JSRI Associate Mary Baudouin to be honored
News Intro Text
On June 28th JSRI Associate Mary Baudouin will be presented with the Adjutor Hominum Award, the highest alumni award from Loyola University New Orleans.
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<p>LOYOLA PRESS RELEASE - JUNE 1, 2015</p>
<p>A New Orleans native who spent much of her life working for social justice and ministering in the Catholic Church at the local and national levels has been honored with the highest alumni award from Loyola University New Orleans.</p>
<p>The Loyola Alumni Association has chosen Mary Ann Baudouin '78 to receive the Adjutor Hominum Award, which honors an outstanding Loyola graduate whose life exemplifies the values and philosophy of the Jesuit education — moral character, service to humanity and unquestionable integrity. The award presentation will be held as part of the university's Alumni Weekend celebration and reunion during the annual Alumni Association Jazz Brunch to be held on Sunday, June 28 at 11:30 a.m. at the Audubon Tea Room, 6500 Magazine St., located across from the Audubon Golf Course. The cost is $40 per person or $60 per couple and includes a Creole breakfast. Registration is available online.</p>
<p>“I am so touched to receive this award from the school that absolutely shaped me and inspired me to become an advocate for social justice," Baudouin said. "The Jesuits, my professors, and my friends at Loyola helped me to understand that our faith calls us to do what we can to create a world where the poor and excluded find a place at the table and also gave me practical tools and abiding hope needed to work for that kind of world.”</p>
<p>Baudouin graduated from Loyola in 1978 with a degree in social work. While at Loyola, she led a group of students who started LUCAP, the Loyola University Community Action Program, a student-led volunteer service and advocacy program now in its 40th year. Baudouin went on to earn a master's degree in social work from Washington University in St. Louis, Mo.</p>
<p>After returning to New Orleans, Baudouin built a career working in the social justice ministry in the Catholic Church, including 14 years with Catholic Charities and the Office of the Social Apostolate of the Archdiocese of New Orleans. When the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops wrote their pastoral letter on the U.S. economy in 1987, Baudouin coordinated their Office of Implementation for the United States Catholic Conference Office of Social Development and World Peace. She also spent seven years working as a consultant with faith-based and social service nonprofits in the South, specializing in the areas of strategic planning, board development and grant-writing.</p>
<p>Baudouin has worked since 2003 as the provincial assistant for social ministries of the Jesuits, first with the New Orleans Province and now with the newly formed United States Central and Southern Province. In addition to coordinating social justice ministries for the province, she is responsible for the annual Ministry of Management training seminar for priests and lay leaders of Jesuit works. She serves as an associate for the Jesuit Social Research Institute at Loyola, where she helps to lead Catholic dialogues on immigration and the child migrant crisis and human rights with a private prison company.</p>
<p>She currently serves on the boards of The Harry Tompson Center, St. Mary's Dominican High School (her alma mater) and the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. She was a founding board member of the Ignatian Solidarity Network and The Isaiah Fund.</p>
<p>Baudouin is married to Loyola alumnus Tom Fitzgerald '86 and has three children.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.loyno.edu/news/story/2015/6/1/3614">MORE>></a></p>
<p>A New Orleans native who spent much of her life working for social justice and ministering in the Catholic Church at the local and national levels has been honored with the highest alumni award from Loyola University New Orleans.</p>
<p>The Loyola Alumni Association has chosen Mary Ann Baudouin '78 to receive the Adjutor Hominum Award, which honors an outstanding Loyola graduate whose life exemplifies the values and philosophy of the Jesuit education — moral character, service to humanity and unquestionable integrity. The award presentation will be held as part of the university's Alumni Weekend celebration and reunion during the annual Alumni Association Jazz Brunch to be held on Sunday, June 28 at 11:30 a.m. at the Audubon Tea Room, 6500 Magazine St., located across from the Audubon Golf Course. The cost is $40 per person or $60 per couple and includes a Creole breakfast. Registration is available online.</p>
<p>“I am so touched to receive this award from the school that absolutely shaped me and inspired me to become an advocate for social justice," Baudouin said. "The Jesuits, my professors, and my friends at Loyola helped me to understand that our faith calls us to do what we can to create a world where the poor and excluded find a place at the table and also gave me practical tools and abiding hope needed to work for that kind of world.”</p>
