07-28-2003, 04:37 AM
|
#1
|
|
Veteran Member
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Northern Virginia, USA
Posts: 1,112
|
Religion and Taxes
Religion steps in as lawmaking gets tough
Quote:
Despite 18 years as a lobbyist for the Roman Catholic Church, Bob Castagna doesn't ordinarily quote Scripture to lawmakers. But these aren't ordinary days in the Legislature.
After nearly seven months in session, lawmakers are still struggling during a recession to balance a budget that meets the needs of vulnerable Oregonians. A perfect opportunity, Castagna thought, to bring up the pharaoh.
In the book of Genesis, the Egyptian ruler dreamed of seven fat cows and seven skinny ones. The prophet Joseph predicted the cows meant seven years of plenty, to be followed by seven years of famine. Joseph advised the pharaoh to save during the good years and helped Egypt survive the lean times.
Oregon leaders didn't follow the prophet's advice in the fat years, Castagna testified during hearings this month on tax reform. As a result, needy Oregonians cut off from government services are suffering.
"It's in the first book of the Bible," Castagna says. "We have forgotten fundamental lessons here."
Castagna isn't alone in casting the state's financial woes in moral terms. Some conservative Christians argue that new taxes will hurt families and that moral leadership requires frugal stewardship of public dollars.
In the debate on retooling how Oregon taxes its residents, faith groups, social service advocates and some legislators say the choices -- to raise taxes or cut spending, to establish a reserve fund to redistribute the tax burden -- will provide a telling measure of what Oregonians believe they owe to their less-fortunate neighbors.
To put the issue in biblical terms: Are taxpayers obligated to be their brothers' keepers?
|
|
|
|
