HMRC turns down Friends’ request
A group of Britain Yearly Meeting staff have had a reply from HMRC
Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has rejected an appeal from a group of Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) staff regarding the use of their taxes.
The letter, signed by forty-one Friends, appealed to HMRC to allow them to exercise their right of conscientious objection to war by ensuring that none of their taxes are used for military purposes (see the Friend, 29 April).
They had asked for that part of their taxes currently allocated to military spending to instead be ‘diverted to a special fund which is used only for non-military forms of security.’
HMRC responded: ‘…as the law stands there are no provisions for taxpayers to withhold tax on grounds of conscience, or to decide which part of government expenditure they would like their payments to be allocated to.’
The letter continued: ‘To change a system where taxes could be earmarked for… specific items of expenditure would restrict the government’s ability to respond flexibly to changing priorities, or to react quickly to unforeseen circumstances.’
Sam Walton, Quaker Peace & Social Witness peace and disarmament programme manager, was among those behind the letter.
He said: ‘As conscientious objectors to war, we must also object to our taxes funding the military. This is all the more important in an era of remote warfare via armed drones and an imminent government decision to waste hundreds of billions on replacing Britain’s nuclear weapons.’
Sam added: ‘I am pleased that we have made HMRC aware that we conscientiously object to military taxation, and that [this] has been noted by them.’
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