Page A 4
D ecem b er 8, 1999
(Fl}» llo rtb n b (Dhaeruer
Articles do not
necessarily reflect or
represent the views of
Opinion
Portiani«
3Il|e K J o rtla n b (rih a e rlie r
R e m e m b e rin g H u m an R ig h ts D ay
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(Ifrbseruer
E s ta b lis h e d 1 9 7 0
STAFF
d it o r
P
in
C
h ie f
,
u b l is h e r
Charles H. Washington
E
d it o r
Larrv J. Jackson, Sr.
C
E
opy
against thousands o f fam ilies in this
nation. It’s the policy w hich m any
states have adopted o f charging a
high rate for collect calls m ade by
p riso n e rs to th e ir fam ilies. T he
revenue from these exorbitantly high
telephone charges goes to the states.
For exam ple, N ew Y ork state earned
$21 m illion last year on such calls;
O hio earned $ 14 m illion, Illinois $ 16
m illion, Florida $ 14 m illion. In other
w ords, states earned m ore than $ 100
m illio n o ff o f co llec t te lep h o n e
allow her incarcerated cousin to speak
regularly w ith his dying m other.
A nother m other reported spending
$200 per m onth to speak w ith her
incarcerated son w ho w as fighting
cancer
and
u n d e r g o in g
chem otherapy in prison.
O ver the past decade, long distance
telephone charges have dropped for
m ost A m ericans. Even the rates for
collect calls have fallen, and m ost o f
u s h a v e o p tio n s a b o u t w h ic h
com pany to use for long distance
for T he
USPS 9 5 9 -6 8 0
E
D ecem ber 10 is celebrated as H uman
Rights D ay around the world. 1 believe
that setting aside this day around the
w orld to uplift the im portance o f
H um an Rights grew out o fW o ld W ar
11 and the gross violations o f hum an
rights by the N azi regim e. It grew out
o f a "n ev er again” com m itm ent ot
w orld leaders. H um an rights - the
right o f hum an beings to safety, and
to basic needs ofhom e, family, health,
education and happiness and the
right not to be persecuted because o f
religion or race or ethnicity is the
heart o fo u r civilized world. W ein th e
U.S. often take these rights for granted
or blindly refuse to see that even
here, in the w orld’s oldest democracy,
w e do have hum an rights violations.
Let m e give a case in point. 1 believe
it’s a hum an rights violation being
perpetrated by m any o f the states
charges m ade by those incarcerated
in their prisons, w hose rules they set
and w hich include that inm ates are
only allow ed to m ake collect calls. In
other words, states collected m illions
o f dollars from the m o stly p o o r
relatives o f those in carcerated -
relatives who most not only deal w ith
the loss o f their loved one, m any o f
w hom are im prisoned long distances
from them, but m ust pay exorbitant
telephone charges ju st to talk w ith
their family members.
T h e sta te s arg u e th at th e se are
p riso n e rs w h o are in c a rc e ra te d
because o f crimes, but family members
point out that they are the ones w ho
m ust pay the high telephone bills. It
is not unusual for such bills to reach
$100 or $200 a m onth for fam ilies
w hich often have already suffered a
loss o f income from the incarceration
o f one family member. O ne N ew Y ork
w om en told the story o f how her
fam ily paid an extra $ 100 m onthly to
B i B ernice P owell J ackson
P aul R . F araco
for T he
M anager
Gary Ann Taylor
D ir e c t o r
Shawn Strahan
47 4 7 NE Martin Luther King,
Jr. Blvd.
Portland, OR 97211
503-288-0033
Fax 503-288-0015
P ortland O bserver
A spate o f new tax m easures are
headed forthe N ovem ber 2000ballot.
It’s not too soon to review som e
basics, or else during the tax shuffle
you m ight get dealt a bad hand.
