The Tax Trap

Have you ever thought about how much you pay in taxes?

Perhaps you thought about Income or Property Taxes when I asked that, but those aren't the only taxes we pay.

In some countries, they have a Value Added Tax (VAT) that is assigned to everything produced.  Each step in the production process that adds value is taxed, so  that the final cost of the product or service has all the taxes embedded in it.

We prefer to pay an Income tax, but we pay other taxes as well, including a tax on what is sold, so the total tax bill each day could be higher than we think.

'Show me a denarius. Whose head and whose title does it bear?' They said, 'The emperor's.' He said to them, 'Then give to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's.' - Luke 20:24-25

In today's reading those who want to trap Jesus question him about paying taxes.

We can read this and smile, thinking about how clever Jesus was to get out of answering the question in a way that was self-condemning, but what about the question of paying taxes?

Are we OK with what we pay?

Do we know what it is used for?

In our village, we have a collapsed bulkhead along the waterfront.  The Village is in a battle with the developer about who should be held responsible to fix it.  No one is taking responsibility.  So the Village wants to start charging us to park in the lot nearby whenever we go shopping there.

That is a tax, and it is being levied unfairly, in my opinion, because the project was mismanaged.

It is a tax to pay for someone's mistake.

Now, I could refuse to park there, or I could park there and not pay, but in the end, I will suffer the consequences.

When authorities levy taxes, we are trapped.  We have to pay one way or another.

We pay for the good things and we pay for the bad.  There is little incentive to fix the bad, since those who screw up don't have to be held accountable.  They just raise the taxes.

This was the situation under Roman occupation, and everyone knew it wasn't fair.  So the question was a test.

But what about with us today?  The money that is being collected to pay for incompetence could have been used for something necessary and positive, but it will go to repair the bulkhead instead.

We can argue all we want about who should pay for the good things we want to do, or we can clean up the bad and make those funds available for good.

In the end, though, we may have to resign ourselves to the fact that Caesar needs to get what he wants, and we can't do anything about that.

More to come...