Tax Resister Bankrupt?

I have been issued a 'Creditor's Petition' by the Australian Taxation Office
to appear in the Federal Court so that the Tax office can have the court
declare me bankrupt.  Please come along and support me at the trial.  The
case will be heard in the No. 4 court of the Federal Court Building, 451
Little Bourke Street, Melbourne at 9:45am on Thursday 7 November 1991 unless
something extraordinary leads to a change.  People can ring me on (03) 387
3398 if they want to confirm before coming.  I'll do a news conference
outside at 9:30am. 

I am not really sure of the full implications of bankruptcy. The legal
details are clear enough.  If I fail to convince the Federal Court judge that
they should not bankrupt me (and my chances are remote), a sequestration
(bankruptcy) order will be made against my estate.  I will then be bankrupt
and my property will be divisible among my creditors (just the Tax Office in
my case) by the Official Trustee in Bankruptcy.  I am allowed to keep
'necessary household furniture', tools of trade worth up to $2000 and a car
worth less than $2500.

I will not be able to do several things: be a director of a company, travel
overseas without the trustee's permission or be a member of Parliament!  My
bankruptcy can be published, my mail can be redirected, and I cannot obtain
credit over $500 without disclosing that I am bankrupt.

The most interesting provisions are that I may be charged with contempt of
court if I refuse to obey 'responsible directives by the trustee' or be
committed to prison if I 'persistently fail to submit a statement of affairs'
to the trustee which I am required to do within 14 days of the notice of
bankruptcy.

Despite the apparent legal clarity, how this will all work out in practice is
difficult to predict.  I feel perfectly at ease about it however.  I've had
eight years of war tax resistance (and plenty of nonviolent activism besides)
to reflect on why I do not want to pay taxes to kill people.

In terms of what I will do if bankrupted, as I see it, I have two choices. 
Either tell them everything that I own, and let them take what they want. 
This is consistent with the principle of complete openness and my struggle to
attain complete non-attachment to property.  (The most difficult aspect of
this is my collection of nonviolence books which I use for my research.)

Or I can resist providing the trustee with the information necessary to
liquidate my estate (which is not worth what I am supposed to owe the tax
office in any case) and risk imprisonment.  This non-cooperation is
consistent with my war tax resistance for the past eight years and creates
the circumstances for compelling the tax office and the court to consider
their willingness to imprison me for my refusal to cooperate on grounds of
conscience.

On this interesting point of nonviolent principles, I would be pleased to
hear (particularly through the letters column of NVT) from any activist who
has any thoughts on this. In the end, of course, I cannot make this choice as
a purely intellectual one.  What I will do, however, is make sure that in
court and afterwards I act out my conscience.

In any case, I am relaxed about it all. I know that what I am doing is right
for me although I am aware of the concerns of others, including Alex, on whom
it will also have considerable impact.  War tax resistance highlights the
need for more structured communities of support so that activists are in a
better position to help each other.
Robert J. Burrowes