Period C Tellini & Doyle Warren Article Commentary

Period C Tellini & Doyle Warren Article Commentary

Catholic social teaching asks people to stand in solidarity as united inhabitants of the earth. Likewise, Elizabeth Warren asks the public in her opinion-editorial article in the "New York Times" to stand together in opposition of corporate tax loopholes that allow large companies to pay about a third of the taxes in countries such as Ireland as they would in the United States. Her logic also centers around the prophetic principle which states: "The prerequisite for political stability is social justice, for it is the nature of things that injustice will not endure" (Smith 288). 

She foreshadows a gloomy outcome caused by what she describes as unjust taxation practices. In her view, political stability in the United States and abroad is at risk if the current taxation laws stand. She believes that because they are unjust, tax loopholes represent a risk to society as a whole, echoing the prophetic principle's emphasis on political stability as a consequence of social justice. Warren's piece asserts the importance of defending the common good, in this instance small businesses. She writes:

• Congress should level the playing field for small businesses. Small companies in Massachusetts don’t stash profits in the Netherlands. They can’t hire a team of accountants to set up a 'reverse hybrid mismatch' to slash their taxes. This puts small businesses at a competitive disadvantage as they end up shouldering more of the burden of paying for education, infrastructure, research, the military and everything else our nation relies on to succeed (Warren). 

Her desire to look after the smaller and less well positioned companies back home echoes the ideas expressed in Catholic social teaching's 10th principle, mainly a "need for international structures that can promote and can protect the just development of the human family across regional and national lines" (Byron 11). Warren believes that in today's increasingly interconnected world, global communication and collaboration to solve the world's problems such as tax loopholes and avoidance is a society issue that plagues not only US citizens who see Apple paying 20% lower rates in Ireland, but also other large companies and wealthy individuals. Warren's call to action is powerful, one that aims to unite us all to further the common good through the pursuit of social justice, hopefully yielding political stability.

Works Cited

Byron, William. "Ten Building Blocks of Catholic Social Teaching." America, vol. 
     179, no. 13, 31 Oct. 1998, pp. 9-12. 
     Wisdom Traditions, 1958, Rev. ed., San Francisco, HarperCollins, 1958, pp. 
     288-93. 
    
Smith, Huston. "Judaism: Meaning in Justice." The World's Religions: Our Great 

Warren, Elizabeth. "What Apple Teaches Us about Taxes." New York Times [New York], 8 9 2016. New York Times, www.nytimes.com/2016/09/08/opinion/ 
     elizabeth-warren-what-apple-teaches-us-about-taxes.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=1. 
     Accessed 13 Sept. 2016.