Thanks for sharing that. I accept that that "States" and "governments" have no legitimate authority to "tax" anyone. The question for me, as a Christian, is whether Jesus and His Apostles have still commanded us to pay taxes to them nonetheless? If so, it would be wrong to try to evade taxes, right?
Discussion
Give to Caesar that which is Caesar's and give to God that which is God's
The question is: what belongs to Caesar and not to God ?
That, indeed, is the question, isn't it?😃
https://peakd.com/religion/@creatr/sermons-you-ll-never-hear-in-church-render-unto-god-what-is-his
no, because caesar does not own your body or the product of your labor, that is very clear, 1913 income tax law which led to a cascade of copycats is very much contrary to the law spelled out by Jesus
not only that, it's also contrary to the Qur'an which says something like 2% and that's what USA rate was back in the day, and it was not based on income, it was based on profit, afaik, like is still the case in many of the edges of the EU, eg bulgaria, and most yugoslavian states, which are 10% at most on private individuals and in bulgaria at least 5% corporate tax ... on profits, not on income
on profits, not income
they have been steadily pushing this wider and wider until you have places like Australia circa 20 years ago charging 50% tax on income that would be regarded as middle class and higher
communism is pure satanic shit, and income tax is one of the planks of communism
they try to pretend that it is ok by the constitutions and the laws that give them legitimacy but it's not, and it doesn't take a masters degree in law to figure this out
don't pay
don't declare
if it's private business, avoid registering the transaction at all times
these days more and more people are willing to play outside of the tax farm fences and this is only going to increase until they try to fuck around and find out
this is a big reason for moving to a rural area
most of the people are sick to death of being taxed for their hard labor outside of the cities
Start by showing me one scripture with any such command. I'll wait.
Romans 13:7 comes to mind: "Pay your obligations to everyone: taxes to those you owe taxes, tolls to those you owe tolls, respect to those you owe respect, and honor to those you owe honor."
As well as as the "mini Romans 13":
1 Peter 2:13–17 (CSB): "Submit to every human authority because of the Lord, whether to the emperor as the supreme authority 14 or to governors as those sent out by him to punish those who do what is evil and to praise those who do what is good. 15 For it is God’s will that you silence the ignorance of foolish people by doing good. 16 Submit as free people, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but as God’s slaves. 17 Honor everyone. Love the brothers and sisters. Fear God. Honor the emperor."
Thank you, and nice try.😃
Peter issues no command to "pay tax."
Looking closely, neither does Paul in the Romans passage you cite.🤔 What is actually stated is "Pay what you owe."
Do you owe me taxes? No?
What if I make it official by documenting the following law:
"I, nostr:npub1cxp3l03x20mkzezzr4takm8w8zuva7xwvacmcewp97z58hjt8xls3mexlq decree this day that nostr:npub1mt8x8vqvgtnwq97sphgep2fjswrqqtl4j7uyr667lyw7fuwwsjgs5mm7cz owes me a tax of 21k SATs every time he responds to one of my notes."
There, I've established a tax debt, pay up!🤣
But that doesn't work with the IRS or other State entities, does it?
This is indeed the question. If Nebuchadnezzar qualified as a legitimate authority, so does the US government. God delegates his authority to those who bear the sword. This means he authorizes violence, and an unjust authority is accountable only to him. Yet we are given license to rebel, if it means to "obey God rather than men". Does tax revolt qualify? No, if it's only based on the principle of not owing taxes. But it may be if the taxes are being used to fund war against the Lordship of Christ.
I would say we are far past this point in the US, and tax revolt is justified. However, there is then the question of consequences and tactics. Is it strategic to revolt? Is the risk acceptable now? Those are the really hard questions because tax revolts only work en masse, but the masses only begin to revolt as a result of the courage of individuals.
I did a quick search on the word "taxes" in the New Testament and it's interesting to see that tax collectors are always grouped with sinners, adulterers, the greedy, the unrighteous, Gentiles...😄
I did see that in Luke 3:11-12 it appears that the tax collectors were authorized, i.e., had the authority, to collect taxes from the people, according to John the Baptist:
"Tax collectors also came to be baptized, and they asked him, “Teacher, what should we do?” He told them, “Don’t collect any more than what you have been authorized.”"
I do agree that when governments exceed what they have been authorized by God to do, that is, punish evildoers and praise those who do good (1 Peter 2:14), then they are acting illegitimately and can be morally resisted.
John could have told the tax collectors to stop collecting taxes, but he didn't. It implies that the only wrong they were doing was collecting more than they were authorized to, not the collection of taxes itself.
Jesus also didn't tell tax collectors to stop what they were doing. He did call one of them to be His disciple, Matthew, and perhaps he left his job. Another tax collector, Zacchaeus, repented of taking more than he should have, but it doesn't say that he left his line of work.
I still believe taxation is immoral and unjust, as it involves taking property by coercion and force, rather than voluntary means. Just because Caesar/the government says something is theirs doesn't necessarily make it so, right?
Taxation is probably one of those evils, like slavery, that Christianity did not immediately abolish, but that has to gradually be purged out of human behavior, as the Gospel permeates the world. "Thou shalt not steal," it's pretty basic, one of the Big Ten Commandments, yet people still don't get it, after nearly three and a half millennia! "Do not murder" is another one, and yet people who see themselves as "enlightened" and "progressive" still argue for their "right" to do so today...😩
No human is authorised by God to coerce anything from others.
If they were, there would be 11 or 12 Commandments:
“Thou shalt do whatever the biggest, local armed gang of men commands you to do.”
“Thou shall give the biggest, local armed gang of men as much of your property as they wish.”
If anything like that were authorised by God, then any genuine charity group is authorised by God to coerce as much as they wish, from all they encounter.
Within the context of Jesus’ teaching, any such charity certainly does at least as much and likely much more good than any armed gang.
#taxes #gangsterment #AnimalFarm