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War
Resisters' International, London, 22 August 2005
USA:Three war tax resisters sentenced to prison - one already in prison
War Resisters' International learned today from the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee (NWTRCC) that three war tax resisters were sentenced to prison sentences already on 1 July 2005.Kevin McKee and Joe Donato, who ran the McKee-Donato Construction Company, and Inge Donato, Joe's wife and occasionally bookkeeper of McKee-Donato Construction, had been convicted by a jury in federal court in Camden in December 2004 on charges of "conspiring to defraud the United States", attempted evasion of employment taxes, and failure to file personal income tax returns. On 1 July, when Judge Simandle finally handed down the sentences, he sentenced Kevin McKee to 24 months, Joe Donato to 27 months, and Inge Donato to 6 months.
All three are members of the Restored Israel of Yahweh religious society, a small group with less than 50 members in southern New Jersey.
Judge Simandle in the end did not treat this faith-based action as anything more than ordinary criminal conduct, albeit with a good rather than a bad motive. The prosecutors admitted at the sentencing that they could not dispute the expert affidavit of Professor Scott H. Bennet of Georgian Court University, Lakewood, New Jersey, that criminal prosecution of religious pacifist tax resisters is almost unheard of over the last 55 years, and prison sentences are exceedingly rare.
Inge Donato is the first of the three to serve the prison sentence. She reported to the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia on 8 August 2005. The others are waiting for the letter with the order to report to prison.
War Resisters' International calls for letters of support to Inge Donato.
 Inge Donato 40885-050
 FDC Philadelphia
 PO Box 562
 Philadelphia PA 19106
 USA
War Resisters' International calls for the immediate release of Inge Donato, and for the cancellation of all prison sentences for war tax resistance.
Andreas Speck
War Resisters' International
wri-irg.org