More direct: is taxation illegitimate?

It is not possible to debate the legitmacy of government social programs when it is held that taxation is largely illegitimate, and even by some that the state itself is illegitimate.

We need to address the issue of whether civil authority and taxation are legitimate, and if so, to what extent they are legitimate.

According to Romans 13 it is necessary to submit to taxation. It is not necessary only to avoid punishment. It is also necessary because of conscience.

It is a matter of right conscience because civil authority derives its legitimacy from God (13:1). Whoever fails to submit to legitimate civil authority will bring the judgment of God upon themselves, for legitimate civil authority is appointed by God (13:2).

And what is legitimate civil authority?

Paul was speaking of the civil authority of the time, was speaking of the laws of the time, and was speaking of the taxation of the time. Roman taxation was used for many purposes that no one today in a modern democracy would consider acceptable. Roman taxation was used to wage brutal war.

This taxation is not illegitimate, for this must have been the taxation Paul would have had in mind. Were it not legitimate, Paul would not have told us that it is necessary to submit to it also as a matter of conscience and to avoid the judgment of God.

I am aware of no instances where in the New Testament model it is suggested or implied that submission to civil authorities is not or will not be necessary - the extent to which it is not legitimate - except in instances where submission to the civil authority would constitute a direct or imminent violation of our obligation to obedience to God's commands for us. And I challenge anyone to identify such an instance.

The only instance in which submission to civil authority is not necessary for conscience and to not incur the judgment of God is when submission would constitiute a direct or imminent violation of our obligation to obedience to God's commandments for us.

Your own interests in accumulating wealth or power are not sufficient to usurp the necessity of submission to civil authority for conscience and to avoid the judgment of God upon yourself.

I believe that this much is certain, unless your faith is in the Free Market instead of in God, or unless your commitment is to things and not to Christ. If either is the case it does not matter for you will already incur the judgement of God.

If Romans 13 is not sufficient for you - and it is sufficient for me - I will also walk you through the confirmation of this doctrine by both Christ himself and by Peter.

While Romans 13 is the centerpiece, 1 Peter 2:13-21 reinforces the necessity of submission to legitimate civil authority as instituted by God, and offers a third reason for the necessity of submission.

1 Peter 2:15 tells us that we are also to submit to legitimate civil authority for the sake of the non-believers. The scripture goes on here to tell us even more so should we submit when the civil authority is harsh with us, for if it is for Christ's sake that we do so despite it being harsh, it is commendable, and is that to which we in this world are called.

The account of Jesus and the temple tax in Matthew 17:24-27 is not a teaching on the illegitimacy of taxation by the civil authorities:

Jesus here assumes the legitimacy of the questionable instance of taxation by the civil authority as the basis for his analogy. While it might at one level be a jeering comment about abuse of civil authority by a dictator or aristocracy, the analogy is not successful unless the taxation is legitimate.

The primary purpose of this passage is either or both to allude to Jesus as the Son of God (the King), or as his followers as the children of God (the King). Either of which analogy assumes the legitimacy of the particular practice of taxation alluded to.

Of course his followers would not have been happy about such a taxation practice, but it is by no means to be construed as asserting its illegitimacy. No one likes to pay taxes. In a dictatorship or aristocracy a civil law is not illegitimate simply because its subjects are not thrilled with it.

Note also that in verse 27 above, Jesus reinforces the third reason for the necessity of submission to civil authorities as given by 1 Peter. The third reason, again, is for the sake of the non-believers.

Further, let us deal directly with what Jesus teaches about paying taxes in the account given in Mark 12:13-17, paralleled in Luke 20:20-26 and Matthew 22:15-22.

That those Pharisees who approached him were attempting to lead him to declare taxation by the Roman or provincial civil authority to be illegitimate so as to make his teaching out to be a threat to the civil authorities, does not in the least invalidate his teaching here.

Jesus would not have commanded that this taxation be paid if taxation for the purposes it was presently being employed constituted a direct or imminent violation of our obligation to obedience of God's commandments for us.

He need not comment further, for his teaching here is a consistent and logical application of the doctrine imparted to us in extensive detail by Paul and Peter. Further, it tells us again, this time from the mouth of Jesus himself, that taxation by the civil authorities for the purposes it was presently employed does not constitute a direct or imminent violation of one's obligation to obedience to God's commandments for us.

Review

[See above for scriptural arguments. I will not address questions or criticism that do not quote and show evidence of having read the above arguments for those findings I will now summarize, or which do not directly address the scriptural demonstration I have provided.]

I have shown that taxation by the civil authority is legitimate. As I have demonstrated, paying taxes to the civil authority is not only legitimate, but is a moral requirement under God both for the sake of others and for obedience to those institutions and persons delegated authority over us by God.

