High Taxes Put State in a Place of Honor Over God
[This column was published November 26, 1998 in The Daily Oklahoman.]
Three thousand years ago, the Israeli political leader Samuel, describing what a tyrannical government would look like, solemnly forewarned the people it would seize – brace yourself – a whopping 10 percent of their income!
Today, of course, governments in the land of the free think nothing of commandeering much more than that. According to the Tax Foundation, the average Oklahoman's total tax rate in 1998 is 32.3 percent (of which state and local taxes account for 10.7 percent).
A tax bite this severe should give us pause for one simple reason: human governors are presuming to set themselves in a place of honor far above the governor of the universe. After all, Joseph Sobran reminds us, "the good Lord asks only 10 percent, lacking as he does liberalism's ambition."
Where our treasure is, there will our hearts be also. If $7,152 – per capita total taxes in Oklahoma this year – of my treasure goes to the state, the state can tend to become a false god. Instead of looking to our Father to give us our daily bread, we begin to look to the state. ("After all, I paid my taxes!")
"The paternal state not only feeds its children," writes scholar Herbert Schlossberg, "but nurtures, educates, comforts and disciplines them, providing all they need for their security. This appears to be a mildly insulting way to treat adults, but is really a great crime because it transforms the state from being a gift of God, given to protect us against violence, into an idol."
The state (like the family and the church) is an important, God-ordained institution. But it must curb its paternal and messianic impulses, and concentrate on securing our rights to life, liberty, and property. Only then can our tax rate be brought down to earth.
Three thousand years ago, the Israeli political leader Samuel, describing what a tyrannical government would look like, solemnly forewarned the people it would seize – brace yourself – a whopping 10 percent of their income!
Today, of course, governments in the land of the free think nothing of commandeering much more than that. According to the Tax Foundation, the average Oklahoman's total tax rate in 1998 is 32.3 percent (of which state and local taxes account for 10.7 percent).
A tax bite this severe should give us pause for one simple reason: human governors are presuming to set themselves in a place of honor far above the governor of the universe. After all, Joseph Sobran reminds us, "the good Lord asks only 10 percent, lacking as he does liberalism's ambition."
Where our treasure is, there will our hearts be also. If $7,152 – per capita total taxes in Oklahoma this year – of my treasure goes to the state, the state can tend to become a false god. Instead of looking to our Father to give us our daily bread, we begin to look to the state. ("After all, I paid my taxes!")
"The paternal state not only feeds its children," writes scholar Herbert Schlossberg, "but nurtures, educates, comforts and disciplines them, providing all they need for their security. This appears to be a mildly insulting way to treat adults, but is really a great crime because it transforms the state from being a gift of God, given to protect us against violence, into an idol."
The state (like the family and the church) is an important, God-ordained institution. But it must curb its paternal and messianic impulses, and concentrate on securing our rights to life, liberty, and property. Only then can our tax rate be brought down to earth.
