In the line of duty: Robin Brookes campaigns for conscientious taxation
‘This is an impossibly-huge-looking task, which calls on all of us to act.’
I first came across the organisation ‘Conscience: Taxes for Peace Not War’ in the early 1980s. This was around the time that cruise missiles were being stationed in Britain, and Ronald Reagan touted his theory of limited nuclear war. The organisation’s simple message struck home: we all pay for war through our taxes, and we have no choice about it; we are forced to participate in war and preparation for war. If you’re someone who would conscientiously object to military service, you surely have to consider whether paying for someone else to kill is also against your conscience. I am now a member of Conscience’s executive committee.
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