TKC BREAKING NEWS!!! LOCAL CLERGY AND PRIESTS FROM KANSAS CITY-ST. JOSEPH DIOCESE OPPOSE JACKSON COUNTY TRANSLATIONAL SALES TAX!!!
EPIC news from on high right now which confirms my suspicion that God hates taxes . . .
TKC IS THE FIRST TO PUBLISH THIS FULL STATEMENT FROM CATHOLIC LEADERS AND OTHER CLERGY OPPOSING THE JACKSON COUNTY TRANSLATIONAL SALES TAX!!!
Tons of clergy signing on to the opposition including Bishop Finn. Admittedly, this is a really good move a bit of taxpayer redemption for him . . .
Read the statement in full FIRST on TKC:
Here is the most important passage . . .
Following is an open letter from several priests and pastors in Jackson County:
Question 1 on the November 5 ballot seeks to raise $800,000,000 for medical research by the imposition of an additional .5 percent local sales tax on the citizens of Jackson County for the next 20 years. This local tax money will be primarily directed to two private hospitals and UMKC for conducting research leading to “clinical applications that positively impact the health of the world.”
Developing “Next Generation Medicine” leading to cures for the people of the world is an ambitious and worthy goal which should not be paid for by a regressive tax on the citizens of one county in a single state.
As pastors, not scientists or economists, we urge the people of Jackson County to consider three important ways Question 1 could negatively affect the health of our community:
A sales tax is a regressive tax; it hits the poor and struggling middle class hardest: For families that work paycheck to paycheck to pay for the necessities of life, every dollar earned is a dollar spent -- and therefore, a dollar taxed by Question 1. In pursuit of national cures for diseases, it makes no sense to pursue an ambitious national goal by imposing a local, regressive tax on a single county which includes some of the poorest neighborhoods and lowest household incomes in the region.
Question l asks us to fund a national goal at a time when our local governments are unable to meet our own local needs. We fear that rather than creating economic development, taking $800,000,000 from Jackson County taxpayers without improving local services will be additional spur for young families to move out of Jackson County.
Question 1 does not ensure ethical research will be conducted: There is nothing, in the text of' Question l to prevent embryo-destructive research. Although many scientists believe in the long-term potential for clinical applications from embryonic stem cell research, it destroys nascent human life and is thus immoral, jnst as destructive medical experimentation on the bodies of children and adults is immoral.
Question 1 is the only item on the November 5 ballot. That means proponents will find it easier to pass this tax because of low turnout.
If you feel as we do, that paying for medical research for national cures through a Jackson County sales tax is unwise on its face and is a regressive tax on the working poor and struggling middle-class, please vote: ‘No’ on Question 1 this November 5.
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AGAIN, INCLUDING BISHOP FINN . . . HERE'S THE SCREEN CAP OF ALL THE LOCAL CLERGY AND MEMBERS OF THE KANSAS CITY DIOCESE WHO SIGNED ON TO THIS LETTER:
As always, click the image or this link for a bigger, better view . . .
Developing . . .