How can we speak of duties when we speak of taxation? A much better argument can be made about charities, which depend on purely voluntary donations. Speaking of the "moral duty" to pay taxes is a little odd, though, since that's far from an uncoerced choice like other moral duties (loving one's neighbor, etc.).
On another level, I'm not at all convinced that those who benefit most from society should pay the most taxes. We benefit from society through non-governmental entities: family, community, culture, etc. The government is not society. It helps protect society in the form of police, the military, and the courts. But we all benefit from these equally, the alternative being death and lawlessness. It's not at all clear that the rich should pay more taxes than the poor (percentage-wise) or that anyone should be forced to pay for services that do not directly benefit them (like the various forms of wealth distribution our society has chosen to adopt, in a not so subtle attempt to replace voluntary and noble virtue with state imposed Enlightenment religion, ie watered down Marxist class warfare).
There's obviously a lot going on in this post, though I tried to keep it short. I hope I was clear and not offensive or anything; I'm genuinely interested in reading your response (I'm new to your blog, and don't know too much about where you're coming from yet).
I'm hestitant to post too much, but I'll give you a few responses.
I seems ironic to me that we will cheer our troops as we overtake parts of the world that we desire. We will be proud to be Americans. We drape the flag around coffins and around our churches. Yet, we despise giving the money that makes it all happen.
The sense of 'moral duty' actually came from the Greeks. They once embraced a progressive tax system, but eventually they moved toward a flat tax system. Later they realized that those with less money, and ultimately society, was negatively impacted by this flat tax system. And they chose to return to a progressive tax system.
So, it's somewhat ironic that we've adopted a representative democracy that came from the Greeks. Yet, we don't want to embrace that tax system. And that would be a truly 'conservative' democracy.
As for the wealthier paying a larger percentage in taxes: The wealthier someone is, the more one benefits from our form of democracy. Money equals power, and power increases choices. Those without money have few choices. For us to say that we have true freedom, ask someone who doesn't have money to feed his/her family. Ask someone who couldn't afford excellent lawyers when they were needed...
As for myself, I'm tired of people complaining about paying taxes. Those who complain are usually making a good handful.
So, let's propose that people making more than $50,000 got a $10,000 tax rebate next year. Do you suppose more than 10% of that might see local charities. Not a chance. We're built in such a way that we are deeply selfish. (And who would be hurt the most by that tax cut?)
Personally: As a follower of Jesus, I must learn to care for those without food on their shelves, warm homes for Michigan winters, and decent health care. Until these things become important to me, I have little business proclaiming the gospel of Jesus or praying, "Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven."
3 comments:
How can we speak of duties when we speak of taxation? A much better argument can be made about charities, which depend on purely voluntary donations. Speaking of the "moral duty" to pay taxes is a little odd, though, since that's far from an uncoerced choice like other moral duties (loving one's neighbor, etc.).
On another level, I'm not at all convinced that those who benefit most from society should pay the most taxes. We benefit from society through non-governmental entities: family, community, culture, etc. The government is not society. It helps protect society in the form of police, the military, and the courts. But we all benefit from these equally, the alternative being death and lawlessness. It's not at all clear that the rich should pay more taxes than the poor (percentage-wise) or that anyone should be forced to pay for services that do not directly benefit them (like the various forms of wealth distribution our society has chosen to adopt, in a not so subtle attempt to replace voluntary and noble virtue with state imposed Enlightenment religion, ie watered down Marxist class warfare).
There's obviously a lot going on in this post, though I tried to keep it short. I hope I was clear and not offensive or anything; I'm genuinely interested in reading your response (I'm new to your blog, and don't know too much about where you're coming from yet).
I'm hestitant to post too much, but I'll give you a few responses.
I seems ironic to me that we will cheer our troops as we overtake parts of the world that we desire. We will be proud to be Americans. We drape the flag around coffins and around our churches. Yet, we despise giving the money that makes it all happen.
The sense of 'moral duty' actually came from the Greeks. They once embraced a progressive tax system, but eventually they moved toward a flat tax system. Later they realized that those with less money, and ultimately society, was negatively impacted by this flat tax system. And they chose to return to a progressive tax system.
So, it's somewhat ironic that we've adopted a representative democracy that came from the Greeks. Yet, we don't want to embrace that tax system. And that would be a truly 'conservative' democracy.
As for the wealthier paying a larger percentage in taxes: The wealthier someone is, the more one benefits from our form of democracy. Money equals power, and power increases choices. Those without money have few choices. For us to say that we have true freedom, ask someone who doesn't have money to feed his/her family. Ask someone who couldn't afford excellent lawyers when they were needed...
As for myself, I'm tired of people complaining about paying taxes. Those who complain are usually making a good handful.
So, let's propose that people making more than $50,000 got a $10,000 tax rebate next year. Do you suppose more than 10% of that might see local charities. Not a chance. We're built in such a way that we are deeply selfish. (And who would be hurt the most by that tax cut?)
Personally:
As a follower of Jesus, I must learn to care for those without food on their shelves, warm homes for Michigan winters, and decent health care. Until these things become important to me, I have little business proclaiming the gospel of Jesus or praying, "Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven."
My response turned out to be pretty long. So, rather than take up too much space in your combox, I posted it on my blog here:
http://the_great.blogspot.com/2005_03_01_the_great_archive.html#111144442273975351
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