The Vast Injustice Perpetuated by State and Local Tax Policy

State and local tax policy is one of the most important areas of public policy affecting the lives of the most powerless and vulnerable segments of the population children from low income families Focusing on the funding of primary and secondary education especially in high poverty school districts and the scheme for allocating the tax burden this article empirically proves that all fifty states have unjust state and local tax policy with thirtyone states inflicting an extreme level of injustice on poor children and their families This article argues that the people in most states as well as their political leaders are compelled to reform state and local tax policy because they claim to practice Christianity or Judaism and in addition to being unjust under secularbased ethical models their state and local tax policy also violates the moral principles of JudeoChristian ethics This article also argues that the moral context of a faithbased appeal offers the best chance to inspire people to support tax policy requiring greater levels of sacrifice from wealthier Americans a group that must be part of the reform effort in order to change the state and local tax picture from a vast sea of injustice to a tool of justice protecting our most vulnerable and powerless citizens