1. It is necessary to avoid punishment.
2. It is necessary because to not submit to the legitimate civil authority is to flaunt the authority that God has established for you. Those who do not submit to the legitimate civil authority will incur the judgment of God and as mature Christians will for this reason bear the crisis of conscience.
3. It is necessary for the sake of the non-believers.

I have moreover shown - unchallenged - that the only instance in which submission to civil authority is not necessary - the only instance in which civil authority is not legitimate civil authority - is when submission would constitiute a direct or imminent violation of our obligation to obedience to God's commandments for us.

Taxation even as its proceeds were employed in the Roman world is legitimate, is commanded by Jesus and by Paul, and does not in any way constitute a direct or imminent violation of our obligation to obedience to God's commandments for us.

My task proceeding forward

It is now my task to demonstrate that the civil authority does not do what is immoral - an irreconciliable violation of obedience to God - when it implements taxation, the proceeds of which go to social programs.

I am undertaking this task to correct especially those Christians who - as vile and detestable as is the thought of it - are sympathetic or even fully committed to the ends of the U.S. Libertarian Party - no matter how rotten is the fruit of it - for they believe that it is immoral - an irreconciliable violation of obedience to God - to implement taxation for the purposes of social programs.

Moreover, the task before me is decidedly not to demonstrate that Christians have an obligation to bring about the implementation of taxes for these ends. No. Rather, the task before me is only to demonstrate that it is not illegitimate, is not immoral - not an irreconciliable violation of obedience to God - to bring about the implementation of taxes for these ends.

It should be duly noted that I am aware of no Biblical case having been made to the effect that it is immoral for a Christian to bring about as much. For this reason, acknowledging the utter lack of the presentation of a reasoned defense of the immorality claim made by these Christians, my present defense shall consist in making the case that we have Biblical precedent not only for its not being immoral, but moreover for its being moral and commanded by God.

I am not seeking your support or consent in my endeavour, for I believe as much is the natural expression of the mature love of Christ. Rather I seek only to make it known to you who would call my endeavour immoral that your position has no legitimate biblical support. And I hope, though I do not seek, that in so doing I will inspire like-minded Christians to our righteous cause.

Lession 1: God ordained communitarian practices in the Mosaic Law.

In the Mosaic Law we see the theme of communitarian practices enforcable through civic government to prevent the evils which arise from poverty and oppression.

We as Christians are not under the Mosaic covenant. But we know that the law was righteous. We know that the law is legitimate. It was ordained of God. Christ fulfilled the law, we say, but the law is not thereby made unjust. The law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.

Beginning in the Mosaic Law, God expresses a continuing concern for the poor in the community. There is in the Law a theme of limiting the evils that can arise from poverty and oppression. This theme has not been usurped, and the character of God has not become turned upside down.

These laws and commands were not just personal moral prescriptions or suggestions. These laws and commands were enforceable by authority. It was incumbent upon the community to enforce these laws, for a community which failed to do so risked the judgment of God.

• Exodus 22:25 - There is a prohibition on lending at interset.
• Exodus 22:26-27 - Do not deprive the poor of basic necessities.
• Exodus 23:6 - Do not deprive the poor of justice.
• Leviticus 19:9 - Leave the edges and gleanings of your harvest in the field for the poor.
• Leviticus 19:10 - Do not pick your vineyard clean. Leave the remainder for the poor.
• Leviticus 25:23 - Land can not be sold in perpetuity for the land is God's and we are aliens and tenants.
• Leviticus 25:24 - Provision must be made for the redemption of land.
• Leviticus 25:28 - Even land that an original owner can not afford to redeem, will be returned to the original owner in the Year of Jubilee.
• Leviticus 25:40 - Those in debt to you as bound workers are made completely free from you again in the Year of Jubilee.
• Leviticus 35:6 - Establish cities of refuge where those who have accidentally killed may flee to save their lives, leaving behind any property.
• Leviticus 35:8 - For the establishing of the necessary priestly cities and cities of refuge, land is to be taken in proportion to how much a tribe has: many shall be taken from from one that has many, few shall be taken from one that has few.
• Deuteronomy 15:1 - At the end of every seven years all debts are to be canceled.
• Deuteronomy 23:15 - A slave who has fleed and taken refuge with you must be permitted to live among you.

We also see God's intention for civic life borne out through the judgment he declares through his prophets, and in them learn the fuller meaning and intention of the Mosaic Law as an expression of God's character.

Remaining in the Old Testament, I will next narrate how the theme of limiting the evils of poverty continues in the prophetic works.


[edit]

I'll be out of town for two days. So it's unlikely that I'll find the time to continue this before I get back.