I am always interested hearing others take on the subject of taxes and I am constantly amazed just how shallow that knowledge really is.
Jerry Hood wrote that he and the Episcopal Church want a fair tax system that will not adversely affect the poor. His point is the HOST sales tax to increase homestead exemption is unfair and as a Christian I should vote no.
Last year our “conservative” state government passed several new taxes including some of the first ever taxes on some services and I don’t remember any letters from the Episcopal Church opposing those taxes which the poor must also pay.
Businesses do not pay taxes. Businesses collect taxes. They collect those taxes from their customers. How does a major grocery store chain get the money to pay over $50,000 in property taxes?
A portion of it is in every product they sell down to a loaf of bread along with the taxes paid by every other business along the supply chain.
Ronald Reagan pointed out in a 1975 interview with “Reason” magazine there were 151 taxes embedded in each loaf of bread. I’m sure that number has not gone down.
Mr. Hood is also making an assumption that the poor do not own homes. Many do, including seniors on fixed income.
However, if the church really wants to help the poor then they should pass a resolution for and work to pass the Fair Tax at not only the federal level but the state and local level as well.
Then everyone at or under the poverty level will have no tax burden at all rather than the well over 151 taxes in that loaf of bread they pay now.
As a Christian isn’t that a better deal for the poor?
Raleigh Morgan
Canton
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