What Others Are Saying
--Links to articles that have been written about The Restored Israel of YAHWEH and our current tax issue--

Prison Sentence for Three Pacifist War Tax Refusers

War tax resisters around the country are paying heed to the case of three New Jersey religious pacifists, on their way to prison for multiple counts of felony conspiracy to defraud the government and attempted tax evasion. These are the most serious tax crimes in federal law. On July 1, U.S. District Judge Jerome B. Simandle ordered the imprisonment of Joseph Donato for 27 months, his wife Inge Donato for 6 months, and Kevin McKee for 24 months. In addition, the three were fined from $5,000 to $50,000 and ordered to file past and future tax returns and pay all delinquent and future federal income taxes.

All three are members of a small group of self-described "bible students" founded by the late Leo Volpe, a Jehovah's Witness who was imprisoned in 1944 for conscientious objection, and later founded the group known as the Restored Israel of Yahweh (RIOY). Volpe, known to RIOY members as the prophet Jeremiah, determined after study that service to God required one "not to have the blood of warfare on his hands." He stopped paying federal taxes in 1948. Representing himself in 1982, Volpe was convicted of failure to file taxes and sentenced to four months in prison.

McKee and Joseph Donato ran a construction business, and Inge Donato performed some secretarial and bookkeeping work. The firm paid no taxes for most of its workers, who were also members of RIOY, and McKee and the Donatos neither filed personal tax returns nor paid federal taxes. They were arrested at gunpoint on April 12, 2004 after more than five years of federal investigation triggered by the allegations of a former member of the sect. Freed on bond, they were tried and convicted last December. Revealing the irony of their conviction, RIOY wrote "In the same court where witnesses are asked to swear on a Bible, our sincerely held, firm religious convictions were used against us as evidence of our guilt, evidence of a conspiracy, but they were not accepted, nor could they even be offered as a defense or a legitimate reason for not paying this GODless war tax." The sentencing hearing began on June 17. The judge had his first opportunity to question the Donatos, who had not testified at their trial. After extensive inquiry and a discussion of their religious life, Judge Simandle grew convinced of the sincerity of their beliefs. The prosecutor demanded jail time and an order to pay their taxes now and forevermore. Simandle adjourned the hearing after five hours with the suggestion that a comparably large fine, which is paid into the crime victims' compensation fund and not to the US Treasury, might be more acceptable to the defendants, if the government would agree.

The hearing resumed July 1, with news the government would not accept paying fines in lieu of taxes due. Peter Goldberger, Inge Donato's attorney and a long-time legal advisor to the secular National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee, wrote that "the judge in the end did NOT treat their faith-based action as anything more than ordinary criminal conduct, albeit with a good rather than a bad motive." The jail terms imposed upon the men were at the bottom of federal sentencing guidelines, and Inge Donato's jail sentence was even less than the recommended minimum. McKee is appealing his conviction. He and Inge Donato are due to surrender to custody on August 8, and Joseph Donato will surrender one week later. [Kevin McKee's sentence has been delayed until October and Joseph Donato's until February.]  According to data compiled by Ed Hedemann, editor of War Tax Resistance: a Guide to Withholding Your Support from the Military (War Resisters League, 2003), since 1942 less than two dozen war tax resisters have served jail or prison sentences for related charges, with the longest sentence served reported to be 9 ½ months.

For more information and to express support, contact Restored Israel of YAHWEH, POB 801, Mays Landing, NJ 08330; www.rioy.org. More information about refusing to pay for war is also available from National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee (NWTRCC), POB 150553, Brooklyn, NY 11215, 1-800-269-7464, www.nwtrcc.org; and the War Resisters League, 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012, 212-228-0450, www.warresisters.org.

Letters of support should be sent to Inge Donato, Joseph Donato, and Kevin McKee c/o Restored Israel of YAHWEH at the address above.

NWTRCC’s newsletter, More than a Paycheck, reported a few more anti-war arrests in their annual round-up of dozens of Tax Day protests.

The annual Death and Taxes Festival was held on April 9 in Andover, Massachusetts, highlighted by march from IRS offices to the headquarters of Raytheon, a major supplier of missiles and bombs. One person was cited for affixing a bumper sticker on a utility pole.

Lincoln Rice continued a long tradition of Milwaukee War Tax Resistance and visited the local IRS office on April 15. They would not let him in, and he was arrested as he knelt outside the closed door and prayed for peace.

That evening, police confronted members of Philadelphia War Tax Resistance as they leafleted last minutes flyers at the South Street Post Office. They threatened to arrest people, citing a "no handbills" ordinance in that vicinity. The group took to speaking with passersby and sharing flyers when asked. Nonetheless, Marlene Santoyo was cited for "improper distribution of handbills."

In Las Vegas, on Tax Day, 2004, about ten people held a spontaneous anti-war demonstration in front of the post office. The police soon showed up, and told them to move along, off the property. Using the F-word, Jason Halperin questioned the order, even as he moved along. "That just cost you a trip to jail" replied one officer, as he slapped on the cuffs. Halperin was held several hours and then the charges were dropped.