<p>Baudouin graduated from Loyola in 1978 with a degree in social work. While at Loyola, she led a group of students who started LUCAP, the Loyola University Community Action Program, a student-led volunteer service and advocacy program now in its 40th year. Baudouin went on to earn a master's degree in social work from Washington University in St. Louis, Mo.</p>
<p>After returning to New Orleans, Baudouin built a career working in the social justice ministry in the Catholic Church, including 14 years with Catholic Charities and the Office of the Social Apostolate of the Archdiocese of New Orleans. When the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops wrote their pastoral letter on the U.S. economy in 1987, Baudouin coordinated their Office of Implementation for the United States Catholic Conference Office of Social Development and World Peace. She also spent seven years working as a consultant with faith-based and social service nonprofits in the South, specializing in the areas of strategic planning, board development and grant-writing.</p>
<p>Baudouin has worked since 2003 as the provincial assistant for social ministries of the Jesuits, first with the New Orleans Province and now with the newly formed United States Central and Southern Province. In addition to coordinating social justice ministries for the province, she is responsible for the annual Ministry of Management training seminar for priests and lay leaders of Jesuit works. She serves as an associate for the Jesuit Social Research Institute at Loyola, where she helps to lead Catholic dialogues on immigration and the child migrant crisis and human rights with a private prison company.</p>
<p>She currently serves on the boards of The Harry Tompson Center, St. Mary's Dominican High School (her alma mater) and the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. She was a founding board member of the Ignatian Solidarity Network and The Isaiah Fund.</p>
<p>Baudouin is married to Loyola alumnus Tom Fitzgerald '86 and has three children.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.loyno.edu/news/story/2015/6/1/3614">MORE>></a></p>
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Texas Loses Billions To Treat The Poor By Not Expanding Medicaid, Advocates Say
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When the Supreme Court ruled that the federal government could not compel states to expand Medicaid programs, many Southern and Midwestern states opted out. One quarter of the uninsured live in Texas.
News Item Content
<p><a href="http://www.npr.org/2015/05/29/410470081/texas-didn-t-expand-medicare-advocates-say-money-is-being-left-on-the-table"><img alt="" src="https://jsri.loyno.edu/sites/loyno.edu.jsri/files/NPR.jpg" style="width: 600px; height: 401px;" /></a></p>
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“Offsets” Are Latest Budget-Balancing Tool
News Intro Text
Fr. Kammer spoke in support of Louisiana HB 70 on Tuesday. Committee members voted 8-6 to advance the bill to the full House.
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<p>By SUE LINCOLN, 89.9 WWNO</p>
<p>A bill to increase a tax credit program by $47-million dollars found favor with the House Ways and Means Committee Tuesday. Speaker Pro Tem Walt Leger’s HB 70 would double Louisiana’s current Earned Income Tax Credit.</p>
<p>“This allows about 30-percent of the state of Louisiana to keep more of their earned money,” Leger told the committee.</p>
<p>There were the kind of arguments for the bill that you’d expect.</p>
<p>“I see this bill as a response to consistent criticism that I hear – in this building and in the community at large – about people ‘getting something for nothing’,” Leger explained. “This program is one that rewards people for working.”</p>
<p>Father Fred Kammer, with Loyola’s Social Research Institute, said increasing Louisiana’s credit from 3 ½ percent to 7 percent of the federal EITC would be a raise for Louisiana’s working poor.</p>
<p>“The dollar value to each family of the federal share was $2685,” Kammer said of the most recent tax year. “The state value was $94.”</p>
<p>There were objections, like this from Kenner Rep. Julie Stokes, who said she wasn’t comfortable with the timing.</p>
<p>“We’re going to be back in this building – probably in early 2016 – for a special session that will focus on tax reform,” Stokes said, urging a delay in acting on this bill. “I think that would probably be better timing.”</p>
<p>“I share your concerns with the timing,” Leger responded. “However, given the nature of our situation and the need for offsets, I thought it was an appropriate thing to bring at this time.”</p>
<p>“Offsets” ended up being the key argument. This bill could help offset the House-approved tax increases, thus assisting with keeping the budget within the governor’s “no net tax increase” guidelines.</p>
<p>“If we’re going to ultimately balance the budget – without vetoes – we need to just be cognizant that, at this point in the session, providing the Senate with some options on offsets is, I think, a valuable tool,” Leger explained.</p>
