In Matthew 22:17-21, the Pharisees asked Jesus a question, “Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, “Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?” “Caesar’s,” they replied. Then he said to them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

In full agreement, the Apostle Paul taught, “This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor” (Romans 13:6-7).

It’s that time of the year again, and I don’t mind telling you how fantastic it felt just a moment ago to finally (via e-File) give to Caesar what was Caesar’s…or (ahem) get back from Caesar what was rightly mine all along in the form of a refund.  Yup, the annual chore of figuring out the family tax situation is complete—thank yooouuuuuu, TurboTax.

The cost of living in the “richest country in the world”…

If you’re like me, you wince and complain a bit when you receive your W-2 forms from your employer at year end, and see how much of your money you never saw.  Federal income taxes are only a small portion of the taxes we pay. We also pay federal payroll taxes for Social Security and Medicare, state income taxes, state and local sales taxes, property taxes, death taxes and excise taxes.  In fact, governments in the United States take approximately 40 percent of the country’s total income in taxes. In other words, nearly half of all the income generated each year is sent to governments to spend.  What’s even more interesting is that, according to this article from Kiplinger, those families making more than $66,532 in the U.S. pay 87% of the total tax bill in this country (there’s even a neat little calculator here to see where your tax burden ranks).  To further embitter the Gen-X’ers (those of you born between 1965-1980) and the Millenials (1981-2000), there’s a good chance that you’ll never be returned a penny of your lifelong  Social Security paycheck deductions.

Would Jesus’ answer be the same today?

So, shut up and pay up, right? This all may sound like griping about taxes…and you’re right, it is.  Nobody likes taxes—they’re even worse than vegetables and liver in my opinion.  Which leads to the title of this post—what does the Bible say about taxes, and furthermore, how does it apply today?  The above verses in Matthew and Romans seem pretty black and white, don’t they?

Well, it gets tricky in a nation of 300 million people—where 224 million of them call themselves a Christian (adherents.com).  How does it feel when I remind you that part of your tax dollars are going to fund such moral hot buttons as stem cell research, executions, bailouts-of-banks-that-pay-jillions-in-bonuses-to-employees, and the latest possibility: health care reform that may include using tax dollars to pay for abortions?  This latest reform bill has religious leaders around the country threatening “civil disobedience,” and they may even take it so far as to refuse to pay their taxes.  Wouldn’t that be something?  Most of my heart applauds them for staunchly representing their Christian beliefs–yet there is that little portion of me that wonders if withholding the taxes they “owe Caesar” is theologically sound.  Should all of us collectively be refusing to pay taxes if we don’t agree with how our money is to be used?  Imagine the ramifications for our nation if we did so.  So I wonder, if we were able to bring the Pharisees and Jesus forward to the year 2010, and they again asked Him, “Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”

As Paul wrote in Romans, the authorities (our government) are God’s servants–and will therefore have to answer to Him one day soon.  I, for one, have a difficult time believing Jesus’ response would be any different today than it was 2,000 years ago.

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