You're not rich so the IRS will haul your ass to jail.
this post was submitted on 13 Feb 2026
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How would they know if I am rich if they can't see my taxes? 🤔
/s btw
Worked for the POTUS.
Until a significant portion of the population does the same
Censored to respect the victim (you)
America was founded on "no taxation without representation". What representation does the average American have now?
Americans returning to their roots, organising to starve this government of funding and creating community funds with the money that would be spent on taxation would make a huge change. Using money for community good instead of fascism. With transparency and equitable funding, as taxation should be.
The difficulty is it would need to be organised among many people. A few individuals withholding taxes will just bring the hammer of the government down upon them. Several million, with perhaps a couple states as well, would be a very different story.
Yeah, sure, Musk and Bezos etc could theoretically fund things from their own personal wealth for a while. But we've seen their personalities, they're too greedy to do that. And it's not sustainable long term.
Perhaps a good place to start, is here:
But have they seen the DOW?
Industrial averages are definitely top of mind when I'm buying groceries I don't know what you're talking about
As a non American: as a form of protest, instead of doing protests in the streets, why don't you just stop paying taxes?
It seems to me you have a very easy way to tell your government you're fed up with it or just as a form of protest.
I'm sure your gov has a horrible way of inforcing taxation, but you actually do have the option of not-paying.
They already have our tax money, unfortunately. It's taken from our paychecks and then we get to play a stupid game of "guess the number or jail" every April
If you set your withholdings really high the amount taken drops by quite a bit.
And then when it comes time to pay, just get on a super low monthly payment plan.
And then just keep tacking amounts onto that each year.
I am not a lawyer. But I can say myself and another friend have been doing this (him for years and years) and so far nothing of note has happened. His goal is to just die with a balance owed.
I know multiple people who stopped paying taxes to "protest Obama" back in the day. At first it will seem like you got away with it. The only reason I know they did it is because they were quite proud and boastful of it. It may even take years before it becomes an issue, but by the time it does, it's a monster of a problem. Headache after headache, lawyers and legal fees (in some cases), and always a much worse financial hit than if they'd just paid up initially. Ironically, their problems with the IRS didn't even begin until Trump's first time when they were "caught".
It's simply a bad idea. Right now it might seem like a reasonable gamble. Starve the beast. And they don't have enough people working in the IRS to handle this any more.
But, don't worry. Just like everything else out of this administration, they'll selectively target political opponents, Democrats, and minorities.
But also, for most people, not paying taxes isn't really an option. There are ways (as others mentioned) to minimize how much of your paycheck is automatically taken out, and of course self-employed folks or those being paid "under the table" can get away with paying $0.
Again, though, if this regime stays in power long term and you're withholding taxes out of protest, you will be actively pursued and punished harshly. And even if this regime doesn't stay in power for long, once saner heads re-instate reasonable funding and staffing for the IRS, you will be screwed. Penalties, fees, interest. It will hurt and likely would not have accomplished anything either way.
I'm sorry, but have you seen the dow?
-Me, to the IRS.
I thought The Annoying Orange said something about you not having to pay taxes?