Stated clerk opposes Bush tax-cut proposal
The Layman Online, April 17, 2001
Clifton Kirkpatrick, stated clerk of the Presbyterian Church (USA), has signed a document declaring that President George W. Bush’s tax-cut plan is “too inequitable,” “too large” and that it threatens the nation’s future.
Kirkpatrick was one of a number of representatives of mainline denominations, the National Council of Churches and Unitarian-Universalist, Jewish and Catholic groups that attacked the Bush proposal. The anti-tax-cut coalition is called the Religious Community for Responsible Tax Policy.
Robert Edgar, general secretary of the National Council of Churches, led the salvo. During a press conference a few days before the deadline for filing federal tax returns, Edgar said, “There is no budget surplus if there are still people living in poverty.”
Edgar, a former Democratic congressman who left Washington after losing a contest for U.S. Senate, and others criticized the idea that returning revenue to individuals from the federal government might help reduce poverty.
John Buehrens, head of the Unitarian-Universalist Association, called the Bush tax plan an example of “cruelty” that is neither “spiritually nor morally sound.” The tax cut will merely feed America’s “consumption” of “too much of the world’s resources.”
Sister Anne Curtis of NETWORK, an unofficial Catholic “social justice” lobby, warned that the Bush tax plan is “reckless,” “irresponsible,” “unwise,” and “unfair.” She insisted that “people and not tax cuts should be at the center of our moral priorities.”
The anti-tax-cut coalition drew some criticism from conservatives.
“Polls show that mainline Protestants voted strongly for George W. Bush,” said Dianne Knippers, president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy in Washington. “Most mainline church members would be surprised to learn that their church’s representatives claim a mandate to lobby Congress on the details of the tax code.
“Like many Americans, I mailed my tax returns this week. Our churches may legitimately teach us that we have the responsibility as citizens to obey our tax laws. But I am appalled to see church leaders squander their moral authority on highly partisan debates over tax and budgetary policies.”