War crimes are actions taken by individuals, whether military or civilian, that violates international humanitarian law, which includes the 1907 Hague Conventions, 1949 Geneva Conventions and the Additional Protocols to the Geneva Conventions. War crimes include “grave breaches” of the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention, which also applies to territory that is occupied even if the occupation takes place without resistance. Protected persons under International Humanitarian Law are all nationals who reside within an occupied State, except for the nationals of the Occupying Power. The International Criminal Court and States prosecute individuals for war crimes.

War Crime: Extensive appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly

Between 2002 and 2012, the United States Internal Revenue Service, hereinafter “IRS,” illegally appropriated $74.8 million dollars from the residents of the Hawaiian Islands. During this same period, the government of the State of Hawai‘i additionally appropriated $2.2 billion dollars illegally. The IRS is an agency of the United States of America and cannot appropriate money from the inhabitants of an occupied State without violating international law. The State of Hawai‘i is a political subdivision of the United States of America established by an Act of Congress in 1959 and as an entity without any extraterritorial effect, it couldn’t appropriate money from the inhabitants of an occupied State without violating the international laws of occupation.

According to the laws of the Hawaiian Kingdom, taxes upon the inhabitants of the Hawaiian Islands include: an annual poll tax of $1 dollar to be paid by every male inhabitant between the ages of seventeen and sixty years; an annual tax of $2 dollars for the support of public schools to be paid by every male inhabitant between the ages of twenty and sixty years; an annual tax of $1 dollar for every dog owned; an annual road tax of $2 dollars to be paid by every male inhabitant between the ages of seventeen and fifty; and an annual tax of ¾ of 1% upon the value of both real and personal property.

The Merchant Marine Act, June 5, 1920 (41 U.S. Stat. 988), hereinafter referred to as the Jones Act, is a restraint of trade and commerce in violation of international law and treaties between the Hawaiian Kingdom and other foreign States. According to the Jones Act, all goods, which includes tourists on cruise ships, whether originating from Hawai‘i or being shipped to Hawai‘i must be shipped on vessels built in the United States that are wholly owned and crewed by United States citizens. And should a foreign flag ship attempt to unload foreign goods and merchandise in the Hawaiian Islands will have to forfeit its cargo to the to the U.S. Government, or an amount equal to the value of the merchandise or cost of transportation from the person transporting the merchandise.

As a result of the Jones Act, there is no free trade in the Hawaiian Islands. 90% of Hawai‘i’s food is imported from the United States, which has created a dependency on outside food. The three major American ship carriers for the Hawaiian Islands are Matson, Horizon Lines, and Pasha Hawai‘i Transport Services, as well as several low cost barge alternatives. Under the Jones Act, these American carriers travel 2,400 miles to ports on the west coast of the United States in order to reload goods and merchandise delivered from Pacific countries on foreign carriers, which would have otherwise come directly to Hawai‘i ports. The cost of fuel and the lack of competition drive up the cost of shipping and contribute to Hawai‘i’s high cost of living. Gas tax is $.47 per gallon as a result of the Jones Act because only American ship carriers can transport oil to the Hawaiian Islands to be converted into gas. And according to the USDA Food Cost, Hawai‘i residents in January 2012 pay an extra $417 per month for food on a thrifty plan than families who are on a thrifty plan in the United States of America.

Appropriating monies directly through taxation and appropriating monies indirectly as a result of the Jones Act to benefit American ship carriers and businesses is unlawful and therefore are international crimes.