"Business: The Biblical Case for Civil Taxation, Part 3"
by Dr. Patti Amsden
Scripture requires the tithe to be paid on the increase (Deut. 14:22, 28; 26:12; II Chron. 31: 5-6; Prov. 3:9). In a simpler agricultural society, a farmer would count his harvest and set aside 10% for his tithe. A rancher would count his cattle or sheep and reckon one in ten as the Lord’s portion. Even in a more complex economic environment, the business or the individual would be mandated to take count of his assets and render the equivalent of 10% for his tithe. As we have established that the tithe, being God’s covenantal tax, is the pattern for the civil covenantal tax, the tax is also to be paid from the increase on the assets. If a business venture or an earned wage yielded high dividends, the dollar volume of paid tax would be greater. If the business venture or work product failed to produce increase, no tax would be collected. The civil, like the church, is permitted to collect the tax or the tithe, respectively, on the increase. The percentage of the civil tax may not exceed the percentage of God’s tithe.
The inheritance of the family is not subject to taxation. According to Proverbs 13:22, a righteous man should prepare an inheritance for his children and his grandchildren. This passage affirms multi-generational economic transfer or the validity of inheritance. The family structure is another example of a covenantal unit. The parents serve in the role that could be compared to that of the sovereign because they offer the child entrance into the covenant and promise to provide the ‘exceeding great reward’ or the provisions for the child and the ‘shield or protection’ or the child’s safeguard and defense. They not only provide the world the child will enter but they are supposed to lay up a heritage that the child will manage at the time of inheritance. Commandment 10 sets a boundary around all assets and inheritance that belongs in a family’s portfolio and forbids all neighbors from coveting and thus forcibly confiscating by theft, fraud, or collective vote any portion of the inheritance.
The child is required to bring honor to the family covenant, which is the essence of Commandment 5. Honor, within the full scope of its biblical definition, not only means to give respect to the parents but it also embraces the idea of financial support. The child who inherits is required to take care of the aging parents from a portion of the inheritance. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees when they exempted themselves from financial care for their parents by declaring that their money was Corban, or dedicated to God (Mt. 7:11). The child, in metaphoric terms, pays a tax to their sovereign, their parents.
When the civil realm places a tax upon the inheritance, the state positions itself illegitimately into the child’s role as it claims the authority to identify itself as the heir with the right to inherit the family assets. The state then injects itself into the parent’s role when it forcibly demands that the child pay an inheritance tax, which serves as a counterfeit replacement for the child’s honor or fiscal care for the parent. Inheritance tax is altogether outside of the scope of a biblical pattern for taxation.
The civil realm is also not empowered to tax property. The earth is the Lord’s (Deut. 10:14; Ps. 24:1). From His position of Creator and Owner, God delegates portions of His earth to the management of men. The earth then yields its increase to its managers, who then tithe back to God on the increase. Land management is covenantal. For the state to claim the illegitimate power to tax the people who are managing the land amounts to the false claim that the civil is sovereign owner of land and is due the tithe, or the tax, from the land managers. Property tax is a trespass not only against the tax payer but, more importantly, against the Possessor of Heaven and Earth.
Finally, sales tax is not permitted within biblical taxation principles. The exchange of goods through buying and selling is one means by which the owner of a product gains increase. The increase provides the portion from which God’s tithe and, likewise, the civil tax is levied.
The tithe and the tax are both described in the terms of a percentage. In biblical tithing, all persons, rich and poor, were required to bring the same percentage. The dollar volume would vary depending upon the increase. For example, a rich man may sow and reap in a dozen fields while a poorer man may only own one field in which he can sow and reap. The rich man will, doubtless, have more in his barns and more upon which to tithe. His gift would be larger even thought his percentage would be the same. By taxing an equal percentage, the rich may provide a greater dollar amount to the treasury but will not be unequally burdened. The percentage tax is fair to all tax payers regardless of their level of prosperity.
A graduated income tax, or a tax policy that places a higher percentage on the wealthy, is outside of the scope of biblical patterns. Graduated income tax promotes a covetous society that seeks to establish laws aimed at robbing one’s neighbor of the family’s assets.
In conclusion, a society that builds tax laws based upon the needs of a tyrannical civil realm will rob from its citizens and overreach its delegated sovereignty, thus claiming to be its own god.
The inheritance of the family is not subject to taxation. According to Proverbs 13:22, a righteous man should prepare an inheritance for his children and his grandchildren. This passage affirms multi-generational economic transfer or the validity of inheritance. The family structure is another example of a covenantal unit. The parents serve in the role that could be compared to that of the sovereign because they offer the child entrance into the covenant and promise to provide the ‘exceeding great reward’ or the provisions for the child and the ‘shield or protection’ or the child’s safeguard and defense. They not only provide the world the child will enter but they are supposed to lay up a heritage that the child will manage at the time of inheritance. Commandment 10 sets a boundary around all assets and inheritance that belongs in a family’s portfolio and forbids all neighbors from coveting and thus forcibly confiscating by theft, fraud, or collective vote any portion of the inheritance.
The child is required to bring honor to the family covenant, which is the essence of Commandment 5. Honor, within the full scope of its biblical definition, not only means to give respect to the parents but it also embraces the idea of financial support. The child who inherits is required to take care of the aging parents from a portion of the inheritance. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees when they exempted themselves from financial care for their parents by declaring that their money was Corban, or dedicated to God (Mt. 7:11). The child, in metaphoric terms, pays a tax to their sovereign, their parents.
When the civil realm places a tax upon the inheritance, the state positions itself illegitimately into the child’s role as it claims the authority to identify itself as the heir with the right to inherit the family assets. The state then injects itself into the parent’s role when it forcibly demands that the child pay an inheritance tax, which serves as a counterfeit replacement for the child’s honor or fiscal care for the parent. Inheritance tax is altogether outside of the scope of a biblical pattern for taxation.
The civil realm is also not empowered to tax property. The earth is the Lord’s (Deut. 10:14; Ps. 24:1). From His position of Creator and Owner, God delegates portions of His earth to the management of men. The earth then yields its increase to its managers, who then tithe back to God on the increase. Land management is covenantal. For the state to claim the illegitimate power to tax the people who are managing the land amounts to the false claim that the civil is sovereign owner of land and is due the tithe, or the tax, from the land managers. Property tax is a trespass not only against the tax payer but, more importantly, against the Possessor of Heaven and Earth.
Finally, sales tax is not permitted within biblical taxation principles. The exchange of goods through buying and selling is one means by which the owner of a product gains increase. The increase provides the portion from which God’s tithe and, likewise, the civil tax is levied.
The tithe and the tax are both described in the terms of a percentage. In biblical tithing, all persons, rich and poor, were required to bring the same percentage. The dollar volume would vary depending upon the increase. For example, a rich man may sow and reap in a dozen fields while a poorer man may only own one field in which he can sow and reap. The rich man will, doubtless, have more in his barns and more upon which to tithe. His gift would be larger even thought his percentage would be the same. By taxing an equal percentage, the rich may provide a greater dollar amount to the treasury but will not be unequally burdened. The percentage tax is fair to all tax payers regardless of their level of prosperity.
A graduated income tax, or a tax policy that places a higher percentage on the wealthy, is outside of the scope of biblical patterns. Graduated income tax promotes a covetous society that seeks to establish laws aimed at robbing one’s neighbor of the family’s assets.
In conclusion, a society that builds tax laws based upon the needs of a tyrannical civil realm will rob from its citizens and overreach its delegated sovereignty, thus claiming to be its own god.