Monday 27 October 2014

A Taxpayer’s Guide to Terrorism



A Taxpayer’s Guide to Terrorism

Chris Coverdale, a peace campaigner, highlights the astonishing implications for
taxpayers of a legal ruling by the UK Supreme Court on the definition of terrorism

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Terrorism is the threat or use of firearms or explosives endangering a person’s life for the purpose of advancing a political, religious, racial or ideological cause.                                                                                                                 
Section 1 Terrorism Act 2000

Historic legal ruling

An extraordinary event occurred recently which could end Britain’s involvement in war.  In a remarkable legal judgement[1] on the definition of terrorism in the Terrorism Act 2000 the UK Supreme Court ruled that the military activities of the British Government are terrorism:

“the legislation does not exempt, nor make an exception, nor create a defence for, nor exculpate what some would describe as terrorism in a just cause. Such a concept is foreign to the 2000 Act. Terrorism is terrorism, whatever the motives of the perpetrators. … 

Terrorist action outside the United Kingdom which involves the use of firearms or explosives, resulting in danger to life or creating a serious risk to the health or safety to the public in that country, or involving (not producing) serious personal violence or damage to property, or designed seriously to interfere with an electronic system, ‘is terrorism’...

the definition would seem to cover any violence or damage to property if it is carried out with a view to influencing a government or IGO in order to advance a very wide range of causes.  Thus it would appear to extend to military or quasi-military activity aimed at bringing down a foreign government, even where that activity is approved (officially or unofficially) by the UK Government.”

Britain’s military actions in Iraq and Afghanistan are unequivocally illegal

This definitive decision implies that the wars and military activities of the UK Government since 2001 in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria, each of which was aimed at bringing down a foreign government, are terrorism and as such are illegal.   

Not only does it mean that all uses of firearms and explosives in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria by members of HM Forces are illegal and therefore must cease immediately, but it also means that any UK resident who does not end their participation in the wars and armed conflicts authorised by HM Government since 2001, wilfully commits serious crimes and is criminally liable for the consequences of their support for military action.
Paying tax is a crime when the money is used for the purposes of terrorism

When Parliament enacted the Terrorism Act 2000 it made it a criminal offence for a person to demand, collect or pay money for the purposes of terrorism. 

15. Fund-raising.

(1) A person commits an offence if he invites another to provide money or other property, and intends that it should be used, or has reasonable cause to suspect that it may be used, for the purposes of terrorism.

(2 ) A person commits an offence if he receives money or other property, and intends that it should be used, or has reasonable cause to suspect that it may be used, for the purposes of terrorism.

(3) A person commits an offence if he provides money or other property, and knows or has reasonable cause to suspect that it will or may be used for the purposes of terrorism.

Taxpayers’ duty to withhold tax

Now that the Supreme Court has ruled that the military activities of the UK Government are terrorism it follows that all taxpayers in Britain, in order to uphold the Terrorism Act, must withhold all tax payments from the Government and its agents (HMR&C, Councils, Businesses, Institutions etc) until the wars have ended, HM Forces have been recalled, criminal proceedings against those responsible for war crimes have begun, and a court has ruled that the Government is acting in accord with the UN Declaration on Principles of International Law 1970.

Employees’ duty to report employers to police

Another extraordinary implication of the ruling is that employees now have a legal duty under section 19 of the Terrorism Act 2000 to report to the police anyone that they know or suspect is demanding, collecting or paying money (tax) to the Government.

19. Disclosure of information: duty.

(1)  This section applies where a person believes or suspects that another person has committed an offence under any of sections 15 to 18, and bases his belief or suspicion on information which comes to his attention in the course of a trade, profession or business, or in the course of his employment…

(2)  The person commits an offence if he does not disclose to a constable as soon as is reasonably practicable his belief or suspicion, and the information on which it is based. …

This means that if you know that your employer is making payments (PAYE, NI, VAT, Corporation tax etc) to HM Government you have a legal duty to report him or her to the police, and if you fail to do so you commit an imprisonable offence.    So start reporting employers to the Police now. 

Chris Coverdale                       Make Wars History                         October 2014


[1] Regina ‘v’ Gul UKSC 64 (2013) Paragraphs 26 and 28

Why have no UK war criminals been arrested?
http://youtu.be/zjMHf5hVVEg
Why is the law not being upheld?
http://youtu.be/wu4ApKmoP4E
So much more than an idea.
Contact Unions together? Would that be a move in the right direction?
http://www.unionstogether.org.uk/pages/contact