KEPW Youth Radio Project reports from Tax Day protest

Presenter: KEPW’s Youth Radio Project was at the Federal Building April 15 for a Tax Day action with the group Planet Versus Pentagon. 

Zia: Hello, I’m Zia and. I am here with— 

Sue Barnhart: My name is Sue Barnhart. 

Zia: We are going to be interviewing about Tax Day. What are taxes? 

Sue Barnhart: Oh, taxes. Okay. So: The government set up taxes to be able to pay for the things that the government needs, like roads, schools, health care, food, the national parks, things like that. 

And so everybody who makes some money pays a percentage of their money for taxes. 

We’re not against paying taxes. I’m just against so much of it going towards war or towards ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), and that’s why we’re here at this building ’cause there’s an ICE office in there.

And also the IRS, the Internal Revenue Service that collects our taxes. They also have an office in here. 

Earlier today, we tried to go and talk to somebody from the IRS, but they wouldn’t let us. They had a little sign saying, ‘If you want to come in, push this—push this button to come in.’ And they wouldn’t let us in. They totally ignored us. 

We went around to all the doors and they wouldn’t let us in anywhere. Yeah. I thought they would probably just say, ‘Sorry, you know, you can’t talk to anyone.’ But they didn’t even say sorry or anything. 

Zia: What is Tax Day?

Sue Barnhart: It’s the day that your taxes are due. You have to get them in by the 15th of April.

Zia: What is this event about? 

Sue Barnhart: Well, today is April 15, which is Tax Day, so this is the day where everyone has to pay their taxes, and so we’re out here doing a little education ’cause unfortunately, most of our taxes are going to the military.

In fact, right now, over $1 billion a day is going to the war in Iran, which is like, I can’t even under—I don’t even know what $1 billion—$1 billion, that could, that could feed all the hungry people probably in this country. It’s like, that is a lot of money.

So we would like more money to go to making sure there isn’t any hungry people, making sure that everybody has a place to live, working on the whole climate crisis, making sure that we have a lot of national parks and that they’re being taken care of. 

So that’s what we want our money going to. We don’t want our money going to war.

Zia: What is the penny pull? 

Sue Barnhart: Oh, okay. So the penny pull is (and Molly’s doing it right now), you take 10 pennies, pretend that they’re 100% of your tax dollars, and so each penny is 10% of your tax dollars, and then you put ’em in the jars the way you wish that your taxes are being spent. 

Right now, over 50% is going to the military and I’m not sure of what percent, but the amount that’s going to the ICE has tripled in the past year. Yeah. 

And so we’d like to do a poll and see what people would like their money to go towards.

Like your mom was saying, we do agree that the people who are veterans should be taken care of, but right now, even though 50% of the money’s going to the military, veterans aren’t being taken care of.

A lot of our homeless folks are veterans. And that’s really sad ’cause anybody who served for our country should not be homeless. In fact, I don’t think anyone should be homeless, but certainly not a veteran. 

Zia: Where do you want your money to go? 

Sue Barnhart: Oh, I want my money to go for national parks and to make sure that no one is hungry.

And for free education for everyone, for health care for everyone. 

I want money going to plant a lot of trees and do a lot of things to help with the climate crisis. 

That’s such a good question. I’m wondering if I’m forgetting anything. I want it to go to life-affirming things. I don’t want it going to killing people.

Zia: Why is this important to you? 

Sue Barnhart: Well, I’m against people being killed and injured and treated badly, and I would like everyone to have a place to live and enough food to eat. So that’s why it’s important to me. 

Zia: How do you feel about where your tax money is going? 

Sue Barnhart: I’m pretty angry that so much of it’s going towards war. Yeah. Okay. I actually don’t pay all of my taxes because I’m so angry about it. 

And I would like to be able to pay all my taxes. I would really like to pay for parks and you know, like I said, all the other important things for people. I just don’t like it going to war, so I don’t pay all of it. 

And then, I write a letter saying why I’m not paying it and the amount I don’t pay, I give away to good causes.

And eventually they do get my money. But I don’t make it easy for them. And I think that if everybody who was against war didn’t pay for it, or even just resisted $10, that might get the attention of our government and maybe things would change. 

Zia: What does your sign say? 

Sue Barnhart: My sign, this sign says ‘Health care not warfare.’ And that says ‘Peace and Justice.’

Zia: Is there anything else you would like to say? 

Sue Barnhart: Oh, I think it’s pretty good. Thank you so much for interviewing us. I really appreciate it. You’re a good interviewer. 

Zia: Excellent. Thank you.

Presenter: KEPW’s Youth Radio Project visits with Sue Barnhart April 15 at the Federal Building.