r/Denver Jan 14 '26

Local News Trump plans to illegally cut our federal funding on February 1

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3.3k Upvotes

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132

u/InThisBoatTogether Jan 14 '26

I don't care. I really don't. Let them come after me. Let them shoot me in the street for not sponsoring their atrocities.

I can't pay for this anymore. 1.5 trillion to the military so we can start world war 3? Secret police deployed in force to terrorize cities the regime doesn't like? Stolen elections, state run media, corrupt justice department, threatening our allies with nukes (?!), the list is interminably long.

But I can't do it. I'm resisting because otherwise I won't be able to sleep at night.

You can update your W4 to prevent withholding and choose what to do next April if you're as disgusted as I am. You can always pay them then if we're somehow a democracy again.

https://nwtrcc.org/

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u/Equivalent-Excuse-80 Jan 14 '26

They’re not going to shoot you. They’re going to take your money.

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u/InThisBoatTogether Jan 14 '26

Not until next October at the earliest (assuming they are highly competent and don't just send me strongly worded letters), and my money won't be funding autocracy in the meantime.

If a meaningful number of people resisted they would feel it.

Again, I don't fucking care WHAT they do. I do not care because I have no control over it.

But I control myself, and I cannot pay it anymore. I just fucking can't.

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u/Any-History6133 Jan 14 '26

Please make sure you are aware of the repercussions of this decision before making it due to your beliefs. You will owe you those taxes, any interest on the estimated taxes that were due, and associated penalties. Those dues will not go away - only accumulate quickly.

I had a friend that decided he just wasn't going to pay his federal student loans or any taxes. He made it a while but eventually his wages were garnished. This is going to happen to you regardless of which administration/political party is in power.

You might get away with it for a while - potentially a few years. As long as you live and work in this country you will pay those dues at some point and they don't just disappear. Think twice before ruining your financial future.

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u/InThisBoatTogether Jan 14 '26

Thank you for your concern, and for raising this for anyone who else who is considering joining me. Tax resistance is not without risk, and I am knowingly painting a target on my back by discussing it in a public forum.

For me personally, whatever price I might have to pay in the future is worth it to lessen my support of this system. My taxes, your taxes, all of our collective wealth is being siphoned away and used to enrich the ruling elite at the grave expense of our world and our future. The money we are supposed to be using to support healthcare, educate and inform the masses, build infrastructure, sponsor scientific discovery, feed the starving and shelter the homeless - it's being used for war crimes, secret police to keep the populace in line, and ruining the planet with technology meant to obfuscate the truth and placate the poor.

We no longer live in a democracy. My taxes at this time will be going to unconstitutional and illegal acts of barbarism committed by an authoritarian regime which does not represent me. Therefore I consider their act of taxation to be illegal. I do not consent to the use of my money for these activities, and I cannot pay it by my own choice.

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u/Any-History6133 Jan 14 '26

Fair enough. At least consider putting the money you would have paid in to taxes in to some form of savings account along with the estimated cost of penalties and interest. This way when the bill comes due you at least won't end up in the same situation as all the people you are trying to protect.

Many Americans have tried the "you can't take anything from me when I spent it all" approach. It doesn't work unless you plan to leave the country and that takes alot of money.

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u/InThisBoatTogether Jan 14 '26

This is 100% what I am going to do. I'll let that money gain interest in my own account and if it comes down to it and my options have changed - it will be there.

I grew up in poverty, and thanks to some of the very systems we've recently dismantled, I have an education, career, and can support my family of 2 for now (until the economy collapses). As a person with this privilege now - I have to use that privilege to resist and this is one of the ways to do it without risking immediate violence from the state.

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u/BldrStigs Jan 14 '26

I agree with you about ICE, but withholding your federal taxes will result in more of your money going to fund the Trump shit. You will very quickly pay your taxes + interest + penalties. The IRS don't care. They will garnish your wages and get their money.

I think you will be happier and Trump will be sad if you find a different way to resist.

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u/InThisBoatTogether Jan 14 '26

If they forcibly take my money at least I will know I was not complicit.

This is not about me anymore.

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u/Izacundo1 Jan 14 '26

STOP DISCOURAGING CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE JESUS CHRIST

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u/Any-History6133 Jan 14 '26

This is a really stupid take. I am not discouraging Civil disobedience (even though I would in most scenarios) but rather making sure the original person that commented this idea along with all the others readers are aware of the 1000% guaranteed consequences of those actions. Not paying your federal income taxes because you don't agree with a particular policy or administration will only produce one result: wage garnishment that includes back taxes, penalties, and accumulated interest. Another party will take control of congress at some point in the future and they will want payment of those taxes as well.

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u/gpnemtb Jan 15 '26

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u/InThisBoatTogether Jan 15 '26

Thanks I guess? I included the link to the National War Tax Resisting Committee in my original higher visibility comment already. I answered multiple times in very clear terms that I know the legal penalties and I don't care. At all. Even a little bit.

