FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

April 13, 2026 

Media Contacts: Melissa Garriga | [email protected]; Cynthia Papermaster l [email protected] 

Sonoma County CODEPINK to Join April 15 Tax Day Event: "Our Taxes, Their Wars: Stop Funding ICE,  War and Genocide” 

SANTA ROSA – CODEPINK will join a Sonoma County Taxpayers Rally in  Santa Rosa on Tax Day as part of a Day of Action initiated by the US Palestinian Community Network and Taxpayers Against Genocide. Fifty national and local organizations endorsed the event and a Pledge of Action.  The Santa Rosa event is one of many happening nationwide, as shown on this national map. 

• WHAT: April 15 Tax Day Event: "Our Taxes, Their Wars: Stop Funding ICE,  War and Genocide”  
• WHEN/WHERE: 4:00 pm, IRS office, 777 Sonoma Ave., Santa Rosa;  4:45, Courthouse Square; 5:30 pm, Banner drop Hwy. 101 

The colorful event will have banners, chants, a "Pups for Peace" brigade, and at 4 pm, a CODEPINK skit at the IRS with taxpayers confronting and arresting  Uncle Sam and billionaires profiting from wars everywhere. They demand that their taxes be spent on community needs: healthcare, affordable housing, education, clean energy, and care for veterans, elders, and children.  

According to the Institute for Policy Studies, the average US taxpayer spent $4,049 on war and weapons last year.  On the local level, Santa Rosa taxpayers spent $13,713,216 on Israel's weapons  in 2025, which could have instead funded one of the following:  

• 711 Households with one year's free rent  
• 2,265 Families with one year's free groceries  
• 3,934 Children's free or low-cost healthcare for one year  
• 145 Elementary school teachers' salaries for one year  
• 25,879 Households with solar electricity produced for a year  
• 366 Students with their loan debt cancelled   

Sonoma County groups participating in the Santa Rosa event include Taxpayers  Against Genocide, Sonoma County for Palestine, Sonoma County CODEPINK,  Veterans for Peace, Sonoma County Peace and Justice Center, Sonoma County  Sanctuary Coalition, Roots Action, Sonoma County Green Party, Community  United to Resist Fascism, and Marin and Sonoma DSA.

CODEPINK organizer Cynthia Papermaster said, "Over fifty percent of the discretionary Federal budget is spent on the U.S. military, including U.S.-made Tomahawk missiles that deliberately struck a school in Iran, killing over a hundred little girls. Our taxes paid for that war crime. We pay millions of dollars each for the 2000-pound bombs killing innocent civilians in Gaza and Lebanon. We’ve had enough of this slaughter using our taxes. We want our taxes for human needs,  not endless wars, environmental destruction, and ICE kidnapping and deporting our good neighbors. This tax day, we are saying loud and clear, ‘Our Taxes, Your  War. Taxpayers say: No More!’ ”

Tarik Kanaana with Taxpayers Against Genocide and Sonoma County for  Palestine says, "For many decades, as long as I’ve been alive at least, the US  has prioritized war and destruction over the well-being of the people of the US  and of the world, regardless of whether there’s a Democrat or a Republican in the White House. After watching my people in Palestine and Lebanon and elsewhere being viciously slaughtered for nearly 3 years by Israel with the full backing of the  US, I and so many others around the country have had enough. We are uniting  together so that we can effectively force change and are committed to the belief  that our tax dollars should serve life, dignity, and the future of generations to  come.”  

Carol Bloom, a Sonoma County organizer with TAG, added: “TAG has brought taxpayers into a movement to hold the U.S. government accountable for using our tax dollars illegally to support the genocide of the Palestinian people. We are  uniting on this Tax Day to demand that our government stop using our  tax dollars to fund wars and genocide abroad and the kidnapping, detention, and deportation of our neighbors here at home.” 

April 15, 2026, Tax Day of Action Pledge (Taxpayers Against Genocide)  

• We affirm our clear understanding that public tax dollars should be used for essential human needs such as health care, education, housing, and for the overall well-being of  Earth and all its inhabitants.  
• We are deeply angered by our government's misuse of billions of taxpayer dollars to wage war and commit genocide abroad, and oppress, jail, deport, and kill our friends and family members at home. From ICE to the IDF, we say no more!  
• We acknowledge our complicity and responsibility, as taxpayers of the U.S., in perpetuating this violence, harm, and instability as long as our government continues this course.  
• We, as individuals and organizations, pledge to do everything within our power to elevate public awareness and advocate for a fundamental shift in how our collective resources are used.  
• We insist that our money must go toward building a future for generations to come, grounded in justice, peace, and hope, rather than in fear and destruction.  
• We pledge our support to this call for awareness and responsible stewardship of public resources, and we commit to standing with others who believe that our tax dollars should serve life, dignity, and the future of generations to come.

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