<p>Committee members, several crossing party lines, voted 8-6 to advance the bill to the full House.</p>
<p><a href="http://wwno.org/post/offsets-are-latest-budget-balancing-tool">MORE>></a></p>
<p>A bill to increase a tax credit program by $47-million dollars found favor with the House Ways and Means Committee Tuesday. Speaker Pro Tem Walt Leger’s HB 70 would double Louisiana’s current Earned Income Tax Credit.</p>
<p>“This allows about 30-percent of the state of Louisiana to keep more of their earned money,” Leger told the committee.</p>
<p>There were the kind of arguments for the bill that you’d expect.</p>
<p>“I see this bill as a response to consistent criticism that I hear – in this building and in the community at large – about people ‘getting something for nothing’,” Leger explained. “This program is one that rewards people for working.”</p>
<p>Father Fred Kammer, with Loyola’s Social Research Institute, said increasing Louisiana’s credit from 3 ½ percent to 7 percent of the federal EITC would be a raise for Louisiana’s working poor.</p>
<p>“The dollar value to each family of the federal share was $2685,” Kammer said of the most recent tax year. “The state value was $94.”</p>
<p>There were objections, like this from Kenner Rep. Julie Stokes, who said she wasn’t comfortable with the timing.</p>
<p>“We’re going to be back in this building – probably in early 2016 – for a special session that will focus on tax reform,” Stokes said, urging a delay in acting on this bill. “I think that would probably be better timing.”</p>
<p>“I share your concerns with the timing,” Leger responded. “However, given the nature of our situation and the need for offsets, I thought it was an appropriate thing to bring at this time.”</p>
<p>“Offsets” ended up being the key argument. This bill could help offset the House-approved tax increases, thus assisting with keeping the budget within the governor’s “no net tax increase” guidelines.</p>
<p>“If we’re going to ultimately balance the budget – without vetoes – we need to just be cognizant that, at this point in the session, providing the Senate with some options on offsets is, I think, a valuable tool,” Leger explained.</p>
<p>Committee members, several crossing party lines, voted 8-6 to advance the bill to the full House.</p>
<p><a href="http://wwno.org/post/offsets-are-latest-budget-balancing-tool">MORE>></a></p>
Date
Creating a Culture of Encounter
News Intro Text
How can a “culture of encounter” with undocumented immigrants be realized in our community, especially considering barriers of language, class, location, and privilege?
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<p>by Susan Weishar, Ph.D.</p>
<p>As migrant deaths in the Mediterranean Sea continue to mount and U.S. politicians persist in hardline rhetoric opposing immigration reform, Pope Francis’s 2014 Message for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees takes on greater urgency: “A change of attitude towards migrants and refugees is needed on the part of everyone, moving away from attitudes of defensiveness and fear, indifference and marginalization—all typical of a throwaway culture—towards attitudes based on a culture of encounter, the only culture capable of building a better, more just and fraternal world.”[1]</p>
<p>How can a “culture of encounter” with undocumented immigrants be realized in our community, especially considering barriers of language, class, location, and privilege? Perhaps by creating a welcoming space of equals, where respect and dialog are nurtured and facilitated and the deepest values of our faith traditions are recognized and affirmed. These were the goals of the Catholic Teach-In on Migration for Young Catholics, held this past semester in the Audubon Room at Loyola.</p>
<p>Participants included fifteen immigrant teens and their parents—all members of the Congress of Day Laborers, sixty juniors and seniors from Jesuit, St. Mary’s Dominican, Cabrini, and Brother Martin High Schools, and twenty chaperones. Eleven Loyola students from Honors, the Spanish Department, and LUCAP’s Loyola Immigration Advocates served as small group discussion leaders. Simultaneous and consecutive interpretation were provided by sixteen students with Loyola’s Interpreting and Translation program.</p>
<p>The Teach-In began and ended in prayers for love and hospitality for those who migrate. Participants were asked to follow “ground rules”, i.e. treat each other with respect and aim to understand one another’s points of view. After brief overviews from JSRI staff on the Church’s teachings on migration and the U.S. role in undermining healthy economies and democracy in Central America, local Catholic high school students listened intently as young immigrants bravely told their migration stories in small group discussions, including why they and their families fled Central America, what their migration journeys were like, and the challenges they face in our community living undocumented. The small group discussions were led by Loyola students, who were trained by JSRI for this task. </p>
