Whose reform? Which equality?
by John Nevile
Zadok Perspectives Issue No. 61
Winter 1998

Introduction

Can the Bible help us get beyond the "naked self-interest" in much of the debate on tax reform?

John Nevile
John Nevile is Emeritus Professor, School of Economics, University of New South Wales.

TO THE BEST OF my knowledge, there is only one passage in the Bible that discusses the structure of taxation as opposed to a Christian duty to pay taxes. It is "because you levy taxes on the poor and extract a tribute of grain from them, though you have built houses hewn of stone you shall not live in them, though you have planted vineyards you shall not drink wine from them. For I know how many your crimes are and how countless your sins" (Amos 5: 11-12). That is taken from the New English Bible. A more literal translation would be "because you trample on the poor and take levies (or taxes) of grain from them.

But the exact words do not matter. The verses from Amos echo a large number of passages in both the Old and New Testaments which emphasise God's tremendous compassion and overwhelming concern for the poor and his anger at acts which make their circumstances worse. Consider Psalm 146: "I am God who gives bread to the hungry, the Lord who sets the prisoners free." Or: "the Lord upholds the widow and orphan but thwarts the path of the wicked".

Consider also the poetic words of Isaiah: "is not this what I require of you as a fast, to loose the fetters of injustice, to untie the knots of the yoke, to snap every yoke and free those who have been crushed" (58:6).

In short, the most fundamental principle about taxation that is obtained from reading the Bible is that, as far as possible, one should avoid taxing the poor. The taxation system should not make worse-off those who are already severely disadvantaged in material terms. To do so is to offend against God's immense compassion for the poor. Moreover, 'poor' does not mean destitute, though it includes them. In the verse from Amos, the poor means those who do have enough grain to pay tax.

There are other Christian principles about taxation one can obtain from the Bible, even if they are implicit rather than explicit. Taxation should not undermine family life, for example, and it should not make it hard for parents to bring up their children in an appropriate and loving environment, though what this means in practice is a hotly debated topic.

Clearly, the taxation system should be just, though what we mean by justice is not always how God views justice. One can make a good case that according to the Bible a just taxation system is simply one in which the poor pay no taxes, our first principle again. The simple principle, that the poor should pay no tax, has far reaching consequences in taxation reform.

To: Direct versus indirect taxes