Sure. Let’s Call It a Contribution.
Friday, September 12, 2014
Douglas Wilson
So I have
distinguished the payment of taxes that are owed, and the payment of
taxes that is rendered out of a principled prudence. In the former
instance, paying taxes is a matter of conscience and in the latter it is
a matter of intelligence. When I give my wallet to the mugger, I am not
granting him authority over my wallet, and still less am I giving him
authority over any future wallets that I might come to possess. I am
simply doing a cost benefit analysis, and his gun trumps my five
dollars.
In my argument for this position, I cited Romans 13, which tells us to pay taxes to those to whom taxes are due, and Joel reads this as simply as entirely circumstantial and prudential, telling us to pay taxes to whom taxes are — and please note the scare quotes — “due.” Since the one levying taxes always has the power to coerce, this reading is always possible and sometimes likely. He has the gun, so not only do I give him the five dollars, I also go along with calling it “my contribution.”
So the real test would be those instances when a godly ruler requires taxes (or the equivalent) be paid. Remember that I have no problem granting that the power to tax is routinely abused. All we are looking for are cases where it is not abused, establishing that as a possibility.
Take Joseph in Egypt (Gen. 47:13-26). He was a godly ruler who saved the lives of the people, but at the same time he was not exactly an instrument who introduced a libertarian paradise. To head off commenters, I am aware that Joseph presents a problem to my ten percent rule outlined earlier, which I hope to get to. The issue here is whether there were any level of legitimate taxation occurring. I am not here talking about Joseph selling the grain to the Egyptians in exchange for their land, but rather to the collection of a fifth of the harvest in the plentiful years (Gen. 41:34).
Here is another example.
“And when they were come to Capernaum,
they that received tribute money came to Peter, and said, Doth not your
master pay tribute? He saith, Yes. And when he was come into the house,
Jesus prevented him, saying, What thinkest thou, Simon? of whom do the
kings of the earth take custom or tribute? of their own children, or of
strangers? Peter saith unto him, Of strangers. Jesus saith unto him,
Then are the children free. Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them,
go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first
cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece
of money: that take, and give unto them for me and thee” (Matt. 17:24–27).
If there is such a thing as lawful taxation (as I believe) and if there is something which goes by the name of taxation which is rank theft (as I also believe), we have to do the hard work of determining where the line between the two categories might be. We also have to determine who makes the call, and what standard they must appeal to.
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