<p><a href="https://t.e2ma.net/webview/zqihi/308b5d9d7f9aed2139ac52b426411679">MORE>></a></p>
<p>As migrant deaths in the Mediterranean Sea continue to mount and U.S. politicians persist in hardline rhetoric opposing immigration reform, Pope Francis’s 2014 Message for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees takes on greater urgency: “A change of attitude towards migrants and refugees is needed on the part of everyone, moving away from attitudes of defensiveness and fear, indifference and marginalization—all typical of a throwaway culture—towards attitudes based on a culture of encounter, the only culture capable of building a better, more just and fraternal world.”[1]</p>
<p>How can a “culture of encounter” with undocumented immigrants be realized in our community, especially considering barriers of language, class, location, and privilege? Perhaps by creating a welcoming space of equals, where respect and dialog are nurtured and facilitated and the deepest values of our faith traditions are recognized and affirmed. These were the goals of the Catholic Teach-In on Migration for Young Catholics, held this past semester in the Audubon Room at Loyola.</p>
<p>Participants included fifteen immigrant teens and their parents—all members of the Congress of Day Laborers, sixty juniors and seniors from Jesuit, St. Mary’s Dominican, Cabrini, and Brother Martin High Schools, and twenty chaperones. Eleven Loyola students from Honors, the Spanish Department, and LUCAP’s Loyola Immigration Advocates served as small group discussion leaders. Simultaneous and consecutive interpretation were provided by sixteen students with Loyola’s Interpreting and Translation program.</p>
<p>The Teach-In began and ended in prayers for love and hospitality for those who migrate. Participants were asked to follow “ground rules”, i.e. treat each other with respect and aim to understand one another’s points of view. After brief overviews from JSRI staff on the Church’s teachings on migration and the U.S. role in undermining healthy economies and democracy in Central America, local Catholic high school students listened intently as young immigrants bravely told their migration stories in small group discussions, including why they and their families fled Central America, what their migration journeys were like, and the challenges they face in our community living undocumented. The small group discussions were led by Loyola students, who were trained by JSRI for this task. </p>
<p><a href="https://t.e2ma.net/webview/zqihi/308b5d9d7f9aed2139ac52b426411679">MORE>></a></p>
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CASS: MY COLLEAGUE’S 46 YEAR-OLD SISTER NEED NOT HAVE DIED
News Intro Text
[Rio Grande Guardian, May 13, 2015]
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<p>[Rio Grande Guardian, May 13, 2015]</p>
<p>This week the 46 year-old sister of a co-worker died. She had had a treatable cancer of the uterus.</p>
<p>However, like most low-income citizens without health insurance, she had no medical home, and so she had waited to get medical help until her symptoms forced her to the doctor.</p>
<p>In March the pain became so bad that she went to a local hospital, which admitted her, not out of the goodness of their corporate heart, but because the law requires hospitals to care for those people who are suffering great pain.</p>
<p>With that admission, an emotional, financial, and terrifying roller coaster ride began for her and her family of whether or not she would be able to have surgery or cancer treatments. Everything depended on if she qualified for this program or that program. It turned out that she didn’t qualify for any of the programs. The doctor told the family he could do surgery if they gave him a $5000 down payment, an amount of money that they did not have, and so she was left to her fate, which was an early death.</p>
<p>In the end, it turns out, there was one program she did qualify for, and that was the County’s Indigent Funeral Program.</p>
<p>Before the funeral services, someone offered condolences to her mother, saying, “The Good Lord chose to take her to be with Him.” Her mom wailed, “God did not take her! She died because we did not have the money.”</p>
<p><a href="http://riograndeguardian.com/cass-my-colleagues-46-year-old-sister-need-not-have-died/">MORE>></a></p>
<p>This week the 46 year-old sister of a co-worker died. She had had a treatable cancer of the uterus.</p>
<p>However, like most low-income citizens without health insurance, she had no medical home, and so she had waited to get medical help until her symptoms forced her to the doctor.</p>
<p>In March the pain became so bad that she went to a local hospital, which admitted her, not out of the goodness of their corporate heart, but because the law requires hospitals to care for those people who are suffering great pain.</p>
