The UMC Takes Issue with Tax Policy
The UMC is once again at the forefront of national policy, and poverty and its causes are scrutinized. United Methodist Church (UMC) official, John Hill takes issue with the nation's tax policy and questions whether tax revenue is indeed fairly raised on television.
United Methodist Church told MSNBC viewers on Dec. 15 that the nation ought to discuss the morality behind the tax codes of this nation. The implication is that they're not.
This segment was part of the MSNBC coverage of the White House Conference on the Economy at the Ronald Reagan Center in Washington, DC. Lasting six minutes, it featured John Hill and Tim Kane, an economist who works for the Heritage Foundation converse about the tax policy. It's clear the denomination does not agree with the current tax policy and wants to bring in faith-based morals for a discussion.
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"What we’re asking is for folks to begin a conversation," he said. "We believe that the budget and the tax system is a moral document, that it, in essence, determines what and, more importantly, who we value in society," said Hill, an executive with the United Methodist Board of Church and Society. He even urged all Methodists to do the same in their states.
Since May 2004, the denomination has taken an active stance against unfair tax codes and passed a resolution calling upon each regional conference to set up a task force to examine the tax codes of each state. The task force would then strategize on the most efficient way to "promote a just tax code," according to UMNS.
"Certainly our faith teaches us that we are supposed to treat those who have the least in our society with fairness, with justice, to make sure that their needs are met," said Hill.
The economist Kane said the Heritage Foundation agrees with him on fighting poverty but disagrees with Hill on how.
He believed that "if we treated everyone equal with the tax code – one rate, no deductions – that would be a far superior system that would treat everyone equally with dignity."
"Kane believes the tax code is already progressive and said that "the call to do more for the poor" often masks a move toward bigger government.
Hill pointed out that there is no "predetermined outcome" for the church’s discussion about tax codes though he said the tax code "disproportionately taxed the poor. It taxed baby food but not chicken feed."
Susan Pace Hamill, a UMC lay person in Alabama "documented that the state’s tax code was oppressive to poor families and failed to raise adequate revenue for basic services" (UMNS). The experience was such an eye opener that she wrote the book, The Least of These (Fair Taxes and the Moral Duty of Christians).
UMC's North Alabama and Alabama-West Florida conferences have already organized task forces to work on reforming the unfair state tax code.
