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Analysis
of the Draft Peace Tax resolution (proposed by the Quaker Council
for European Affairs)
| Draft
Resolution |
Analysis |
| The
Assembly,
Having
regard to Article 9 of the European Convention on Human
Rights which binds Member States to respect the individual
freedom of conscience and religion
|
Article
9- Freedom of thought, conscience and religion
1.
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience
and religion; this right includes freedom to change his
religion or belief and freedom, either alone or in community
with others and in public or private, to manifest his
religion or belief, in worship, teaching, practice and
observance.
2.
Freedom to manifest one's religion or beliefs shall be
subject only to such limitations as are prescribed by
law and are necessary in a democratic society in the interests
of public safety, for the protection of public order,
health or morals, or for the protection of the rights
and freedoms of others.
|
| Declares
A.
Basic principles
Persons
who, for reasons of conscience or profound conviction arising
from religious, ethical, moral, humanitarian, philosophical
or similar motives, refuse to support or fund military activity
through taxation shall enjoy a personal right to be released
from their obligation to contribute to military spending
through taxes. This right does not absolve the person from
the general duty to pay all taxes due, but allows for all
taxes paid to be designated for non-military uses only. |
This
paragraph defines the parameters of the right to conscientious
objection to military taxation. The right only includes those
whose conscience or profound religious, ethical, moral, humanitarian,
philosophical or similar conviction cannot allow them to support
military activity. For
the purposes of this resolution, when we talk about taxes,
we are talking about direct taxes.
In
principle, a person with a conscientious objection to military
taxation, is equally opposed to his or her indirect taxes
funding military activity, as the taxes paid directly, such
as income tax. It would have been desirable to include indirect
taxes in this resolution, however, to earmark indirect taxes,
such as VAT, and ensure that they are not used for military
purposes, another procedure and implementation method is
needed.
It
is essential that the right to conscientious objection to
military taxation shall not release the person from his
or her general legal obligation to pay the state all the
taxes it is owed. The amount of taxes paid by the individual,
and received by the state will stay the same. It is a question
of changing its uses. The funds which would have gone to
the military, shall be redirected for other use, thus making
sure that none of the taxes obtained from the objectors
are used for or by the military.
The funds which are earmarked for 'non-military' use are
still government money, but have restrictions on their use.
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| B.
Procedure
1.
All persons liable to pay taxes have the right to register
as conscientious objectors with the relevant national authorities.
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At
the time of implementation an authority shall be chosen with
whom the objectors could register as conscientious objectors.
Such an authority may be the tax authorities, or the authorities
responsible for dealing with the conscientious objectors to
military service. The purpose of the registration is to ensure
that the conscientious objectors can be easily and swiftly
identified by the authorities. |
| 2.
The authorities shall notify all persons liable to pay taxes
about the right in paragraph 1. |
In
order for a person to have the possibility of exercising the
right to conscientious objection to military taxation, he
or she needs to be aware of the existence of the right, and
knowledge on how to exercise it. The authority chosen in paragraph
one is legally obliged to inform all taxpayers about their
right to conscientious objection, and to register as such.
|
| 3.
Where the decision regarding the recognition of the right
to conscientious objection is taken in the first instance
by an administrative authority, this decision-taking body
shall be entirely separate from the military authorities,
and its composition shall guarantee maximum independence and
impartiality.
It is advisable that the existing decision making body
on Conscientious Objection to military service also fulfils
this duty.
|
In
some countries conscientious objectors to military service
have to go through a process to determine whether they are
indeed objecting on grounds of conscience. If the nation in
question has this kind of procedure, the right of the conscientious
objector to military taxation shall be evaluated by the same
authorities. It is imperative that these authorities shall
be completely separate and independent from the military authorities.
In countries where the right to conscientious objection
to military service is accepted without a recognition procedure,
the right to conscientious objection to military taxation
shall also be accepted without this procedure.
|
| 4.
Where the decision regarding the recognition of the claim
to conscientious objection is taken in the first instance
by an administrative authority, its decision shall be subject
to control by at least one other administrative body, composed
likewise in the manner prescribed above, and subsequently
to the control of at least one independent body. This shall
be the existing decision making body in the area of Conscientious
Objection to military service. Where
a person's claim to have a conscientious objection to military
service is no longer subject to administrative decision,
persons claiming to have a conscientious objection to military
taxation shall equally enjoy such absence of a decision
procedure. |
In
order to ensure that the claim to be a conscientious objector
has been reviewed fairly, there shall be a control procedure,
allowing for maximum transparency and fairness. The independent
body mentioned in the Resolution shall be independent of the
administrative body, and of the military. |
| 5.
The money shall be held in a holding account earmarked for
non-military purposes, in a way that is transparent and verifiable.
|
Although
none of the taxes paid by the conscientious objector will
be used for military purposes, the proportion that would have
gone to the military shall be held in a holding account. This
account shall be earmarked for non-military purposes, and
the funds therein may be referred to as the Peace Tax Fund.
The
government's prerogative to decide what taxes are used for
is only limited by the restraints that the government has
chosen to take on, such as agreeing to respect human rights.
In practical terms it means that the government shall decide
what the funds are used for, but have a legal obligation
to ensure that they are not used for military purposes.
It is desirable that to be able to verify that the obligation
is being upheld, the government reports annually on the
uses of the Peace Tax Fund, giving details of the amount
collected, the number of persons contributing to it and
the uses to which the money has been put.
The
use of the Peace Tax money is as mentioned part of the government's
prerogative. However there are a number of areas where the
government may chose to spend the Peace Tax funds, which
would not conflict with the principle of conscientious objection
to military taxation. Such areas could be non-military monitoring
and maintenance of Human Rights, weapons collection and
non-military conflict resolution and peacebuilding initiatives.
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