This year my spouse and I practiced war tax resistance and redirection for the first time. We made this choice in large part due to the support from our congregation, First Mennonite Church of San Francisco. Over the last three years our congregation has been on a journey, discerning our corporate support for war tax resistance. 

The conversation was catalyzed three years ago in the Outreach Committee of FMCSF as we wrestled with the egregiousness of our tax dollars funding the genocide in Gaza. One member of the committee was seriously considering tax resistance and was curious about how the congregation would respond. Would there be support for such a choice? 

As a committee, we decided to bring this to the congregation in an explicit way. Through sermons, educational hour discussions, a small group, a congregational survey, a public forum and conversations at congregational meetings, we ended up drafting a congregational statement of support for those practicing war tax resistance and redirection. 

We wrestled with the fact that we want to pay taxes. Taxes fund many important things in our society, including a social safety net, although now in tatters, that aids those who are dispossessed by our capitalist economic system. This choice is not tax evasion, since those who resist pay their withheld amount to an organization working to promote peace. 

Our congregational statement went through multiple drafts and was unanimously approved on Nov. 9, 2025. In conversation with Mennonite Action, we see our congregation as a pilot project for other congregations to consider. We believe that it is more powerful to have institutional support for war tax resisters who are public about their witness, than to do it solely as individuals. 

As Mennonites seek to build a peace movement in this political moment, we need congregations who are courageous to stand in solidarity with war tax resisters. If the federal government chooses to come after us in a public way, they will be targeting congregations who have moral clarity in our long tradition of pacifism. This is a testimony to the world, no matter the outcome, and strengthens the resolve of others to take action in whatever ways they can. War tax resistance is one part of this movement for peace.

The congregational process and support at FMCSF gave my spouse and me the courage to send the following words to the IRS along with our tax payment this year:

Because the United States provides no legal way for pacifists to avoid supporting U.S. militarism through its tax system, we are withholding this amount as an act of conscience. We do so this year with heavy hearts, as Israel continues its U.S. funded onslaught on the people of Gaza despite a so-called ceasefire. Additionally we are angered by the use of our tax dollars for the U.S. and Israel’s war of aggression in Iran and the brutal bombings of Lebanon. The U.S. government’s complicity in the genocide of the Palestinian people and this unlawful war in Iran underscores the moral and timely imperative of our tax resistance.

We wanted to be clear in our letter that conscientious objection to the payment of taxes for war and the redistribution of such funds to humane alternatives represents a longstanding nonviolent tradition. As Mennonite Christians who practice nonviolence, we are grateful to stand with many other tax resisters who make this commitment in different ways. Our resistance was symbolic, as we withheld a relatively small amount of the taxes we owed. 

We did not withhold this money with the assumption our action would change IRS policy, but rather by sharing publicly to inspire others to do the same. Mass movement is crucial to create systemic change. 

We closed our letter with this explanation of where we redirected our withheld tax payment:

The $323 we are resisting and redirecting this year is the approximate amount we have been forced to pay for the war on Iran so far (as of April 10, 2026). For that amount in real time, visit https://irancost.com/. We have redirected this same amount to the Beth Berry Memorial Peace & Justice Award fund. This fund honors the peacemaking work of high school seniors, seeking to bring an end to war and violence. We withhold and redirect this symbolic amount as a practice of our pacifist faith, and in prayer for an end to wars.