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RELIGIOUS WAR TAX RESISTERS INDICTED
Weapons drawn, federal agents in New Jersey picked April 12, just before the deadline for filing federal income tax returns, to arrest three members of The Restored Israel of YAHWEH, (RIOY) "A Religious Society solely located in Southern New Jersey, no affiliations." The Society has been under IRS investigation for at least six years due to the practice of conscientious refusal to file federal tax returns and pay "a tax which we are fully aware supports the killing of innocent people whose political views differ from those of the united states and the slaughter of innocent children who fall victim to these selfish, narrow-minded, leaders" (from their website)
Kevin McKee and Joseph and Inge Donato were charged with conspiracy to defraud the government tax collectors, tax evasion, and failure to file returns. Inge Donato was released that day on $100,000 bond, and the men were released four days later on $150,000 bond each. McKee and Joseph Donato own a small construction business. RIOY's practice of war tax resistance began in 1948 when its founder and prophet Leo J. Volpe, also known as Jeremiah, determined after study that service to God required one "not to have the blood of warfare on his hands." Representing himself, the late Volpe was convicted of failure to file in 1982, and sentenced to four months in prison.
Trial is set for October, but the defendants expect it will be postponed.
For more information and to express support, contact Restored Israel of YAHWEH, POB 801, Mays Landing, NJ 08330; http://www.rioy.org
MORE TAX DAY ANTI-WAR ARRESTS
On Tax Day, April 15, 2003, fifteen people were arrested after blockading the General Dynamics munitions plant in Saco, Maine.
On Tax Day 2004, the postmaster in Palmer Township, Allentown, Pennsylvania, had two people arrested for trespass as they leafletted patrons. They expect acquittal because postal regulations permit leafletting outside buildings as long as they stay out of the lobby and business is not obstructed. In Milwaukee, three Catholic Workers carried on a long tradition of protest inside the IRS office on Tax Day. They were arrested for disorderly conduct and await trial. Sonoma County (California) Taxes for Peace leafletters were threatened with arrest in Santa Rosa, but the postmaster relented when the activists stood strong on their rights.
For more information, contact the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee, POB 150553, Brooklyn, NY 11215, (800)269-7464, email: nwtrcc@nwtrcc.org, web: http://www.nwtrcc.org
