Action Alert-- Faithful Budget

The Faithful Way Forward: 2016 Budget 
 

Last month, The PC(USA) Office of Public Witness worked with other faith partners to offer a briefing for Congress on the "Faithful Budget," a document written by the faith community about our nation's financial priorities. The Reverend J. Herbert Nelson joined with Sister Simone Campbell, Rabbi Jonah Pesner, and Maggie Siddiqi in calling for a budget that prioritizes people and livelihood, not corporate profit or greed. This included calling for—

Rabbi Jonah Pesner, Sr. Simone Campbell, Maggie Siddiqi,
and the Rev. J. Herbert Nelson

• Preservation of the social safety net, essential programs serving the most vulnerable people
• Investment in health care, access to which is essential to the shalom and wellbeing of all people
• A serious look at our spending priorities when comparing over-investment in the mechanisms of war and underinvestment in human capital
• A progressive tax code that not only brings in enough revenue to pay for what is most important, but also reduces inequality by making sure that all people have enough – not too much and not too little

Download the complete briefing packet here.

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.

Please email your members of Congress this week. Ask them to create a budget that is aligned with the Faithful Budget and cares for the needs of all of all people, not just the wealthy few.

In preparation for the briefing, J. Herbert Nelson wrote:

“As a follower of Christianity, I believed that ‘to whom much is given, much will be required.’ God’s justice insists that those who have much must contribute to the good of all. Indeed, God’s vision of shalom wants a society in which each of us has enough -- not too much and not too little. We are living in a new Gilded Age where the gap between rich and poor grows ever deeper. Today’s worship of money and things is nothing less than idolatry and justice requires us to change if we are gong to live up to God’s radical vision for us. Responsible taxation in a linchpin of a democratic society and from a Christian perspective, greater tax justice is necessary and a key response to rising inequality.”

Read all of J. Herbert Nelson’s remarks on tax justice and the Faithful Budget.

View J. Herbert’s remarks on YouTube.

The Faithful Budget principles are available here.

Tax Justice Can Address Inequality: J. Herbert's Remarks on A Faithful Budget

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

JHN to Speak at Faithful Budget Congressional Briefing

2016 Budget:

The Faithful Way Forward

 April 28, 2015 · 1:30-2:30 pm · 

Capitol Visitor Center · Room HVC-215

Leaders from the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim traditions will offer faith perspectives on the federal budget and share the “Faithful Budget” as an alternative to current proposals in Congress. Join us to learn about the budget as a moral document, what these faiths say about budget priorities, and how Congress can respond.

Presenters:

Sister Simone Campbell, S.S.S.

Executive Director, NETWORK, A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby

Maggie Siddiqi

Program Director, American Muslim Health Professionals

Rabbi Jonah Pesner

Director, Religious Action Center

and Senior Vice President of the Union for Reform Judaism

Reverend Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II

Director, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Office of Public Witness

Light refreshments will be provided

RSVP to RSVP@networklobby.org

This Faithful Budget briefing is a project of the NETWORK Education Program,

a partner of NETWORK, A National Catholic  Social Justice Lobby, providing faith-based resources related to public policy.

Social Justice Committee - Advocacy as Discipleship

This post is a continuation of Advocacy as Discipleship Pre-GA Issue. This edition of this publication seeks to provide an preview of the social justice business before the 221st General Assembly (2014) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Social Justice Issues – Committee 9

Gun Violence

Sponsored by the National Capital Presbytery, overture 09-01 calls the PC(USA) to take meaningful action to reduce gun violence.  The aim of the overture is to recommit the church to its work with federal, state, and local legislators to pass laws that require background checks, closing the “gun show loophole,” banning semiautomatic assault weapons, raise the age for handgun ownership, and removal of guns from people with violent histories, such as perpetrators of domestic violence.

Overture 09-07, sponsored by the Hudson River Presbytery, calls for the entire church to engage activities which support gun violence prevention.  The overture quotes Gun Violence, Gospel Values: Mobilizing in Response to God’s Call, approved by the 219th General Assembly (2010), urging “the church take responsibility to build public awareness of gun violence and the epidemic of preventable gun-related deaths.”

Abortion Policy Review

Overture 09-02, sponsored by the South Alabama Presbytery, overtures the General Assembly to appoint a special committee to review the support that the PC(USA) provides to pro-choice, pro-life, and other related organizations and to review the existing policies that the PC(USA) has on abortion, noting that the pro-life voice in the church has largely been kept silent in denominational advocacy.

Death Penalty

Sponsored by the Greater Atlanta Presbytery, overture 09-04 calls for an immediate moratorium on all executions in all jurisdictions that impose capital punishment. This overture, in calling for the end of the death penalty as a punishment within the criminal justice system is asking the General Assembly to reaffirm the witness of previous Assemblies, ranging between 1959 and 2010, which have already declared opposition to capital punishment.

War on Drugs

Sponsored by the San Francisco Presbytery, overture 09-05 calls for a two-year study by the governing bodies of the church to discern how to advocate for effective drug policies grounded in science, compassion, and human rights. The overture calls for the creation of a Drug Policy Task Force that will develop a plan of concrete actions and policy recommendations to be reported to the 222nd GA (2016).  This overture calls the church to be intentional and deliberate on many levels to study the history, development, and implementation of drug policies.

Financial and Political Reform

Overture 09-06, sponsored by Santa Fe Presbytery, advocates for financial and political reform that addresses the failure to prosecute financial institutions responsible for the 2008 meltdown of the U.S. economy.

Food Sovereignty

The Greater Atlanta Presbytery sponsored overture 09-09 on food sovereignty, which holds that all people have the right to safe, nutritious, and culturally appropriate food and food-producing resources. The overture calls on the PC(USA) to study food sovereignty and food justice and advocate for food, farm, and trade policies that support just and sustainable food supply. The item also calls on the church to support and participate in food sovereignty initiatives, working with both interfaith and secular groups.

End-of-Life Issues

Overture 09-10, sponsored by the Synod of the Covenant, reflects a response to the legalization of physician-assisted suicide in five states and several nations and the increase in the technological choices facing patients and their families at the end of their lives. The item calls on the General Assembly to convene a team of Presbyterians to produce a pastoral and educational booklet giving guidance on end-of-life issues.

Maternal and Child Health

The National Capital Presbytery sponsored overture 09-11, which calls on the PC(USA) to affirm the importance of maternal and child nutrition in the 1,000 days between the beginning of a woman's pregnancy and her child's second birthday. The item overtures the GA to recognize the importance of nutrition programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), to advocate support for such programs and policies, domestically and internationally, and to call on Presbyterians to work with partners in prayer and advocacy for the health of women and children.

Voter Suppression

Resolution 09-15 is brought to the General Assembly by the Advocacy Committee on Racial Ethnic Concerns (ACREC) and speaks to changes in voting rights and recent voter suppression efforts, which disproportionately affect racial ethnic communities. The resolution calls on the GA to update materials to reflect these developments and to continue the Presbyterian tradition of witness for democracy and equality in lifting up the rights of voters and developing and advocating for policies that address these issues.

Tax Justice

Resolution 09-16 is brought to the General Assembly by the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy (ACSWP) in fulfillment of the 220th GA (2012) direction to provide a "biblically grounded witness for current discussions of tax reform." The statement of principles and recommendations seek to create a fairer tax system that is more progressive, more transparent, and more sustainable, among other criteria.

To read the complete items of business before the Social Justice Committee, visit the General Assembly's business website at http://www.pc-biz.org.