Why Do We Pay Taxes?
Why Do We Pay Taxes?
As Benjamin Franklin famously said, nothing is certain except death and taxes. But where do taxes come from, and do we really need them?
A History of Taxes
The first recorded use of taxation was in ancient Egypt. The Book of Genesis reports that a share (20%) of all crops was given to Pharaoh. In modern times, taxes first began to appear in Europe in the early 17th century. The great powers of Europe, back in the days when Europe actually mattered, exported their taxation policy to their colonies in the New World.
1n what later became the United States, the Stamp Act of 1765 famously kick started the American revolution. “No taxation without representation” became the rallying cry for both the American rebels and their supporters back in the United Kingdom, some of whom hoped that the British would follow the Americans’ lead in throwing off the tyranny of Mad King George.
For a long time, federal income taxes were believed to be unconstitutional, but the Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution granted the federal government the right to levy income taxes. However, Americans retain a long-standing hostility to taxation.
Resistance to Taxes
Communists and Libertarians may not share much in common, but one thing that unites them is a mutual distrust of taxation as a means of raising revenue. Karl Marx predicted that personal income taxes would disappear in a communist society as government ownership of businesses replaced them as a revenue source.
On the right of the political spectrum, libertarians and objectivists regard taxation as a form of slavery, or at least aggression by the government. Anarcho-capitalists argue that there is no moral difference between a criminal robbing a man of $50 and that same criminal voting for a politician who will tax the man that $50 and redistributing it to him in the form of welfare payments.
Most people, however, regard taxes as a payment for services rendered. Oliver Wendell Holmes said that “Tax is the price we pay for a civilized society”, while Cicero called them “the sinews of society”. There are various proposals for reform of the tax system. Proponents of the so-called “fair tax” include former presidential candidates Mike Gravel and Mike Huckabee. The fair tax would replace all income taxes with a national sales tax. Opponents of this proposal argue that it would be regressive, placing an undue burden on the poor, a charge denied by its supporters.
Some Eastern European countries have also adopted a flat tax system, with a uniform instead of a progressive rate of income tax. However, economists argue that such a system only works in a small country, though it has its supporters in the major western nations too.
Check out Bible Study Topics and more Youth Ministry Resources.
Processing your request, Please wait....
