Who Would Jesus Tax?

God and taxes Render unto Caesar

By Jeff Hawkes
Lancaster Intelligencer Journal, August 1, 2006

LANCASTER COUNTY, PA - Some of you might want to hold onto your wallet.
Susan Pace Hamill has been reading the Bible again, and what she's found in Scripture has spurred her to crusade for tax justice, a polite phrase for "tax the rich."

Tax policies that oppress those least able to pay violate Judeo-Christian standards, Hamill says, while a moral society will place the greatest burden on the well-to-do.

Hamill believes those age-old principles of tax fairness are being undermined across the United States, and Christians should be appalled. Too few are.

Hamill attributes the lack of outrage as evidence that greed is trumping faith.

I heard Hamill speak at a conference on tax justice for faith-based leaders. About 75 attended.

If anyone stayed away out of fear of boredom, that's too bad. The topic is anything but dull, and Hamill is an engaging speaker who doesn't mince words.

She said, for instance, the wealthy would "rather hear they need a root canal" than be told to pay their fair share of taxes.

She labeled as hypocrites religious people who oppose abortion but are silent when government cutbacks target poor women and children.

And she asserted that President Bush calls himself a Christian but on tax issues talks "like an atheist."

Strong words, but don't dismiss Hamill as a loudmouth. Her brassy rhetoric is backed up with degrees and experience in two divergent disciplines.

First and foremost, Hamill is an attorney and tax law expert, having worked for the Internal Revenue Service and a New York City firm. These days she is a law professor at University of Alabama, where she teaches tax law, business organization and ethics.

But Hamill, a Methodist, also brings a spiritual perspective to her understanding of tax law. During a sabbatical, she completed a master's degree in theological studies at Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Ala., and launched a campaign for tax reform in Alabama based on Judeo-Christian ethics.

In speaking out in Alabama, Hamill called it wrong for the state to take almost 11 percent of the income of people making less than $13,000 but only 4 percent of those earning more than $229,000.

She also found Alabama's underachieving, underfunded public schools morally offensive, saying bad schools deprive the poor of a chance to better themselves.

Inspired by Hamill's campaign, Alabama's Republican governor in 2003 proposed the largest tax increase in the state's history only to see it defeated in a statewide referendum

Hamill finds support for her positions in the Bible. She says the Bible forbids oppression, teaching that all people should have a reasonable opportunity to reach their divinely created potential.

While charitable giving pleases God, the sin of greed suppresses contributions and interferes with a society's obligation to raise sufficient revenue for the common good. When the wealthy keep a tight grip on their money, the weak are oppressed.

Taxation is a necessary tool for a moral society, and taxation that is just abides by the biblical teaching, "To whom much is given, much is required."

People professing non-Christian faiths or no faith may correctly argue that government policy should not be based on the Bible. But it is Hamill's right to work for a better world by challenging Christians to be true to their faith.

Tax justice isn't just an Alabama issue. In a listing of the 50 states according to tax regressivity, Pennsylvania is among the worst, ranking third behind Alabama and Indiana. Pennsylvania is one of only six states that taxes the income of the poor and the well-to-do at the same flat rate.

In 2002 a Pennsylvanian making $9,100 paid 11.4 percent of his or her income in state and local taxes; someone making $897,000 paid only 3.5 percent.

No one needs to read the Bible to wonder if that's fair.