The Rolling Jubilee

7/27/2019 The Rolling Jubilee

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FAQ

What is Strike Debt?

Strike Debt is an offshoot of Occupy Wall Street. First started in New York

City, but inspired by movements around the globe, Strike Debt now has

affiliates across the country. We believe people should not go into debt for

basic necessities like education, healthcare and housing. Strike Debt

initiatives like the Debt Resistors’ Operations Manual offer advice to all kinds

of debtors about how to escape debt and how to join a growing collective

resistance to the debt system. Our network has the goal of building a broad

movement, with more effective ways of resisting debt, and with the ultimate

goal of creating an alternative economy that benefits us all and not just the

1%.

Can you abolish my debt?

There is no way to seek out a specific person and buy that person’s

defaulted debt. With 15% of Americans currently being pursued by a debt

collector, looking for one person’s debt would be like looking for a needle in a

haystack. Anonymous accounts are bundled together and sold as a whole.

Before purchasing debt, there is only limited information as to whose debt we

are buying. These peculiarities are part of the scandal that we are trying to

highlight.

Will the Rolling Jubilee have to file a 1099-C Cancellation of Debt form with

the IRS?

No. The Rolling Jubilee will earn no income from the lending of money and

is therefore exempt from filing a Form 1099-C under the Internal Revenue

Code Section 6050P.

What is your mailing address?

Checks made out to the Rolling Jubilee Fund can be mailed to: The Rolling

Jubilee Fund 151 First Ave. #222 New York City, NY 10003

Is this legal?

Yes! What should actually surprise everyone is the fact that it is legal to

trade in people’s misfortune. As part of the deregulation of the finance

industry, the government made it legal to buy and sell charged-off debt.

Will a gift from Rolling Jubilee create a tax burden for debtors?



The Rolling Jubilee was created in consultation with a team of attorneys.

They have thoroughly researched the tax implications and do not believe that

beneficiaries are obligated to pay taxes on debts the Rolling Jubilee abolishes

in this manner. It is the Rolling Jubilee’s position that it is making a tax-free

gift to the people whose debt it is abolishing. See strikedebt.org/taxanalyst

for an interview about Rolling Jubilee with the USA's top-ranked tax lawyer.

What is a jubilee?

Jubilee comes from many faith traditions including Judaism, Christianity

and Islam. A jubilee is an event in which all debts are cancelled and all those

in bondage are set free. It worked in Biblical times and it can still work today.

For example, a kind of jubilee happened in Iceland after the 2008 economic

crisis: instead of bailing out their banks, Iceland canceled a percentage of

mortgage debt. What these examples show is that debts are just a promisewhich can - and should - be renegotiated or cancelled when the

circumstances warrant. Strike Debt believes that now is the time for a jubilee

for the 99%.

How Does Rolling Jubilee Work?

Banks sell debt for pennies on the dollar on a shadowy speculative market

of debt buyers who then turn around and try to collect the full amount from

debtors. The Rolling Jubilee intervenes by buying debt, keeping it out of the

hands of collectors, and then abolishing it. We’re going into this market not to

make a profit but to help each other out and highlight how the predatory debtsystem affects our families and communities. Think of it as a bailout of the

99% by the 99%.

Are my contributions tax-deductible?

No. The Rolling Jubilee Fund is a non-profit 501c4 ("an organization whose

primary activity is the promotion of social welfare"), not a charity. Your

contributions will not count as a deduction against your personal income tax.

Can Rolling Jubilee abolish student debt?

Student debt has surpassed $1 trillion partly because it is one of the mostprotected forms of debt by federal law. Student debtors can rarely discharge

their loans in bankruptcy and lenders have rights to garnish wages and social

security payments. The vast majority of student loans have these federal

guarantees. We cannot buy these loans because there is no secondary

market. However, we believe it may be possible to buy private tuition debt of

some sort that is not guaranteed by the federal government; Rolling Jubilee

may attempt to purchase this kind of debt after doing further research.



Documents

The Rolling Jubilee