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Sister Simone Campbell: Tax Day Should Be ‘a Day of Joy’; Taxation ‘Is Holiness’

‘And feeling like we are contributing to the common good as we pay our taxes’
By Grabien Staff

The executive director of the NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, Sister Simone Campbell, suggested at a tax day protest today that taxation is "holiness."

"I as a person of faith am here on this policy because it is preying on our worst selves," Campell told a small crowd on Capitol Hill Tuesday. "It is challenging us to only think of me and mine, how much of a tax break did I get. I’m sorry, Pope Francis has made it abundantly clear last week that holiness, faith, engagement in a faith journey requires the commitment to the common good, not to the individual good only. So I stand up here saying I’m calling on a few people to act in a holy fashion. Isn’t that a radical tax rallying cry? Be holy. Be holy and care for the common good. Be holy and care for each other. Be holy and insist that everyone in our beloved nation, the richest nation on Earth, has access to healthcare, has access to quality education, has access to affordable, quality broadband service in our nation because everybody needs to be connected."

Here's a full transcript of her remarks:

What an honor to be here on a day that I wished was more happier day, a day of joy, a day of feeling like we are contributing to the common good as we pay our taxes. But I have to say, as I paid mine, I looked at it and said, ‘What happened to the common good?’ Why aren’t we paying taxes saying we believe in education? Why aren’t we paying our taxes saying we are committed to those who are left out? Why are we not paying our taxes saying we are committed to highways and infrastructure and caring for our planet and doing all of the things we care about for our nation and for our world?

This tax policy is bad policy. It’s bait and switch. It’s a scam. But more than that, it’s taking the heart out of our nation. I as a person of faith am here on this policy because it is preying on our worst selves. It is challenging us to only think of me and mine, how much of a tax break did I get. I’m sorry, Pope Francis has made it abundantly clear last week that holiness, faith, engagement in a faith journey requires the commitment to the common good, not to the individual good only. So I stand up here saying I’m calling on a few people to act in a holy fashion. Isn’t that a radical tax rallying cry? Be holy. Be holy and care for the common good. Be holy and care for each other. Be holy and insist that everyone in our beloved nation, the richest nation on Earth, has access to healthcare, has access to quality education, has access to affordable, quality broadband service in our nation because everybody needs to be connected. So, we at network, we are standing with you all to say we can do this.

I learned something about the fight during the fight for the Affordable Care Act, protecting it. You can keep fighting even after something is passed. I learned that you can keep whittling away. I learned that we can stay engaged and that in the end what we learned in the healthcare fight is that the needs of the people do triumph. So let us stand together, fight for the common good, and ensure that we have reasonable revenue to pay for our amazingly responsible programs and care for our entire nation, not just those who think they are in charge. Thank you.

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