<p>With that admission, an emotional, financial, and terrifying roller coaster ride began for her and her family of whether or not she would be able to have surgery or cancer treatments. Everything depended on if she qualified for this program or that program. It turned out that she didn’t qualify for any of the programs. The doctor told the family he could do surgery if they gave him a $5000 down payment, an amount of money that they did not have, and so she was left to her fate, which was an early death.</p>
<p>In the end, it turns out, there was one program she did qualify for, and that was the County’s Indigent Funeral Program.</p>
<p>Before the funeral services, someone offered condolences to her mother, saying, “The Good Lord chose to take her to be with Him.” Her mom wailed, “God did not take her! She died because we did not have the money.”</p>
<p><a href="http://riograndeguardian.com/cass-my-colleagues-46-year-old-sister-need-not-have-died/">MORE>></a></p>
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Pope Francis and the Environment
News Intro Text
Anticipating Earth Day, April 22, 2015
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<p>Anticipating Earth Day, April 22, 2015 </p>
<p>by Fred Kammer, S.J. </p>
<p>As we approach the 45th anniversary of earth day next week, Catholics and others might well ask what Pope Francis thinks about our environment and our responsibilities for it. Francis watchers are looking to Rome for a planned encyclical on the environment due out this summer. This won’t be just about turning down the thermostat or saving leftovers; but the Pope already has indicated that he sees the defense of the environment as interwoven with the defense of the family and of the poor “as part of the same agenda of ensuring the survival and thriving of humanity.”[1]</p>
<p>The Pope met with United Nations officials in May of last year and urged the international community to address "the structural causes of poverty and hunger, attain more substantial results in protecting the environment, ensure dignified and productive labor for all and provide appropriate protection for the family, which is an essential element in sustainable human and social development."[2]</p>
<p><a href="https://t.e2ma.net/webview/np58h/0f9a42316cb5facb91e27547cda46552">MORE>></a></p>
<p>by Fred Kammer, S.J. </p>
<p>As we approach the 45th anniversary of earth day next week, Catholics and others might well ask what Pope Francis thinks about our environment and our responsibilities for it. Francis watchers are looking to Rome for a planned encyclical on the environment due out this summer. This won’t be just about turning down the thermostat or saving leftovers; but the Pope already has indicated that he sees the defense of the environment as interwoven with the defense of the family and of the poor “as part of the same agenda of ensuring the survival and thriving of humanity.”[1]</p>
<p>The Pope met with United Nations officials in May of last year and urged the international community to address "the structural causes of poverty and hunger, attain more substantial results in protecting the environment, ensure dignified and productive labor for all and provide appropriate protection for the family, which is an essential element in sustainable human and social development."[2]</p>
<p><a href="https://t.e2ma.net/webview/np58h/0f9a42316cb5facb91e27547cda46552">MORE>></a></p>
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Overtaxing the Poor and Blaming Oil in the Gulf South
News Intro Text
by Ali R. Bustamante, JSRI Economic Policy Specialist
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<p>by Ali R. Bustamante </p>
<p>Since June 2014, the average price of a barrel of oil has fallen from more than $100 to about $50.[1] Many states, including those in the Gulf South, are considering budget cuts to higher education and health care services in order to deal with oil revenue shortfalls. However, contrary to what state budget offices profess, pressure to cut the budgets of education, health, and social services stems from the inadequacy and regressive nature of tax structures and not from oil revenue shortfalls.</p>
<p><strong>Oil Revenues Have Long Lost Importance </strong></p>
<p>On average, sales and excise taxes, property taxes and state income taxes individually contribute more to state and local revenues than oil revenues in the Gulf South. The portion of the state budget linked to oil and gas revenue is about 13 percent in Louisiana and only 4.5 percent in Texas, the Gulf South’s two most oil-dependent states.[2] Conversely, sales and excise taxes alone represent 33.6 percent of state revenues in Louisiana and 31.7 percent in Texas.[3]</p>
<p>In the 1980s oil and gas revenue represented a much larger portion of state revenues—about 45 percent in Louisiana and 20 percent in Texas.4 A sudden shift in oil prices had the power to fuel a spending bonanza or to cripple state budgets. However, since the 1980s, the economies of the Gulf South have diversified and a smaller share of state and local revenues, as well as state and local employment, is tied to oil and gas than in past decades.</p>
