Your taxes pay for killing people
Many of us don’t even think about it! We may in principle object to war and protest when other people are sent to fight them. For instance one and a half million (by the most conservative estimate) protested in London against the Iraq war and were ignored by the government. But war can only happen because the weapons and the training is paid for by us out of our taxes.

If you paid someone to go and kill an enemy, you would be as guilty of murder as the perpetrator. This is recognised in law and morally. Paying for the government’s killing machine is no different.

We all bear a responsibility in our society and we should not be made to do something we believe is morally wrong. This is recognised in the Geneva Convention, the Nuremberg Principles and the European Convention on Human Rights.

Don't let this continue to happen
When one and a half millions people took to the streets of London in February 2003 to protest at the war against Iraq, hundreds of thousands more signed petitions, attended meetings, held vigils, prayed, wrote letters, emails, dressed up, made banners, role played, lobbied their MP's and made their presence known in every city and town in Britain. The government paid no heed to our concerns and went ahead and executed their war in our name and with our taxes. Help us ensure that a British government never ignores people of conscience again.

What the PEACE TAX SEVEN have done
We, seven British citizens, made a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights on the grounds that our rights are violated by a tax system which makes us pay for the deliberate killing of other human beings. We regard this as a form of conscription, the same as military service and believe all tax paying citizens should have the right to conscientious objection to paying tax for the military.

We are asking to continue to pay all of our taxes, but to have the military part placed in a ring-fenced fund solely for peaceful purposes such as health care, education and non-violent conflict resolution. We have each tried to direct our income taxes to be used for peaceful and non-military purposes. In each case we were denied the right, and each of us has faced a dilemma: either to pay our taxes and so become complicit in killing; or to follow our conscience and break the law by withholding payment of a portion of our taxes. Following our consciences has lead us to court or the threat of prosecution.

We object to this financial conscription, and believe that its legal basis is questionable. We are seeking a change of current UK tax policy to allow any citizen who conscientiously objects to paying for preparations for war to divert that part of their taxes to a Peace Fund.