September 2, 2003

Taxing Stuff

I'm catching up on some reading and found an interesting post from Donald Sensing about a Christian's duty vis a vis taxes, and whether the governor of Alabama ought to "be allowed to shape tax policy explicitly upon Christianity."

It's true that Alabama Gov. Don Riley is pushing his tax reform plan - which is also a massive tax increase - as a Christian plan. And it's true that University of Alabama law professor Susan Pace Hamill has written a law review article supporting the view that tax policy must be based on Christian theology. (I wrote about her before here and here.)

Some more observations: While spending the Labor Day weekend in Gulf Shores, Alabama, this weekend, I learned that Gov. Riley's tax proposal is trailing badly in the public opinion polls. And that's important because the tax plan is up for a public vote in a statewide referendum scheduled for, I think, Sept. 9. Now, I don't know the particulars of the Riley tax reform/increase plan. I don't know if it is more or less fair, or will be good or bad for the state's economy. I don't know if it violates the state's constitution. I do know, however, that it is right that the people of Alabama get to vote on it.

For four years, Tennesseans faced the threat of the imposition of a state income tax, pushed by then-Gov. Don Sundquist, even though the state constitution does not authorize the legislature to tax incomes (and in fact explicitly lists it as a tax that neither the legislature nor local governments may impose.) I thought the governor's specific proposals also did not meet the fairness test, and would be economically damaging to the state - but also wrote newspaper columns (here and here) suggesting a way to reform the Tennessee tax code and create an income tax that would be fair, constitutional, and not damaging to the state's economy. One key part: a referendum, which in fact would be required to amend the state constitution to allow an income tax.

One other facet I pushed for, regardless of the tax structure: a Taxpayers Bill of Rights, which would give the people of Tennessee the right to vote on all future tax increases and creation of new taxes.

Having pushed for that right for Tennesseans - an unfinished battle, by the way - I can't fault the people of Alabama if they vote for Riley's plan, regardless of what I may think about the flimsy theology of it. Given the latest opinion polls, I suspect the Riley tax reform/increase plan will fail spectacularly, but if it passes, that's okay too, because it is what the people of Alabama will have chosen.

MEANWHILE, in a related item, reader Jason Currey sends this link to a story out of Colorado about how the elected officials there are trying to convince their constituents to give up their Taxpayers Bill of Rights protections.

UPDATE: The link Mr. Currey sent appears to be dead now, but here's a link to a letter-to-the-editor prompted by that article.