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   During his time on earth, Jesus evinced a profound love and concern for the well-being of the ordinary people of His day. He showed particular concern for the poorest and weakest among us - going so far as to say we would be judged by our treatment of the "least among you." Jesus said that when we do things for the least among us, we are doing those very deeds for Him.

   At times, great issues present themselves that are so compelling and demanding of united action that our individual acts of love and charity are not enough to fulfill our Christian responsibility to care for the least among us. One of those times now faces us at the outset of this new millennium. Alabama is an historically poor state, and far too many of our citizens are among the neediest of America's citizens. Yet Alabama's people are not needy because our beloved state lacks natural resources or hard-working people; Alabama and her people are poor because we have failed to govern and educate ourselves wisely. We have failed to be good stewards of our human and natural resources.

   The proration crisis currently facing our state's public education system was directly caused by Alabama's outmoded constitution, which protects wealth and privilege and penalizes the rest of us with a deliberately unfair tax system that starves the public education system. The result is that the least among us-including our own children-suffer from educations that lag far behind what their counterparts receive in the rest of the country and further suffer by bearing a disproportionate share of the tax burden.

   The property tax and income tax are the fairest taxes because the greatest burden falls upon those who are most able to pay and who benefit the most from Alabama's economy. Moreover, the property tax is the among the most stable and dependable of revenue sources. Yet the Alabama Constitution of 1901, as amended, has guaranteed that this fairest and most dependable revenue source remains underused. Alabama has by far the lowest property tax rates of any state in the United States. They are so low that even if our property tax rates were doubled, they would still not equal those of Mississippi, which has the next lowest rates. Thus, the Constitution puts the least burden on those most capable of bearing the burden.

   The Alabama Constitution limits the state income tax rate to five percent, but the state taxes Alabamians who make as little as $4,600 in annual net income. By amendment, the Constitution allows the amount of federal income tax paid to be exempted from state net income-another benefit for higher income earners not enjoyed by the poor.

   By contrast, Alabama state and local governments depend most heavily on consumption taxes such as the sales tax as a revenue source. While mistakenly thought by many to be the fairest of taxes, the sales tax strikes the poor the hardest. The greater the proportion of a family's income that must be spent on life's necessities, the harder the burden of the sales tax. Moreover, Alabama even places a sales tax on groceries and prescription drugs, which are exempt from such taxation in other states.

   Finally, more than other taxes-much more than the property tax-sales taxes are hostage to the fortunes of the economy. Thus, a temporary downturn in the economy such as we are experiencing exacts a terrible cost on the public school system in the form of proration. The great axe falls and, as we are seeing, school systems have millions of dollars more slashed from already meager budgets. It's not fair to our children or our state's future for this to happen.

   A stable and fair tax system that is not at the mercy of business downturns and special interests and a decently funded public school system are the great issues of the day in our state, whether or not our elected officials want to face that fact. These are not political issues to be couched in terms of Republican vs. Democratic, urban vs. rural, or conservative vs. liberal. These are peace and justice issues that are rightly addressed by a Church seeking to serve the Lord by serving others, particularly the least among us.

   A new state constitution appears to be the only means to set Alabama on track. It is time to rewrite the Alabama Constitution to provide a decent education system for Alabama's children and a tax system that is fair to all Alabamians. Alabama's United Methodists, Southern Baptist and Episcopalians are to be commended for calling upon the governor and legislature to develop and implement tax reform that will bring relief and justice to the poor.

   The Priests' Council of the Archdiocese of Mobile calls upon Catholics and others throughout Alabama to support the grass-root effort for constitutional reform and to demand that our elected officials call a constitutional convention. We must produce a state constitution that provides a fair tax system and a decent public education system. Jesus' own example of profound concern for the needs of the people would have us do nothing less.

Approved unanimously by the Priests' Council on April 10, 2001.

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