<p>Today, a steep drop in oil prices no longer drives the Gulf South into recession or necessitates cuts in education and health services because these programs are largely funded by income and sales taxes. However, the increased stability of state and local revenues has come at a cost increasingly paid by low- and middleincome families.</p>
<p><strong>Unfair Taxation</strong></p>
<p>A new report from the nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) titled Who Pays: A Distributional Analysis of the Tax Systems in All Fifty States reveals that all state and local tax systems in the U.S. are regressive and unfair.[5] Florida and Texas have the second and third most regressive tax systems in the U.S. while Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi rank 12th, 19th, and 21st respectively.</p>
<p>In regressive tax systems, low- and middle-income families pay a greater share of their income in taxes than the wealthy. Progressive systems do the opposite, requiring higher tax contributions from those with more ability to pay. Catholic Social Teaching supports progressive taxation systems as just and equitable systems that reduce severe income and wealth inequalities.[6]</p>
<p>States in the Gulf South place a disproportionately greater burden on lowand middle-income families to sustain state and local tax revenues. The effective state and local tax rates by income level in the Gulf South show that the poorest families, the bottom 20 percent, pay at least two times more of their income in taxes than the top one percent.</p>
<p><a href="https://jsri.loyno.edu/sites/loyno.edu.jsri/files/Overtaxing the Poor Spring 2015_0.pdf">MORE>></a></p>
<p>Since June 2014, the average price of a barrel of oil has fallen from more than $100 to about $50.[1] Many states, including those in the Gulf South, are considering budget cuts to higher education and health care services in order to deal with oil revenue shortfalls. However, contrary to what state budget offices profess, pressure to cut the budgets of education, health, and social services stems from the inadequacy and regressive nature of tax structures and not from oil revenue shortfalls.</p>
<p><strong>Oil Revenues Have Long Lost Importance </strong></p>
<p>On average, sales and excise taxes, property taxes and state income taxes individually contribute more to state and local revenues than oil revenues in the Gulf South. The portion of the state budget linked to oil and gas revenue is about 13 percent in Louisiana and only 4.5 percent in Texas, the Gulf South’s two most oil-dependent states.[2] Conversely, sales and excise taxes alone represent 33.6 percent of state revenues in Louisiana and 31.7 percent in Texas.[3]</p>
<p>In the 1980s oil and gas revenue represented a much larger portion of state revenues—about 45 percent in Louisiana and 20 percent in Texas.4 A sudden shift in oil prices had the power to fuel a spending bonanza or to cripple state budgets. However, since the 1980s, the economies of the Gulf South have diversified and a smaller share of state and local revenues, as well as state and local employment, is tied to oil and gas than in past decades.</p>
<p>Today, a steep drop in oil prices no longer drives the Gulf South into recession or necessitates cuts in education and health services because these programs are largely funded by income and sales taxes. However, the increased stability of state and local revenues has come at a cost increasingly paid by low- and middleincome families.</p>
<p><strong>Unfair Taxation</strong></p>
<p>A new report from the nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) titled Who Pays: A Distributional Analysis of the Tax Systems in All Fifty States reveals that all state and local tax systems in the U.S. are regressive and unfair.[5] Florida and Texas have the second and third most regressive tax systems in the U.S. while Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi rank 12th, 19th, and 21st respectively.</p>
<p>In regressive tax systems, low- and middle-income families pay a greater share of their income in taxes than the wealthy. Progressive systems do the opposite, requiring higher tax contributions from those with more ability to pay. Catholic Social Teaching supports progressive taxation systems as just and equitable systems that reduce severe income and wealth inequalities.[6]</p>
<p>States in the Gulf South place a disproportionately greater burden on lowand middle-income families to sustain state and local tax revenues. The effective state and local tax rates by income level in the Gulf South show that the poorest families, the bottom 20 percent, pay at least two times more of their income in taxes than the top one percent.</p>
<p><a href="https://jsri.loyno.edu/sites/loyno.edu.jsri/files/Overtaxing the Poor Spring 2015_0.pdf">MORE>></a></p>
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[New] JustSouth Quarterly
News Intro Text
In this edition JSRI staff members examine homelessness/housing shortages; the modern day reality of the March on Washington; Catholic Social Thought and housing; and the over taxation of the poor and its connection to oil.