The art o f m odem taxation is best
understood by exam ining the w ords
ofU .S. Sen. Russell Long, D -La who
served from 1948-86, and for 16 years
as pow erful chairm an o f the Senate
Finance Com m ittee: “T ax reform
m eans, 'D o n ’t tax you, d o n ’t tax me.
Tax that fellow behind the tree.’”
Sen. Long was a 38-year incum bent
accustom ed to cutting deals w ith
lobbyists. He expected everyone to
leap into the p o litica l in flu en ce
feeding frenzy. I f not, then like “ that
fellow behind the tree” , unobservant
o f the hum an rights o f these prisoners
and it is a sham eful, m orally w rong
injustice to their families.
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not been charged or convicted w ith
crim es, but w ho are forced to pay the
state regardless. Prison fam ily groups
believe that states should not be in
the business o f profiting from the
fam ilies o f those they im prison.
N ew Y ork State uses m ost o f its
incom e from the collect telephone
ca lls to pay fo r h e a lth ca re for
prisoners, w hich the state is required
to provide. I f health care is a hum an
right, then this exploitative, usurious
WOOL
OUTERW EAR
FLEECE
OFF :F™
BOOKS K I S S '
0/
That Fellow Behind the Tree
by
C r e a t iv e
practice o f charging exorbitant rates
fo r co llec t te lep h o n e calls from
prisoners to their families is a violation
d it o r
Joy Ramos
B u s in e s s
P ortland O bsers er
ca lls, in clu d in g co llect. B ut the
fam ilies o f prisoners do not enjoy
these low er rates. In the w ords o f
G erald N orlander, deputy director o f
the Public U tility Law Project, “T he
prison system seeks to generate the
m ost revenue possible from the phone
system .”
T hus, in N ew Y ork inm ates m ust pay
the operator-assisted dialing rate, a
rate far higher than a direct-dialed
call. Some states add on surcharges.
Federal inm ates, on the other hand,
are allow ed to dial direct, using debit
cards, which proves that the argum ent
som etim es offered by states that
requiring prisoners to m ake all calls
collect is their w ay o f protecting
against telephone fraud by inm ates is
a false one.
Inm ate fam ilies realize that public
sym pathy for prisoners is at its low est
today, but nevertheless som e families
have filed law suits claim ing that the
charges are an unfair tax on a sm all,
poor group o f individuals w ho have
«A L L FL A N N E L
'
m ilestone w as reached last year.
Targeted tax credits, exem ptions and
p r e f e r e n c e s fo r th e p o litic a lly
influential now am ount to m ore than
the total taxes w e all pay - another
legacy o f Sen. L o n g ’s artistry.
In this regim e, no single tax is so great
that non-com pliance is worth the risk.
A tax system in the U.S. that fully
disclosed its costs, how ever, w ould
h av e to ad m it th a t g o v e rn m e n t
consum es m ore than 50% o f average
incom es - and that m ight trigger civil
disobedience. A fter all, the Boston
T e a P a r ty , a r e s p o n s e to th e
Tow nshend A cts o f 1767, protested
a duty o f ju st “three pence a pound
on tea.”
A cross A m erica, public coffers are
flu s h fro m th e g r o w th o f th e
o f w h at’s going on at the legislature,
you could get hit w ith a tax increase.
Sen. Long also revealed the m ost
im portant rule o f m odem taxation -
concealment. Thus, w e have di fferent
ty p e s o f ta x e s on e a r n in g s ,
investm ent, saving and purchases;
m yriad licensing and perm itting fees;
w e even have taxes on taxes. A nd, o f
course, we have death taxes and non
reciprocal interest and penalties on
tax errors.
Perhaps the m ost insidious form o f
taxation is through arbitrary business
taxation. Instead o f being collected
directly, the cost o f governm ent gets
built into prices individuals pay for
products and services consum ed in
ordinary private transactions.
W e surrender a record share o f our
m oney to taxation as a result o f a
century oftax proliferation. A dubious
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