To Tax, Or Not To Tax

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed. (Romans 13:1–7 ESV)

This is my attempt to think wisely through proposed taxes during elections. I am positive I have not thought of everything, and if you think I have missed something let me know. I desire to grow in wisdom on these types of subjects. This is by no means the only way to think through this subject, but one I am working through.

The role of the civil government -which is ordained by God (Romans 13:1) -according to Romans 13:4 is to be an “avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.” This means that the civil government has been given the authority by God to protect citizens from wickedness and execute justice, that is their sphere of authority. Romans 13:6 also says that we are to pay taxes that are imposed by the civil government because the authorities are ministers of God.

“For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.” Romans 13:6-7

However, due to sin, the civil government can begin to overreach from their God-ordained sphere of authority and attempt to rule in place of the family or self. With that said, and seeing in Romans 13 that taxes are expected to be paid by the citizens, is there a way to determine if a tax is legitimate or illegitimate when put forth to be voted on?

I have always been of the mindset that it is never good to vote to raise taxes, but after reading Romans 13, maybe there are times that taxes are legitimate to benefit the citizens. That is pretty difficult to say, but Scripture does talk about this head-on in Romans 13. Since I am a Christian who wishes to submit to all of Scripture, these verses have to be taken into consideration when going to vote.

So, if those verses are being considered, then how do we determine if we are to be voting in favor to raise taxes or to not raise taxes? I think when evaluating a tax proposal we need to consider a few things regarding the proposed tax:

• Is it a legitimate tax?
• Does it put too much strain upon the residents of the town?
• Does it make us value security over political freedom?

If those questions are answered in light of Scripture, I believe that it will direct us in our voting.

Is The Tax Legitimate?

“The civil government has the authority and power to collect a tax for certain services that it renders. But… the only services that civil magistrates are to render are those that administer justice, protect law-abiding citizens, and punish the lawless. If the civil government is performing duties beyond those specified by Scripture, then it is overstepping its legitimate authority.” - God and Government, pg 76

To determine if a proposed tax is legitimate we need to understand the limits that God has given to civil government. According to Romans 13 the civil government is to administer justice, protect its citizens who do good rather than evil, and punish lawlessness.

For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Romans 13:3-4

A good question to ask is “does the proposed tax fall into one or more of the three categories: administering justice, protecting its citizens who are law abiding citizens, and punishing the lawless?” If not, then it may be concluded that the tax is illegitimate.

I also want to make a note that the standard of good that the civil magistrates are to follow is the standard of Scripture; Paul makes that pretty plain. So if the civil government is saying that obeying some portion of Scripture is lawlessness, then Christians have the duty to resist the civil government and obey Scripture.

“So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” Acts 4:18–20 ESV

As I end the first piece of criteria for evaluating a tax proposal, I think this statement by Gary DeMar makes a good point that should make us evaluate exactly what we want the state to control:

”Because the civil government… makes available certain benefits (e.g. roads, protection, etc.), the citizens are obligated to pay for those services. This is not to say that all benefits that the State makes available are legitimate functions of the civil government. Many of them may not be (e.g. education, health care, welfare, [property tax,] etc.). However, if citizens desire these benefits, they must be willing to pay for them.” God and Government, pg 106

Therefore, think through what you want our civil government to control before voting to increase taxes and giving away authority to the civil government that has not been ordained by God.

Does the Proposed Tax Put Too Much Strain Upon the Residents?

Another point to consider is if the proposed tax adds too much strain to the already over-taxed residents? Only looking at the first point and voting based on that can make us forget about love for neighbors, and where the majority of the residents are when it comes to their income. If the proposed tax is putting a larger weight upon the residents that makes it more difficult on their finances, then it would be difficult to vote to impose more taxes, even if the reason is legitimate.

But wouldn’t all increases in taxes put more of a strain financially on the residents? Yes, it would. That is why when a new legitimate tax is proposed, an illegitimate tax should then be decreased by the same amount. For example, if we are raising a tax to direct funds to law enforcement, which seems legitimate by the first point, then an illegitimate tax -like property tax -should be decreased.

You may be thinking that this is a pipe dream– there would never be a proposal to increase one tax while simultaneously decreasing an illegitimate tax on a ballot. And maybe you are correct, which would make your decision easier when voting. But on the other hand, has anything like that ever been suggested, and if not, why? The answer to that question should then maybe move us to start suggesting those types of tax proposals to our local city council.

Does the Proposed Tax Make Us Value Security Over Political Freedom?

The last point in this three-point framework is: what is the outcome of the tax? Are we giving more power to the civil government than what God ordained, and in return making the civil government our savior rather than Christ? Are we attempting to say that the security that the government provides is better than freedom? The end result of passing those types of taxes is tyranny, so we should not desire to pass these types of taxes.

“High taxes result from the majority of the citizens turning to the State for security. The civil magistrate’s power is used to create a tax system which takes money from the so-called wealthy and distributes confiscated revenues to the less fortunate. The result is slavery. The State often has used man’s desire for security to subvert freedom.” - God and Government pg. 524

Does this tax make us hope for security to subvert freedom? Does this make us hope for security in a limited and temporal power rather than the eternal sovereign God?

Conclusion

These three points are not perfect, and can and will be refined in the future, but I think this is a good jumping off point for all of us to think through what is being proposed on the ballot when we go to vote.

“Rulers are in no way autonomous beings able to rule independent of God’s rule. God’s image is on Caesar; therefore, Caesar is obligated to acknowledge the absolute rule of God over his life: ‘We have, for Caesar, the image of Caesar which is impressed upon the coin, for God the image of God which is impressed on human beings. Give Caesar his money; give yourself to God… Accordingly we follow the apostle’s injunction to submit to magistracies, principalities, and powers, but only within the limits of discipline; that is, so long as we keep ourselves clear of idolatry” - Tertullian