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SharonAnn Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-02-03 10:10 PM
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Keeping heavy tax burden on poor called immoral
Very interesting article and it might actually work here in the religious fundamentalist South.

http://www.knoxville.com/kns/national/article/0,1406,KNS_350_2150676,00.html

Keeping heavy tax burden on poor called immoral
By TOM SHARP, Associated Press
August 1, 2003

NASHVILLE - Tax systems that put an unfair burden on the poor are worse than bad policy, they are morally wrong, a law professor from the University of Alabama told Tennessee's Tax Structure Study Commission on Thursday. Susan Pace Hamill, a tax attorney, law professor and Methodist, became part of Alabama's running tax debate after she wrote a master's thesis for the Beeson Divinity School at Samford University titled "An Argument for Tax Reform Based on Judeo-Christian Ethics."

<snip>

She said that during a yearlong sabbatical at Beeson, which is affiliated with the Baptist church, she went through the Bible with evangelical scholars to identify the major points where justice is addressed and arrived at "two ironclad moral concepts."

"Regressively taxing the poor is oppression. It's bad tax policy, it's bad economic policy, it's stupidity and it's morally wrong," she said. "If the poor kids have no chance, the moral value of your community is money and power. It's mammon. And as the Old Testament tells us, that community will eventually devour itself."

"You cannot oppress the least of these, the poorest and most vulnerable," she said. "And if your community reflects godly moral values, the least of these must have at least a minimum shot to better themselves."

<snip>

"Regressively taxing the poor is oppression. It's bad tax policy, it's bad economic policy, it's stupidity and it's morally wrong," she said. "If the poor kids have no chance, the moral value of your community is money and power. It's mammon. And as the Old Testament tells us, that community will eventually devour itself."
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pansypoo53219 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-02-03 10:18 PM
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1. so much
for the buckle in the bible belt Tenn. they shit on their poor big time.
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SharonAnn Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-02-03 10:19 PM
Response to Reply #1
2. You're right, that's why this is a concept that might work
to change things. Read the article and see how she analyzes it.
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Judi Lynn Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-02-03 11:42 PM
Response to Original message
3. Susan Pace Hamill's right
I don't see how anyone can not recognize it. I'm sure everyone does, actually, privately.

A good snip from your article:

(snip) She said the biggest impediment to fairer taxes is greed. "There's the rub," she said. "Fixing an unfair tax system will require more from most of us. And the longer you've not paid your share, the harder you fight to keep it that way." (snip/...)

I thought it was very interesting reading that in Alabama, the regressive tax structure starts taxing people making as little as around $4600.00 per year, and a sales tax on necessities, life food, etc. Shameful.

Thanks a lot, SharonAnn. A good article for Bible-wavers.

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