Look at the moral side of the fiscal cliff
As pastors, we believe the ongoing fiscal showdown in Washington over taxes, the safety net and the deficit is not simply a matter of dollars and sense — it is a question of right and wrong. The outcome of this debate has profound moral consequences for our nation, and potentially harsh human consequences for American families.
The way some politicians talk about these negotiations, you would never know that the health and economic security of real flesh-and-blood people hang in the balance. Instead of making apocalyptic claims that we are about to become another Greece, perhaps they should take a look around America. Across the country, many poor families work fulltime but still strain to make ends meet. Food stamps, unemployment insurance and the Earned Income Tax Credits kept 14 million of these Americans out of poverty. Millions of children, including hundreds of thousands in Missouri, would go to bed hungry without these programs and would have no access to healthcare without Medicaid. Seniors on fixed incomes depend on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid for their very survival. We see this reality face to face in our neighborhoods and congregations. These are the people our leaders must represent and defend, not the special interests whose well-heeled lobbyists are roaming the halls of Congress.
Scripture is clear that nations – not just individuals — will be judged by how we treat the least among us. In order to pass this test, we must raise enough revenues to fund a safety net that reduces poverty, prevents hunger and cares for the sick. At a time of staggering economic inequality, robust corporate profits, large deficits and historically low taxes on rich people, our leaders need to summon the courage to make powerful special interests pay their fair share. That starts with ending the Bush tax cuts for the richest Americans and closing loopholes for big, profitable corporations. Our current revenue levels are inadequate and will lead either to cuts that make people suffer or unsustainable deficits. Politicians who oppose tax increases on the richest among us but consider taking food assistance and healthcare away from poor families and seniors a necessary sacrifice have lost their moral compass.
The way the fiscal cliff debate is playing out in Washington clarifies the values at stake. Clergy leaders of the PICO National Network, of which we are members, have met with Senators, organized call-in days from our congregations to Capitol Hill offices, and sent letters calling on lawmakers to protect low-income families, end the Bush tax cuts on the top two percent, and not cut benefits to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Meanwhile corporate CEOs have intensely lobbied both parties to enact a “pro-growth” plan that cuts taxes for powerful corporations while undermining needed benefits for seniors and working families. And all the while, many politicians stick to the inaccurate refrain that we only have a spending problem.
Any fiscal cliff deal that undermines the health or economic security of American families and fails to require rich and powerful special interests to pay their fair share is immoral. Our elected representatives have a grave responsibility to uphold our values of fairness, justice and shared sacrifice.
Rev. Rayfield Burns is Assistant to the Pastor of Metropolitan Missionary Baptist Church. Rev. Jennifer J. Thomas is Pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church. Both are members of Communities Creating Opportunity and Missouri Faith Voices.
Mark Hastert
4 months, 4 weeks agoIt’s easy to get caught up in the give & take of politics and to forget that our friends, family, and neighbors are going to be affected by these decisions.
George Hunsucker
Northland
4 months, 4 weeks agoMr. Burns & Ms. Thomas, you need to stick to theology and leave economics to those that understand the peril the country is in now with zero’s runaway spending and lust to send the American economy into another recession with his redistributionist tax policies and government regulations.
You scoff at the possibility of America being another Greece, Ireland, Spain, etc., but given our debt level and spending trajectory, this IMO is a very real possibility….
I agree the TRULY POOR need to be taken care of. I have a hard time understanding the explosion in the number of people who have claimed “disability”—me thinks there just might be some, what is it spriitually called, LYING, involved here. What happened to our churches being the center of caring for people? Oh, that’s right, libs don’t want that, so it’s off the table….
Larger government is not the way to take care of our TRULY needy. It is strange in your blog, Mr. Burns & Ms. Thomas, you never talked about the role of churches. How telling…..
JR Beillenhouser
4 months, 4 weeks agoHow moral is it to lay such debt on our kids or grandkids?
There are truly needy but then there are those that scam the system. Government does a poor job separating one from the other. With the increase of food stamp usage to historically high amounts, up 50% under the current administration, how can one not assume that this program is being used more for vote buying than for taking care of the truly needy.
JR Beillenhouser
4 months, 4 weeks ago“And all the while, many politicians stick to the inaccurate refrain that we only have a spending problem.”
That one sentence says everything a reader to this article. If you don’t believe there is actually a spending problem, you are living in a dream world.
Mark Robertson
4 months, 4 weeks agoSo much ignorance from the “well intentioned.” After every major across-the-board tax cut of the last 100 years, millions of jobs were created, Treasury revenues went through the roof, and the “rich,” as a whole paid much more in taxes.(The Historical Lessons of Lower Tax Rates, by Dan Mitchell, The Heritage Foundation Backgrounder, 7-19-96) After the hugely successful tax cuts of President Reagan in the 1980s, cutting the top rate from 70 to 28 percent, Treasury revenues nearly doubled in the 80s and there was a brief surplus in the 90s. Over 50 million jobs were created over the next 25 years. Surely some poor and middle class got some of those jobs. And the top 1 percent of earners went from paying 17 percent of the taxes in 80 to 25 percent in 89.(Tax Foundation) After the 01 and 03 tax cuts of President Bush, 8 million jobs were created and record Treasury revenues came in from 05 to 07, even after adjusting for inflation. IRS data show that the richest 1 percent paid 84 billion more in taxes in 2007 than they had in 2000-a 23 percent increase after their tax rates were cut. Conversely, the bottom 50 percent of taxpayers paid 6 billion less in 2007 than they had in 2000, a 16 percent drop. There burden of the total income tax burden dropped from 3.9 percent to 2.9 percent.(Bush Tax Cut Secret: Rich Paid Even More, by John Merline, Investors Business Daily, 11-28-12) And tax payments by millionaire households more than doubled from 132 billion in 03 to 273 billion in 07.(The Dead Enders, 12-1-10, WSJ p. A-18) So Reverends, if you really want to soak the rich, then you should actually be for cutting their taxes. Suggested reading: The Conquest of Poverty, by the great Henry Hazlitt. Thank you. Mark Robertson Independence
Suzanne Conaway
4 months, 3 weeks agoI can (almost) see justification for keeping taxes low for corporations. After all, they hire people. But not taxing rich individuals who get most of their money from dividends, etc. doesn’t make sense. They don’t creat jobs (except for maybe yacht-builders — hardly a burgeoning business) and how much money can one actually spend? And how many ‘things’ does one actually need?