Tax Justice is Essential to a Faithful Federal Budget
Remarks
as prepared by J. Herbert Nelson
Faithful
Budget Congressional Budget Briefing
April
28, 2015
My name is J. Herbert Nelson and I am the
Director of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Office of Public Witness. Over the
last several years, our Church has expressed increasing concern over inequality
in our society. In the Gospel of Luke, we Christians are taught that “to whom much is given, much will be
required” (12:48). As a faith coalition, you will hear that we are calling
for “reasonable revenue for responsible programs,” AND today, speaking for the General
Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), I would add to that the tax code
is not only a way to make sure we have enough revenue to pay for the programs
we think are important; but also it is a tool for reducing inequality and
leveling society. The Presbyterian General Assembly issued a new statement on
tax justice last year, in which it said, “Paying taxes is part of a set of
moral obligations for a coherent social order.” Those who have been blessed
with abundance must contribute more to the good of all.
That Assembly last year
called this period we are living in “a New Gilded Age” and said that tax justice
requires change if we are going to live faithfully to our conscience and to the
ethical concerns for the common good shared by all citizens. However, the recent events in the aftermath
of Michael Brown’s killing in Ferguson, MO, and Freddie Gray in Baltimore, MD
on yesterday reveal a deeper sense of frustration in disenfranchised
communities. I am led to define this moment – great economic disparity and
deep-rooted systemic racism – as the emergence of a new poor people’s movement
in the United States. The massive numbers of persons across this country that
are marginalized in communities redlined from jobs, transportation, decent
wages, education and opportunities to achieve a decent standard of living are
coming together in thought and common sympathies.
On yesterday in
Baltimore, we saw children take to the streets looting and burning. Their
actions represent a weariness of being taken advantage of by people in high
places who possess the majority of the wealth; carve out for themselves the
greater portion of tax breaks; and then pass the tax burden on to the poor. The
ironic aspect of this struggle is witnessed last night and today on social
media. Many former middle class Anglo-Americans who lost their jobs during the
recession and/or returned to a workplace where their jobs are downgraded after
the recession are sympathizing with these children and adults who looted and
rioted yesterday. Although many struggle with the rioting based on their
predisposition for peace, their concerns expressed are more germane to the
absence of efforts to improve public education; establish a jobs program; strengthen
a social safety net that helps workers who are not making an adequate wage, so
that they can pay more toward taxes without being driven into the ditches of
economic despair. These much needed building blocks within our nation can only
be accomplished with a fair tax system at the roots of public policy. But this
is not the case today.
Just taxation is a key
tool for enabling communities to thrive, for advancing science and culture, for
sustaining democratic institutions, and for ensuring a strong social safety net
that is there to catch people when they fall. Each citizen has an affirmative duty to contribute to the common good
by paying their fair share of taxes.
There is both an ethical and economic case for a fairer tax
code. The U.S. tax system is regressive. Poorer and middle class households pay
a higher proportion of their income in payroll, state and local taxes,
including sales tax – at higher rates than those who pay lower tax rates on
unearned income like capital gains and carried interest. In other words, those
who make their living through investments are taxed sometimes at a lower rate
than those who work 40 hours per week standing at a cash register or restocking
shelves. Further, tax mechanisms, like the Estate Tax, that produce revenue
from higher income households have been unnecessarily weakened in a time of
increased wealth disparity and excessive influence of private interests in
public policy. And those who itemize their tax returns can take advantage of
huge deductions that reduce their proportionate tax liability, while low- and
middle-income families settle for the standard deduction. This disparity in our tax code --
the difference in the way we tax earned and unearned income -- and the lack of
overall progressivity when you look at all the levied taxes, not just the
income tax code, means that those with less in our society bear a greater
proportionate tax burden than those who have more. This must be fixed. Just taxation is a foundation of a moral
society’s answer to poverty and its close relatives, inequality, economic
insecurity, and social immobility.
We do support , in
many instances, credits like the earned income tax credit -- the EITC -- and the refundable Child Tax
Credit, help ensure working people a living wage, are both are longstanding features
of the tax code, supported historically by both liberals and conservatives. The
need for this kind of investment is very great today, and the EITC, Child Tax
Credit, or similar measures aimed at keeping working families out of poverty,
should be expanded, made fully refundable, and made permanent.
We do believe there
are measures this particular congress can take to help rebuild the fiber and
the life, but more importantly to rebuild this nation in a way of awareness
about what it means to live in community and to forge community, without having
to take or rob from anyone to give to someone else. We ought to pay our fair
share, and we ought to be reminded as our gospel and the Christian faith
informs us that as we’ve done to the least of these my brothers and sisters,
we’ve also done unto our God and unto ourselves.
Full Speech here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrpZ90wI_Y8
In April, both the U.S. House of Representatives and the
Senate have passed budgets that would repeal the Affordable Care Act, turn
Medicaid into a block grant, and cut billions of dollars from nutrition and
education programs, all while increasing spending on overseas wars and cutting
taxes for the wealthiest.
