Many people, anguishing over the capers of the Trump administration, ask me, “What can we do?” The thought that there are many examples in history where refusal to pay taxes has altered unpopular policies led me to note that among the “improvements” being proposed by the Trump administration is the downsizing of the Internal Revenue Service. This is not a new goal for Republicans, who, claiming to “make the Internal Revenue Service more efficient,” do so to support their wealthier constituents’ desire for a less effective agency seeking to have them pay their lawful taxes.

What do these wealthy Republican influencers do with the tax money they are saving? My guess is that they use it to contribute to those who make their savings possible, i.e., the Republican Party, its representatives in Congress and, of course, the Trump campaign.

Perhaps liberal supporters of the community service organizations recently defunded by Trump can learn from this? The weakened IRS that the conservatives have purposely created could make it safer for liberals to use their withheld federal taxes to support one or more of these defunded organizations. How would a severely weakened IRS deal with such an effort, especially if it becomes a widespread one?

Trump claims the federal government is “inefficient and corrupt.” Doesn’t that make this proposal a justifiable way to “cut out the middleman” and contribute more efficiently to causes and institutions that we think actually “make America great”?

Charles Graham
Camden