‘No justice without fair taxation,’ Alabama professor insists_30705

Posted: 3/4/05

'No justice without fair taxation,' Alabama professor insists

By Ferrell Foster

Texas Baptist Communications

AUSTIN–Alabama has the “sorriest tax structure in the country,” but Texas is “close to being right in the mud with us,” a law professor told the Texas Baptist Christian Life Conference.

“The trend is toward unfair taxation,” in which those who make less money carry more of the tax burden, said Susan Hamill, professor at the University of Alabama School of Law.

Hamill spoke about “Taxation for the Common Good” during the annual statewide conference of the Baptist General Convention of Texas' Christian Life Commission. She's a former New York corporate tax lawyer and Internal Revenue Service employee. She also holds a theology degree from Beeson Divinity School at Samford University, an Alabama Baptist school in Birmingham.

It's easy for Christians to get excited about “hot-button issues” if they don't have to sacrifice, Hamill said. “We want to ignore the issues that require sacrifice because we're greedy. … We are all tainted with the sin of greed to some degree.”

Christians living in a democracy have a God-given responsibility to make sure people are taxed fairly by the government, Hamill said.

“Our laws are a reflection of who we really are spiritually.”

Alabama Gov. Bob Riley, a Christian, sought to bring more justice to that state's tax system, Hamill said. But “it failed at the polls by more than a two-to-one margin.” It reflected the state's “peculiar history” in which generations of poor, undereducated and repressed people have been fooled into voting against their own tax relief, she said.

Hamill defined taxation as a “compulsory payment for community needs.” Since it is required, “justice comes into play,” and justice “speaks to how we treat everybody.”

“Pharisees of today” talk about the evil of taxes and say that taxation is a form of theft, the professor said.

But Jesus did not condemn taxation; rather, he accepted it as a fact of life.

The fall of mankind into sin provides the theological reason why taxes are needed, she noted. “The fall makes us greedy,” and law and justice become of critical importance.

Two fundamental principles of justice are: Do not oppress “the least of these,” and everyone has a God-given right for justice, Hamill said.

She warned that “there is no justice without fair taxation, … (and) without fair taxes we are doomed.”