Letter to the Tax Department To the Commissioner of Taxation and all taxation office staff: I have recently been given final notice to pay $258.20 in outstanding tax dating from the 1988-89 financial year. I would like to draw to your attention that I made a carefully considered personal decision not to pay this tax on moral and ethical grounds. I am a twenty-two year old construction worker on a major Melbourne building site and have been involved in the environment and peace movement for some time. I have travelled extensively in the Third World and have witnessed first hand vast ecological destruction and poverty which is largely attributable to exploitation and consumption by the first world. I am aware that we face a global crisis at present that threatens the continuation of life on Earth, and that responsibility to reverse this lies squarely on the shoulders of this generation. I am aware that for some time humankind has been engaged in an insane military and nuclear arms race, and has the potential to destroy life on this planet, many hundreds of times over, with nuclear weapons. After careful research, I have learnt that approximately 10% of Australian taxpayers' money goes to military expenditure, and this is linked to the global military build up and nuclear arms race. This money is used to support things such as uranium mining, visits by foreign nuclear warships, and the presence of foreign military bases on Australian soil. I realize that there are huge social justice, environmental and Third World costs incurred by this disproportionate military expenditure. Australia spends between seven and eight billion dollars annually in the military, compared to less than $150 million on the environment, and even less on peace issues and nonviolent conflict resolution. I have personally tried many avenues to change this unjust situation from signing petitions, writing letters to the Government and taking part in peaceful protest. It now occurs to me that the current hierarchical system of Government we have is part of the problem, and is part of the institutional framework which is helping facilitate the destruction of this planet. I therefore don't see lobbying or letter writing to Governments as an effective means of change. I am therefore refusing to pay the $258.20 that I owe as it is part of 10% of my tax which would ordinarily go the military. I am not going to keep this money for myself, instead I will pay it to the Koori Information Centre for my use of Aboriginal land. This will highlight both the social justice cost of military expenditure and support of the Aboriginal people in their struggle for sovereignty, equity, and self-determination. Brendan Condon