EDMOND —
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is a weekly series of columns written by attorneys at Lester, Loving & Davies law firm in Edmond.
Q: Does taxing different people at different rates violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution?
A: Federal law goes to great ends to create an even playing field for all people in the United States. But the depth and breadth of our rights to equal treatment are difficult to measure and even harder to define. Start by putting the concept of fairness out of mind.
The framers of the Constitution provided for equal protection, not equitable protection. The concept of equity in the law is closely akin to fairness. Equity seeks what is just. Equality, on the other hand, is not about fairness or justice. Equality is about making things the same. Making things the same, and making things fair, are separate and distinct goals. The Equal Protection Clause addresses only the former.
The federal Equal Protection Clause, stated in the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, prohibits government from denying the equal protection of its laws to any person within its jurisdiction. No person or class of people may be denied the same protection of laws enjoyed by other people or classes of people under the same circumstances. We are guaranteed equal enjoyment of personal rights and the prevention and redress of wrongs, with each of us following the same set of rules.
But you may have noticed that not all people are treated equally — that laws prohibit some people from doing things that other people are fee to do. Blind people are not allowed to drive cars. Seventeen-year-olds cannot vote. Known pedophiles cannot live near schools. Why doesn’t the Equal Protection Clause protect their right to do the things that others are free to do?
The quick answer — a gross oversimplification — is that the law can place people into classes for the purpose of disparate treatment. Usually the rational basis test applies. If there is a conceivable basis for treating people or classes differently under the circumstances, and that basis is reasonable, then the law may treat the people or classes differently without offending the Equal Protection Clause.
Tax laws may treat people differently as long as they use real — not feigned — differences to put people in classes and the distinction between the classes is related to the purpose for which the classification is made. In such circumstances, unequal taxation will not violate the Equal Protection Clause unless the classification is completely arbitrary.
MATT HOPKINS is an attorney for Lester, Loving & Davies P.C. More information is available at lldlaw.com. Send questions to questions@lldlaw.com.
Local News
ASK A LAWYER: Different tax rates cannot be arbitrary
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OG&E works to replace Edmond power poles
“Oh my God, it’s the tornado,” Betsy Herring thought as she and her husband, Lee, took shelter in their laundry room as Sunday’s tornado roared toward their Forest Oaks home in Edmond.
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Equine center aids Orr Family Farm horses
Connie Yearwood, a third-year veterinary student at Oklahoma State University, had been job shadowing at Equine Medical Association in Edmond when the call came to help rescue horses that were injured during Monday’s tornado in Moore and Oklahoma City.
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Lincoln County Emergency Management calls for help
Carney is a city of about 649 residents and following the recent tornado outbreak 20 homes were destroyed there and an additional 18 homes in the county were leveled.
Wednesday, a press release from Lincoln County, along with Wellston Emergency Management Office and the City of Carney, stated that at this time the needs have changed for the city. -
Oklahoma National Guard coordinates tornado relief support
Oklahoma National Guard members, who work side-by-side with local responders to aid in recovery efforts during domestic operations such as the May 20 tornado that tore through Oklahoma City and Moore, are given their tasks through the Guard's Joint Operations Center.
The JOC, located in the Guard's Joint Force Headquarters in Oklahoma City, is primarily responsible for the collection, dissemination and tracking of information to increase the situational awareness for leadership as well as the National Guard Bureau, said Lt. Col. Hiram Tabler, the director of military support for Oklahoma's Joint Force Headquarters. -
UPDATE: Businesses, groups offer free relief to tornado victims
Listed is information on free services offered to victims of the recent tornadoes.
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House approves $45M aid package for tornado victims
As rain poured this morning on disaster relief workers in the Moore and Oklahoma City areas, the Oklahoma House of Representatives unanimously approved a $45 million aid package to provide relief to those impacted by Monday’s EF-5 tornado.
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TIMELAPSE: Take a tour through the damage in Moore
Take a driving tour of the damage in Moore caused by Monday's tornado.
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Moore mayor wants tornado shelters in new homes
Moore Mayor Glenn Lewis wants tornado shelters in all new homes in his city, where an EF-5 tornado damaged or destroyed more than 12,500 homes Monday afternoon. A proposed ordinance would require a shelter inside or outside each new residence.
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Rescue workers, tornado victims find respite in college dorms
Monday’s tornado put an estimated 20,000 people out of their houses, which were damaged or destroyed. Some of those victims — and the rescue workers who’ve come to help them — are staying a few miles south, in dormitories at the University of Oklahoma.
More than 300 individuals and families left homeless by the storm are staying at OU, where the university is providing beds, hot water and meals, often delivered by a familiar face. The university also housed 287 first-responders from Texas, Nebraska, Kansas and Tennessee. -
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Shayla Taylor’s second child was moments from birth as an EF-5 tornado bore down on Moore Medical Center on Monday afternoon.
Her labor was too far along to move her to safety with the rest of those in the hospital, her nurses decided. So as her husband, Jerome, and their 4-year-old son, Shaiden, went downstairs with the others, she and four nurses stayed upstairs and braced for the worst. - More Local News Headlines
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