Everyone loves to hate taxes. So in Alabama, the state with the lowest per capita tax in the nation, you'd think people would love their tax code. And rich people do. But most others argue that the tax code punishes the poor.
Newspaper editorials have railed against Alabama's tax system for years, calling it unjust and unfair, wretched and racist. But nothing ever changed. However, one outspoken law professor has concluded that the tax code is more than unfair: It is "un-Christian." She, along with Alabama church leaders, is saying that the Old and New Testaments make it clear that God does not favor oppressing the poor and that reform is needed to smite the self-satisfied rich and instead serve "the least of these." What, or whom, would Jesus tax?
Susan Pace Hamill, tax law professor, University of Alabama Law School, author, "An Argument for Tax Reform Legislation Based on Judeo-Christian Ethics"
Joey Kennedy, editorial writer, The Birmingham News, won Pulitzer Prize for series on need to reform Alabama's tax code.
