Why I’m glad to pay taxes…
Apr 7th, 2010 by ljkim
I know you’re supposed to hate paying taxes, but let’s try to think differently for a moment. I propose that in a perfect world, if humankind had never sinned – we’d still have taxes. Sure the tax system would be better, more equitable, more efficient, but we’d still pay taxes. Jesus was living under a dictatorship, and he had no problems with paying taxes to Caesar (give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, to God what is God’s). We live in a representative democracy…the taxes don’t go to wealthy politicians but to things that are for the benefit (or at least trying to be for the benefit…) of the country.
Now sin makes it so that I would rather not pay my fair share. ”So what” if everyone else in my income bracket pays the same percentage – I don’t want to pay it! But that’s really sin talking. When I think more rationally I realize that all the roads, all military, government agencies, courts, the urban infrastructure, the schools – all of these things cost money to run.
“But wait, I don’t even have kids in school. Why should my hard earned money – money that I could use for other things – go to the school system?”
The idea is, even though I don’t have kids in school right now, (or may never have kids in school) – nevertheless I benefit from living in a society where there is public education. And I would benefit more, even without kids of my own, if the school system were to improve… Think what a better country this would be if everyone was just a little bit smarter – a little bit better at reasoning and communicating, and making good things happen?
But even if I didn’t benefit from public education – even if I were paying into something that would never benefit my life personally – because I know Jesus, I’d still want to support it with my tax money. Because I think it’s a good thing, even though if it didn’t do anything good for me. Even though the school system is flawed and troubled – all the more reason to support it, so that it could improve. I’m using public schools as an example, but this applies to almost everything…
God has given me enough…so that I can take care of myself and help take care of other people too. And one way is through taxes.
The majority of my tax money goes to support things that benefit me, services that I use and rely upon. The rest of it goes to support things that some other people benefit from and rely upon… So why wouldn’t I want to pay taxes? It’s part of loving one’s neighbor.
PS – “Ah -but I’m for smaller government” someone says. Okay, that’s nice. Personally, I’m for good government… The right size government.
When the problems are big, government has to be big enough to handle it… When problems are small, and things are good, a more streamlined government will help keep it going. But to always say “bigger” or always say “smaller” seems a little silly. We don’t need bigger or smaller…we things to be the right size for the job… But even if the government were too big – and charging too much in taxes – it still doesn’t change the fact that you’re paying the same percentage as everyone else who makes what you do… And people who make more than you (except for hedge fund managers and the top 1%) pay a larger percentage of their income. Loving one’s neighbor means, at the very least, being willing to pay one’s fair share…
Am I missing something? If you disagree – post a comment. Cheers!
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