PRESS RELEASE

Contact: Timothy Godshall
Phone: 1-888-732-2382
E-mail: timgodshall@peacetaxfund.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

South Jersey COs Imprisoned For War Tax Refusal

February 23—On February 21, Joe Donato reported to the Federal Correctional Institution in Fairton, New Jersey, to begin a 27-month prison sentence for following his religious beliefs against paying taxes for military purposes. Donato is one of three defendants convicted by a jury in federal court in Camden, New Jersey, in December 2004 on charges of "conspiring to defraud the United States" and "willful evasion" of federal taxes. Donato's sentence is the longest handed down to a pacifist war tax resister in the United States in at least 60 years.

The other two defendants, Inge Donato and Kevin McKee, were sentenced to prison terms of 6 months and 24 months, respectively. Inge Donato, who is Joe Donato's wife, completed her prison term on February 6. McKee reported to FPC Schuylkill in Minersville, PA, on February 13 to begin his sentence.
The Donatos and McKee are members of the Restored Israel of Yahweh, a small Bible study-based religious society located in Mays Landing, New Jersey. Their founder, Leo J. Volpe, was a World War II draft refuser who left the Jehovah's Witnesses to teach a gospel of pacifism that included refusal to participate financially in the military.

"We would always have gladly paid our full share of taxes if only the government could assure us that the amount we paid would not go to fund war making," said Joe Donato. "The lack of any provision like that forced us to either violate our religion or risk being branded as criminals. At that point, we saw no choice but to honor our beliefs."

"I am deeply saddened that these gentle folks wound up being the first pacifist tax resisters to be prosecuted and jailed -- possibly ever -- for felony conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and attempted tax evasion, the most serious criminal charges in the Internal Revenue Code," said Peter Goldberger, Inge Donato's attorney. "The IRS has plenty of power to collect taxes without resorting to criminal prosecution. I look to our government to show more respect for sincere expressions of religious beliefs."

"This case highlights the need for a way to collect taxes from conscientious objectors that respects their beliefs," said Timothy Godshall, interim director for the National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund, an organization that advocates for legislation to allow conscientious objectors to pay their federal taxes into a fund earmarked for nonmilitary purposes only. Called the Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund Act (H.R. 2631), this bill has 41 cosponsors in the House of Representatives.

# # #