Tax reform took many avenues in its journey to the Alabama Baptist State Convention. The issue of restructuring the state’s tax system was debated by messengers on the convention floor, was discussed at related meetings and was the subject of a public forum the night prior to the annual meeting.
What resulted was a resolution calling for tax reform in Alabama approved overwhelmingly by Baptist messengers (see resolution, this page). While no one argued whether tax reform was needed, some debated the best way to address the issue. And some questioned whether Alabama Baptists should become involved in such an issue. The proposed resolution concluded with “we encourage our state government to seek ways to alleviate poverty in Alabama through actions that are constitutionally prescribed.” But messengers quickly debated an amendment. The amendment changed the last statement to say, “Alabama Baptists call upon the governor and the state Legislature to develop and implement appropriate tax reform which will bring relief and justice to the poor who are our neighbors.”
Speaking to the amendment, Birmingham attorney Lenora Pate, a messenger from Dawson Memorial Baptist Church, said, “Last year I was asked to come into your churches to speak truth in opposition to the lottery and to tell them the truth about the state-sponsored and irresponsible and immoral theme.
“I ask you now to stand on the same truth we talked about then,” Pate said. “You said we needed to restructure our tax structure to make it fair. Let’s be true to our word. We are united on a spiritual issue, not a political issue.”
The 1999 defeat of a state-sponsored lottery became the unifying thread that encouraged many Alabama Baptists to champion the issue of tax reform.
Dan Ireland, executive director of Alabama Citizens Action Program, had a different opinion, however. He said the wording of part of the amendment offered to the resolution (the final paragraph) calling for “the governor and state Legislature to develop and implement appropriate tax reform” would be restricting the approach to tax reform. Without that statement the resolution would leave it up to the Legislature to “address that issue and other issues in alleviating the conditions of the poor people in Alabama,” Ireland said, noting the rest of the resolution reads appropriately.
James Evans, pastor of Crosscreek Baptist Church, Pelham, said the amendment “does not call for a specific tax reform plan but addresses the problem that the tax structure is unjust and unfair.”
“The governor and state legislators are on record saying there is no urgency (in the issue of tax reform) because people don’t seem to care about it,” Evans said. “This amendment (and thus the resolution) would say it is not true and makes it hard for them to say there is no interest in tax reform.”
Many Alabama Baptists have decided to fight not only for tax reform but also for constitutional reform.
“You could have tax reform without constitutional reform, but it is not advisable,” said Samford University President Thomas E. Corts during the Nov. 13 forum on tax and constitutional reform.
The forum, “Serving Justice, Loving Mercy: A Call for Tax and Constitutional Reform,” was sponsored by the Alabama Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF). The estimated 300 people in attendance heard from a panel of five “people of faith who have dedicated much time and energy to the concerns of the poor in our state,” said Mart Gray, Alabama CBF coordinator.
The panelists — Pate; Corts; Wayne Flynt, distinguished university professor at Auburn University; Odessa Woolfolk, leader in civic affairs and urban development; and Melvin Cooper, first executive director of the Alabama Ethics Commission — were invited for three specific reasons, Gray said. “First, they have noted expertise. Second they each have expended tremendous energy for reform. Finally, they are people of eminent faith whose commitment to the less fortunate in our state is well-documented and broadly known.” Syndicated columnist and political analyst Bob Ingram, a member of Cloverdale Baptist Church, Montgomery, served as moderator of the forum.
The forum’s purpose was “to create dialogue among Baptists and other people of faith regarding the moral and ethical implications of a tax system and state constitution which place an overwhelming burden on the poorest Alabamians and impede economic and social progress for our state,” Gray said.
“If decades of dealing with the impoverished have taught us anything, it is the absolute necessity of empowering them to make their own decisions,” Gray said. “A constitution written specifically to deny blacks and poor whites the right to vote and a constitution that congregates the power of decision making in Montgomery cannot serve a 21st century world seeking to set its people free.”
Gray said, “We are hoping to convince people of faith in Alabama that tax and constitutional reform are also issues of moral propriety in our state. It is our hope that people of faith might find common ground in seeking a just and fair tax system and a constitution that enables rather than impairs progress.”
Flynt pointed out in an earlier meeting that the lowest 20 percent of Alabama’s income group pays 12 percent in taxes, while the state’s top one percent pays only 5 percent in taxes. “How can we tolerate the tax system?” he asked.
“These are not just political issues,” Gray said at the forum. “They are issues of justice and mercy and basic fairness, and they beg the attention of the faith community in our state.
“For too long the poor of this state have borne the pain of unreformed taxes and constitution,” Gray said. “Bearing one another’s burdens is as New Testament as the gospel itself. My prayer … is that we might feel compelled to bear some great pain of conscience until these twin burdens are lifted from the backs of the poor,” Gray said. “It is good to do so. It is right to do so. It is Christian to do so.”
As Baptists debate the issue of tax and constitutional reform, a group of college students are also paying close attention. In fact, students from Samford, Judson College, Troy State University, Auburn University and Auburn University at Montgomery organized a group in support of these issues during the Alabama CBF business meeting prior to the public forum. Carol Ann Vaughn, director of the Christian Women’s Leadership Center at Samford, is the unofficial sponsor of the group.
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