I FAIL TO SEE how it is a Catholic position to demand that the budget surplus be used for things other than a tax cut ("Who Doesn't Want a Tax Cut?" by Rebecca M. Blank, May-June 2001). Such a position advocates theft, pure and simple. A budget surplus means that taxpayers paid too much. The very important virtue of justice demands that taxpayers get their money back.
If I went to a grocery store and the clerk refused to give me the change from my $100 bill, I could have him fired for stealing my money. Neither the position of George W. Bush (who does not give back all of the surplus) nor of Sojourners seems to support this basic principle of justice. Keeping any part of the surplus is simply theft and thus violates the moral principle of justice.
Rick Morales
Madison, Alabama
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