Archbishop's web site Denver Catholic Register Parishes Catholic Pastoral Center
August 22, 2001
Letters
Donate rebate, work for lower taxes
The letter by Mark Rodney in the Aug. 8 Register suggests that all those who receive a rebate check from the IRS consider donating it to a charity to help the poor. I endorse this idea and further recommend that we all reevaluate our charitable giving. One question to ponder prayerfully: Do the goals and activities of the causes I am giving to truly reflect the teachings of the Church?
On the subject of the tax rebates, here are a few additional facts:
•The rebate checks are an attempt to refund to taxpayers overpayment of taxes in the first half of 2001. This is because the tax cut bill retroactively lowered the lowest tax bracket from 15 percent to 10 percent effective Jan. 1, 2001. To simply approximate the correct refund amount, the government devised the existing rebate scheme, based on 2000 taxes paid. In terms of "fairness" this is not perfect, but in general, those who pay little or no income tax receive little or no rebate.
• These rebate checks are not a gift from Uncle Sam, as some politicians have tried to portray. They do not alter the taxpayer's total tax liability for this year. Each taxpayer will pay a total tax based on his total 2001 income and the new rates. A true rebate would have been if the government refunded some of our 2000 tax liability, which was already set and paid.
•Payroll income tax withholding rates have been reduced to reflect the new tax rates. This reduction is especially significant for those in the lowest income tax bracket, which went from 15 percent to 10 percent. It is a full one-third reduction in their tax rate! As I see it, this is real relief for those who need it the most.
Today, the federal government is taking more taxes as a percentage of gross domestic product than at any time since World War II and the government is projected to have a surplus of $5.6 trillion over the next 10 years. The tax cut is projected to reduce total government income by only $1.3 trillion, so try as it will, the federal government may well not be able to spend all of the money it will take in, even with the tax cut.
We all need to recognize that we cannot export to the government our Gospel responsibility to our fellow man. We need to send less of our money to the government and accept personal responsibility to use it, along with our time and talent, more productively for the benefit of all, especially the poor.
So yes, prayerfully consider donating your tax rebate check to a charity, but also consider working for lower taxes overall and pushing for a system where we each answer our Gospel call directly and through charities, not through a bloated federal government.
Kevin E. Ryan
Broomfield
Tax rebate fair
Regarding Mark Rodney's letter suggesting that all donate their tax rebate to charity: He, of course, may do as he wishes, it is not prohibited. But I disagree with him concerning there being something "insidious" in not giving the maximum possible to those only getting back what they paid in or having low enough income that none was even due. You can't get lower than zero taxation. This makes sense to me in all taxable years. I don't think he wants them taxed at a higher rate in their bracket so that they can get a rebate back.
S.L. Zancanelli
Arvada
War as evil as abortion
Your headline's suggestion that "Bombers and Bibles" have anything in common is nearly blasphemous. Weapons bring only death, while the Bible tells us of the "God of Life."
In the Aug. 1 Register, Joe Burns, while speaking of his new job as catechetical director and his old position as an Air Force major, says "both jobs involve defending innocent life and helping those who need help." He refers specifically to his current struggle against abortion and also to his time during the Persian Gulf War.
Hundreds of thousands of babies were aborted during the few months of the Gulf War, and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis died as a result of the Gulf War. We fight the first injustice but are nonchalant about the second. We are ruthless against abortion but far too tolerant of war. I do not judge Burns' life in the military, but I judge our nation's actions in that atrocious war. (I believe John Paul II made 41 statements against the Gulf War.) It was an immoral assault and we should mourn its victims, rather than celebrate its perpetrators.
I absolutely support Burns' efforts against abortion, but what of the innocent (and the guilty) who were killed in Iraq? They, too, are as precious in God's eyes as are the unborn.
I pray we see the sacredness of all life, and may we be as virulently opposed to all war as we are to abortion.
Mike McManus
Denver
Editors note: Headline to the Joe Burns story was "From bombers to Bibles" the intended suggestion was "From war to peace."
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