The news is repeated state after state and community after community. Revenues
in the public sector are down. Budgets are being slashed in order to get them in
balance. Services are being cut to the poor and needy. Schools in some cases
closed early this spring because they had run out of money. Across the country
teaching positions are being ended and when school starts in the fall, there
will be fewer teachers in our nation’s classrooms. The politicians in North
Carolina are so afraid of raising taxes, even the cigarette tax, that many are
pushing to institute legalized gambling in the form of a lottery to help solve
our state’s fiscal woes. I find it ironic that our elected leaders want to offer
up one vice because they are not willing to address another. In our own city,
Durham City officials thought that raising bus fares and curtailing some routes
were appropriate ways to cut spending in order to get a balanced budget. The
outrage this produced should have been expected. Should we really expect the
people with the fewest available transportation options (lower income people) to
bear the brunt of balancing the budget? Apparently some people thought so.
On the federal level, this spring our elected leaders instituted a massive tax
cut. While everyone will benefit from it financially, the lion’s share of the
cut will go to upper income persons. The people who need it the most will get
the least. If one also factors in the cutbacks on the state and local level,
which lower income people depend on more so than do middle and upper income
persons, then what we are seeing is a large redistribution of money and services
away from lower income persons and toward upper income persons. It is frankly a
redistributive injustice. It is a reverse “Robin Hood.”
Like me, you may feel frustrated as to what you can do. I have a suggestion. The
tax cut that was just passed is retroactive and will be a windfall for my
family. Families with dependent children at home will receive $400 per child.
With three such children, my family will receive $1200 back from the federal
government this summer. This is money we had not counted on and we could easily
find ways to save it or spend it. My oldest is going to college soon (God
willing) and his college fund could use a boost. A nice family vacation to a
Carolina beach sounds good as well. But to me it is only right and just that my
check from the federal government go to help people who are suffering due to the
current economic policies and climate. So, that is what my family will do. We
will give it all away to two local groups: one that assists those in need, Urban
Ministries of Durham, Inc., and one that supports public education, our
children’s PTA.
This should resonate with my conservative friends. They argue with me that the
government should do less and non-profits and religious institutions should do
more to help those in need. They believe that all levels of government do an
inefficient job of serving those in need and that their taxes should not go to
support such inefficiency. They believe that people should have control over
their own assets and voluntarily support those in need. Well, this summer many
of you will have the opportunity to prove your point by giving generously.
My liberal friends will say I am playing right into the hands of the
conservatives. They argue that since the Reagan Administration it is has been
the conservative agenda to so bankrupt government through tax cuts and increased
defense spending that there would be fewer dollars available to support social
and educational services. The present administration seems to be borrowing an
old play from Reagan Budget Director David Stockman’s playbook. I think my
friends are right. What my family will do this summer will play into the hands
of the conservative agenda. But I have to ask my liberal friends: Would you
rather be correct in your position or compassionate in your actions? Would you
rather be right or just? Do you really want to stick to your principles even
though people around you need your help?
I hope you will join my family this summer and give away your check when it
arrives. Of course, some families are so strapped financially that they will not
be able do this. Each family will have to decide if it is able. So, for those
who are able, I invite you to take this pledge with my family:
When we receive our check from the federal government that will come to us as a
result of the recent tax cut passed by Congress, we pledge to give the entire
amount to one or more non-profits in Durham whose mission is to help those in
need.
If your family desires to make this pledge, then please let me know by email at
scottbenhase@stphilipsdurham.org. A number of us who have already made this
pledge are going to publish the entire list of pledgers in the Herald-Sun later
on this summer. We hope you will join us.