News Item Content
<p><a href="https://jsri.loyno.edu/sites/loyno.edu.jsri/files/JustSouth Quarterly Spring 2015_0.pdf"><img alt="" src="https://jsri.loyno.edu/sites/loyno.edu.jsri/files/JSQ Spring 2015.jpg" /></a></p>
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Catholic, Evangelical Lutheran Bishops Visit Texas Detention Facility, Call For An End To Detention Of Families
News Intro Text
[USCCB.org, 03/27/15]
Policy of family detention unworthy of our nation
Detention of families a ‘stain’ on administration’s record
Humane alternatives to detention available
Policy of family detention unworthy of our nation
Detention of families a ‘stain’ on administration’s record
Humane alternatives to detention available
News Item Content
<p>WASHINGTON—Catholic and Evangelical Lutheran bishops visited with young mothers and children who have fled violence in their home countries and are now incarcerated at Dilley Detention Center in Dilley, Texas, on March 27. The faith leaders called upon the federal government to halt the practice of family detentions, citing the harmful effects on mothers, children and the moral character of society.</p>
<p>Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller, M.Sp.S. of San Antonio, Texas, whose archdiocese includes Dilley, was joined by Bishop Eusebio Elizondo, auxiliary bishop of Seattle, and Bishop James Tamayo of Laredo, Texas. Bishops Michael Rinehart and H. Julian Gordy of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America also joined them on the visit. Since last summer, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has detained hundreds of families at detention centers in New Mexico, Texas, and Pennsylvania, under a new family detention policy aimed at families fleeing violence in Central America.</p>
<p>“After this visit, my primary question is: Why? Why do we feel compelled to place in detention such vulnerable individuals –traumatized young mothers with children fleeing persecution in their home countries?” said Archbishop García-Siller following the visit. “A great nation such as ours need not incarcerate the most vulnerable in the name of deterrence. The moral character of a society is judged by how it treats the most vulnerable in our midst. Our nation’s family detention policy is shameful and I implore our elected officials to end it."</p>
<p><a href="http://www.usccb.org/news/2015/15-050.cfm">MORE>></a></p>
<p>Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller, M.Sp.S. of San Antonio, Texas, whose archdiocese includes Dilley, was joined by Bishop Eusebio Elizondo, auxiliary bishop of Seattle, and Bishop James Tamayo of Laredo, Texas. Bishops Michael Rinehart and H. Julian Gordy of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America also joined them on the visit. Since last summer, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has detained hundreds of families at detention centers in New Mexico, Texas, and Pennsylvania, under a new family detention policy aimed at families fleeing violence in Central America.</p>
<p>“After this visit, my primary question is: Why? Why do we feel compelled to place in detention such vulnerable individuals –traumatized young mothers with children fleeing persecution in their home countries?” said Archbishop García-Siller following the visit. “A great nation such as ours need not incarcerate the most vulnerable in the name of deterrence. The moral character of a society is judged by how it treats the most vulnerable in our midst. Our nation’s family detention policy is shameful and I implore our elected officials to end it."</p>
<p><a href="http://www.usccb.org/news/2015/15-050.cfm">MORE>></a></p>
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Access to Paid Sick Days in Louisiana
News Intro Text
New report by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) finds that approximately 41 percent of all workers (45 percent of private sector workers, compared with 17 percent of public sector workers) living in Louisiana lack even a single paid sick day.
News Item Content
<p>by Jenny Xia (March 2015)</p>
<p>An analysis by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) finds that approximately 41 percent of all workers (45 percent of private sector workers, compared with 17 percent of public sector workers) living in Louisiana lack even a single paid sick day. This lack of access is even more pronounced among low-income and part-time workers. Access to paid sick days promotes safe and healthy work environments by reducing the spread of illness1 and workplace injuries,2 reduces health care costs, and supports children and families by helping parents meet their children’s health needs.3 This briefing paper presents estimates of access to paid sick days in Louisiana by sex, race and ethnicity, occupation, hours worked, and personal earnings through analysis of government data sources, including the 2011–2013 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), and the 2013 American Community Survey (ACS).</p>
<p><a href="http://www.iwpr.org/publications/pubs/access-to-paid-sick-days-in-louisiana">FULL REPORT>></a></p>
<p>An analysis by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) finds that approximately 41 percent of all workers (45 percent of private sector workers, compared with 17 percent of public sector workers) living in Louisiana lack even a single paid sick day. This lack of access is even more pronounced among low-income and part-time workers. Access to paid sick days promotes safe and healthy work environments by reducing the spread of illness1 and workplace injuries,2 reduces health care costs, and supports children and families by helping parents meet their children’s health needs.3 This briefing paper presents estimates of access to paid sick days in Louisiana by sex, race and ethnicity, occupation, hours worked, and personal earnings through analysis of government data sources, including the 2011–2013 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), and the 2013 American Community Survey (ACS).</p>
<p><a href="http://www.iwpr.org/publications/pubs/access-to-paid-sick-days-in-louisiana">FULL REPORT>></a></p>
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