Case of H.; B. v. The United Kingdom (Application no. 11991/86)

Inadmissibility decision related to conscientious objection to military taxation.
“Article 9 (art. 9) primarily protects the sphere of personal beliefs and religious creeds, i.e. the area which is sometimes called the forum internum. In addition, it protects acts which are intimately linked to these attitudes, such as acts of worship or devotion which are aspects of the practice of a religion or belief in a generally recognised form.
However, in protecting this personal sphere, Article 9 of the Convention does not always guarantee the right to behave in the public sphere in a way which is dictated by such a belief: for instance by refusing to pay certain taxes because part of the revenue so raised may be applied for military expenditure...
The obligation to pay taxes is a general one which has no specific conscientious implications in itself. Its neutrality in this sense is also illustrated by the fact that no tax payer can influence or determine the purpose for which his or her contributions are applied, once they are collected. Furthermore, the power of taxation is expressly recognised by the Convention system and is ascribed to the State by Article 1, First Protocol.
The Commission has examined carefully the arguments submitted by the applicants but is unable to find any factor to distinguish this application from those cited above or to lead it to depart from its previous reasoning. The Commission finds therefore that there has been no interference with the applicants' rights guaranteed by Article 9 para. 1 of the Convention. It follows that the complaint is manifestly ill-founded within the meaning of Article 27 para. 2 of the Convention.
For these reasons, the Commission DECLARES THE APPLICATION INADMISSIBLE.”