...I'm okay with being REALITY-based.




Friday, July 11, 2003
      ( 8:53 AM )
 
Robin Hood Resurrected in Alabama

A Republican governor in Alabama is doing what most Democrat governors wouldn't even dare: overhauling the entire state tax system and turning into a progressive tax that takes care of the poor and puts more burden on the rich and corporations! Could it be true? Governor Bob Riley is fighting corporate interests in his state in order to get a bill passed that will stop putting the tax burden on low-income families and take away the tax freebies from the likes of Weyerhaeuser and Boise Cascade.

Not surprisingly, the communities that have
benefited the most from Alabama’s tax breaks
are showing a great deal of resistance to
change the situation. Farmer and timber groups
hope to defeat the proposal at the polls by
portraying it as a threat to Alabama's agricultural
heritage. Christian groups and some country
Republican officials from around the state have
also spoken publicly against the measure.

Christian groups??? Because what, Jesus would prefer to tax the poor? I think not:

Governor Bob Riley has been fram[ing] the
tax package in starkly moral terms, arguing
that the current Alabama tax system violates
biblical teachings because Christians are
prohibited from oppressing the poor.

And in the Bush administration's religious fervor to grant favors to its rich friends and condemn the poor as lazy and undeserving of help, they may miss this new wave of logical argument for progressive taxing:

As the Bush administration and the religious right
fight to put theology more squarely into public
policy discussions, they are going to have to be
ready for arguments like the ones coming out
of Alabama. Many theologians argue that it is
far easier to find support in the Bible for policies
that help the poor than for, say, a cut in the
dividend tax. If Governor Riley's crusade succeeds
this summer, Alabama may offer the nation a
model for a new kind of tax system: one where
the Devil is not in the details.

Uh oh. Watch out for Robin Hoods disguised as Robin Hoods. This is one mama that hopes Gov. Riley's plan gets the go ahead this summer.

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