21 June 2010
Churches and charity urge government to make tax fairer
Leaders from the Baptist, Methodist and United Reformed
Churches, together with the Christian charity Church Action on
Poverty (CAP), are calling upon the chancellor to make a thorough
revision of the taxation system a central part of Tuesday's budget.
The four organisations are specifically calling for Mr Osborne to
make changes to ensure that taxes are shared fairly amongst all tax
payers.
Under the current system the poorest pay around 46 per cent of
their income in taxes, compared to the 34 per cent of income paid
by the wealthiest. An equal sharing of this tax burden is the very
least that fairness demands, the group said.
In common with CAP, the three denominations have a natural concern
for the poorest and weakest in society and a long tradition of
campaigning on issues of justice and fairness. John Marsh,
moderator of the general assembly of the United Reformed Church,
said: "It's clear that our country's fiscal deficit should be
tackled and I have no doubt that deep cuts will be announced in
Tuesday's budget. There are only two way to reduce the deficit -
increase the money coming in and reduce the money going out - and
we urge the chancellor to consider the moral dimensions of
both."
Building on this, Paul Morrison, policy adviser for the Methodist
Church, said: "We believe that paying fair taxes is the moral duty
of all. However, it's possible legally to side step that moral
obligation: for example, some footballers currently playing in the
England World Cup squad in South Africa get part of their earnings
paid into 'image rights companies' - thus avoiding UK income tax on
some of their very high wages."
Jonathan Edwards, general secretary of the Baptist Union of Great
Britain, added: "It is the duty of the government to levy taxes
fairly on those who can afford to pay and it is the duty of those
who can pay, to pay their fair share. There are many legal ways to
reduce a tax bill but we are asking, when public services are being
cut and many are losing their jobs, is this ethical? Are these
measures legal? Yes, perfectly. Is it fair? Absolutely not!"
In the next few months Church Action on Poverty will be working
with a number of groups applying the Fairness Test to individual
changes in tax and spending. This test will apply simple values of
justice to spending cuts and tax rises:
• Are the people affected by cuts the ones who benefitted from the
boom?
• Can the people affected afford the cuts?
• Are the people contributing tax the people who benefitted?
• Are people contributing tax proportionate to their ability to
pay?
Niall Cooper, national coordinator for CAP, said: "Raising fair
taxes puts justice and morality at the heart of domestic economic
policy, not only protecting the essential services that the most
vulnerable members of our society rely on, but also rectifying the
inequalities built into our taxation system."