Faith Leaders Encourage Representatives to Love Their Neighbors Through Just Tax Policies

Today I went to Capitol Hill to listen to Rev. David Beckmann and other Christian leaders urge the House of Representatives to defeat HR 8, a tax bill that would extend 2001 and 2008 tax cuts to wealthy Americans and reduce the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC) benefit levels. Delivering a statement backed by nearly 60 prominent faith leaders, Rev. Beckmann, president of Bread for the World,  prodded Congress to take a deeper look at the effects of cutting crucial tax credits that help the hungry and poor.

As Rev. Noel Castellanos of the Christian Community Development Association pointed out in his remarks, few of the families that rely on tax credits are present on the Hill to speak out against this House bill; therefore, others must speak for them.

Rev. Beckmann addressed the policy makers first by arguing that if the House bill goes through, there will be no tax incentive for couples to get married. He also addressed inequities in the tax system that places more of a burden on the poor. Rev. Beckmann reminded Congress that wealthy individuals should recognize that payment of taxes is a just action, quoting the Apostle Paul’s statement that government authorities are ministers of God.

Sister Simone Campbell of the prominent Nuns on the Bus movement preached that tax cuts for the rich have consistently hurt the bottom 20 percent of U.S. households. Contrary to the rhetoric behind those tax cuts, the benefits do not trickle down to the poor, she said. Sister Campbell insisted that our country needs to be a moral and united nation, supporting families that are hungry and poor.

 Along the same lines, Rev. Michael Livingston of the National Council of Churches said he prays that Congress get a conscience and finds a heart. “How can Congress extend tax cuts to millionaires and cut programs like SNAP to poor and hungry families?” asked Livingston.

Rev. Jim Wallis of Sojourners stated that this Republican budget is an immoral document, and that for Catholic lawmakers it is a direct offense to Catholic social teaching.

Bread for the World hopes that Congress continues to create a circle of protection around poor and hungry people in today’s House vote by upholding the current EITC and CTC benefit levels. We must pressure Congress to stop protecting the top 2 percent.

And we need to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.

Sarah Dickey, a recent graduate of Sewanee: The University of the South, is a media relations intern at Bread for the World.