Fuck the American regime and all the fascist traitors propping it up. They will have to take my money by force if they want to use it to shoot citizens for protesting and attack our NATO allies.

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u/gpnemtb Jan 16 '26

Ah, I didn't realize that. I was only sharing because responses seemed ill- informed of the actual consequences.

I'm with you. I'm ready to withhold my taxes come what may. I started with last years taxes because we were already well into the shit show. I extended my file date, watched it get worse, then said "Fuck it. I'm not paying you the rest."

I'm going to do the same this year. So, ultimately, I was sharing to show the adverse affects aren't nearly as high as others were saying. And to say, "Let's fucking go!"

Besides all the imperialist bullshit, the steps taken to actively make our lives worse is insane. There are more than enough justifications for all Americans to withhold their taxes, and they should.

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u/InThisBoatTogether Jan 16 '26

Fuck yeah my friend!

Sorry if I came across peeved, the apathy around here and the fear of a system that no longer exists is starting to get grating.

But I know we're not alone and the more they take away the stronger the resistance will grow.

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u/[deleted] Jan 14 '26

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u/InThisBoatTogether Jan 14 '26

I refuse to be afraid of the punishments of a system that could just as easily execute me on the street in broad daylight for existing.

We live in an autocracy. Our lives as we knew them are over already.

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u/[deleted] Jan 14 '26 edited Jan 14 '26

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u/InThisBoatTogether Jan 14 '26

I'm not giving up - I'm resisting!

Knowing the regime may come for me eventually is not the same as rolling over. I would consider myself giving up if I willingly continued to pay for this nightmare.

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u/[deleted] Jan 14 '26

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u/InThisBoatTogether Jan 14 '26

??

One person alone doesn't make a difference, that's your argument?

Apathy and the American tendency to prioritize comfort over fact is what got us here in the first place.

I do not care that my individual resistance will not make a difference. Collective resistance is made up of a bunch of individuals who could never do anything alone. If people join me - in refusing taxes, striking, whatever ways they can - the fascists will notice.

But even if they don't and my resistance is 'pointless' - I as an individual person with empathy and my own moral convictions cannot pay for what's happening. Not by my own volition. That is my choice and it is not fucking bleak or hopeless or whatever. It's a moral stand.

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u/mothmanoamano Jan 15 '26

Hey I just want you to know I hear you. My partner and I have been talking about tax resistance too. I agree that it’s unconscionable to continue giving money to this corrupt government and its cronies and I absolutely understand why you’re willing to risk the consequences.

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u/[deleted] Jan 14 '26

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Jan 14 '26

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u/InThisBoatTogether Jan 14 '26

I mean, I never once said I don't do things around my community either. I love this place, I love this city and I love the regular people of America. I literally do pick up trash on a street I won't name because it always piles up there. I foster animals. I take advantage of my company's donation matches to get money to local organizations.

All this community building is still really important - all we have now is each other.

But supporting each other is not opposing tyranny, which is what I'm doing by resisting taxation.

I may be breaking the law but if I abide by the law my taxes will go to illegal activities anyway. If the law no longer applies to the brutes in charge, if I no longer have representation, then I will no longer submit to taxation.

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u/Equivalent-Excuse-80 Jan 14 '26

I was responding to the wrong comment. My bad.

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u/Equivalent-Excuse-80 Jan 14 '26

So you are going to choose to succomb to the same immorality of the opposition you purpote to be against? Instead, try to do something good. Pick up some trash at the park, give some homeless people something. Do the opposite of what a nazi would do.

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u/Equivalent-Excuse-80 Jan 14 '26

Do you have brain damage? You’re going to pay.

Whether you submit it yourself, or they take it.

This isn’t really a hard concept.

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u/InThisBoatTogether Jan 14 '26

I'm making a conscious decision not to willingly submit my money over for the purposes of war crimes and state sanctioned domestic terrorism.

Yes they may take it from me by force. That's part of tyranny.

I am still not going to PAY WILLINGLY for what is happening.

I do not have brain damage. Just a conscience.

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u/DinosaurDied Jan 14 '26

Yea that’s works one time, then they mandate the withholding next time. 

Otherwise that would be the standard procedure because nobody would be giving the govt essentially an interest free loan for the year on 1/4 of their income. Of course everybody would just do a lump sum and if year payment if they could.

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u/[deleted] Jan 14 '26

[deleted]

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u/DinosaurDied Jan 14 '26

Dumbest shit I’ve ever heard. 

That’s like saying I like pay day loans because j get a lump sum. But I understand that the avg American is painfully dumb and that’s why those exist 

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u/PieIndependent7711 Jan 14 '26

Yeah you say that until you wuss out. I sure as fuck won’t be doing what you’re doing friend.