan #2]

Anti-abortion activist goes to court over taxes

 

By OLIVER MOORE

Globe and Mail

 

 

New Brunswick is facing a legal challenge from a man who believes that his tax money should not be used to fund abortions.

 

David Little faces three counts of refusing to pay his taxes and is expected to appear in a Fredericton court later Friday. His wife, Madonna, said that he will refuse to enter a plea.

 

Ms. Little, pregnant with her seventh child, says that she is a Roman Catholic and that her family's stand is based on their humanitarian desire to protect the unborn.

 

“I see this as a human-rights debate,” she told globeandmail.com in a telephone interview. “My religious beliefs teach me that every life is sacred, at every stage of human life.”

 

The court case comes on the heels of pressure from Ottawa, which has threatened Canada Health Act penalties against New Brunswick for its abortion-funding policy. The province pays for abortion under limited circumstances only and refuses to fund the procedure if it is done in a private clinic.

 

For an abortion to be publicly funded, the New Brunswick government insists that two doctors deem the procedure medically necessary and that it be done at one of the two approved hospitals. New Brunswick women who require more timely attention must travel out of province or pay for the procedure at a private clinic.

 

Mr. Little said that his case is based on his religious belief.

 

“Jesus said, 'Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's,' ” he said a few hours before he was due in court. “Human life doesn't belong to Caesar or Paul Martin or anyone else. It belongs to God. They can't command us to give them money when we know they use a portion of it to kill babies.”

 

The couple is willing to pay the non-abortion portion of their taxes, Ms. Little said, but the government has refused to tell them how much that amounts to. As a result, they have paid no taxes for several years.

 

The Littles expect to win their case, she said, because it is fundamentally different from a citizen choosing to withhold taxes because of disagreement with any other kind of government policy.

 

“We're not dealing with bad pavement, we're dealing with human lives,” Ms. Little argued.

 

David Perry of the Canadian Tax Foundation, a national non-profit tax research organization, said, however, that challenges such as this have never succeeded in Canada.

 

The federal Health Minister, Ujjal Dosanjh, said this week that New Brunswick could face penalties if it continues to refuse to fund the procedure at private clinics. Henry Morgentaler, the abortion-rights pioneer, operates a clinic in Fredericton and is suing the New Brunswick government to pay for abortions performed there.

 

The New Brunswick government has dismissed the strong words from Ottawa, saying that the federal government has not followed through on earlier threats to penalize them. As well, the province believes it has the law on its side.

 

“The Canada Health Act makes it clear: Jurisdictions can decide which procedures to fund in their jurisdiction. If he was to proceed with the dispute resolution, we will be ready to defend our position,” provincial Health Minister Elvy Robichaud told reporters earlier this week.

 

Manitoba has until recently denied funding to private-clinic abortions. A judge has ruled, though, that it is unconstitutional to force women to pay for the procedure, and a lawsuit is expected.

 

With a report from Canadian Press

 

So Davey doesn't pay his taxes, and is protesting abortion. He's definitley going to jail, but is this form of protest valid?

[ecnarf]

A little while ago in the States, a woman was charged for several thousand dollars worth of income taxes, because she had done the math and not paid a certain percentage of her income tax, claiming that was the percent of the government's budget that went to the military.

 

Stuff like this needs to be stopped. I don't care if they agree with abortions or not, we can't have everybody deciding that they won't pay their taxes because they don't like what the government is doing.

 

A valid form of protest? No, I think it's pure snobbery, "My religion says that the unborn have rights, so I won't pay my taxes." Give me a break, join a grassroots pro-life organization and do something productive. We all pay taxes whether we like it or not.

[Munk]

Taxes go to welfare, medical, road maintenance, etc. here in Canada. Not pay taxes makes you a Libertarian or[?] a moron.

[pearanoid]

Yeah, there's nothing like fucking over someone else to serve yourself.

[Dan #2]

Taxes go to welfare, medical, road maintenance, etc. here in Canada. Not pay taxes makes you a Libertarian or[?] a moron.

that's what i was thinking. If we all stopped paying our taxes, like this guy wants*, abortion would be the least of our problems.

 

 

 

*He made that comment in an interview in The Daily Gleanor, my church pamphlet. http://www.canadaeast.com/apps/pbcs.dll/se...ory=DGFRONTPAGE

[Biggie]

I may not want my taxes going towards some smoker's health care.

I may not want my taxes subsidizing another person's university education.

I may not want my taxes paying for the damn SkyDome.

 

But you still have to pay them. There are other ways to protest.

 

EDIT: lol @ pro-life advertisement.

Edited February 5, 2005 by Biggie

[Munk]

If we got to pick and choose where our taxes went, I'm sure many upper-class families would refuse to pay for welfare and healthcare.

 

Whether or not they're their responsibilities is up for question, but you can see how the system would break down.

[jhark]

I agree with you guys... maybe David thinks he in the right and standing up for something he believes in but hes doing it in a completely unproductive way. Him not paying taxes is only going to get his family in a bad situtaion and not inspire anyone else to fight abortions.

 

The only way i think this could work is if you lived in a country where a huge chunk of taxes did go to something many people didnt believe in. And the majority of the country agreed they wouldnt pay this certain perecentage like that lady did. If enough people did it (and thats probably why it would never work you would find it very hard to get enough people to make a difference) I think it would be an effective way of telling the government you want your tax dollars to be directed to other places.

 

But i do realize its a pretty bad way to protest because its more destructive then productive.

[Biggie]

Noam Chomsky also doesn't pay income taxes, because of US foreign policy.

[Munk]

Considering little of the US taxes come back to the public, I don't see it has a huge loss down there.

[Bizud]

I have no idea whether Noam Chomsky currently pays taxes, but he did try to organize a tax resistance in the 60's (I think) to protest the attack on South Vietnam. I think they just garnished his wages so he ended up paying eventually.

[alas, it was not meant to be]

funny how while i'm viewing this thread, the ad at the bottom is for some pro-life garbage.

[the purple switch]

Why should he get to not pay taxes just because he is pissed off at the government? someone should take his licence away, or better yet his health care....

 

we're all in it togather. Taxes suck, but if noone paid them our country would be a run down mess.

[calgarydave]

I for one have no problem paying taxes, we live in a good country and for the most part our money is put to good use.

[ecnarf]

Taxes go to welfare, medical, road maintenance, etc. here in Canada. Not pay taxes makes you a Libertarian or[?] a moron.

Is there a difference?