Jesusnomics

One of the themes constantly pounded by the Christian Left is how evil, uncaring, and just-not-nice-at-all American corporations are. After all, some of them have an awful lot of money and and run by really, really rich people. Do we really need any more proof that Jesus wouldn’t be a fan? Evidently not.

One of today’s shining examples of this is a piece written by Allison Kilkenny and blasted out on the interwebs by various folks such as @TheChristianLft

She writes:

Bank of America hasn’t paid a nickel in federal income taxes for the past two years, and in fact raked in an additional $1 billion in tax “benefits.” The bank is enjoying these profits after accepting $45 billion from taxpayers, which the company then got to count as a deduction when they paid back the money.

Well, that’s just terrible, don’t you think? Of course, a teeny bit of research shows that BOA’s profit margin is currently -2.7% and that their stock price history for the past few years looks kind of like this:

Now I’m not saying that BOA is a paragon of virtue, nor that they may not use every means in their power to pay as little tax as possible, just like every other taxpayer in the country. But I have to wonder exactly what the left expects them to do. If you don’t turn a profit, then there’s nothing to tax. Simple as that.

In reality, those on the left would not be content even if BOA just opened its vaults and started chucking money out onto the streets. It’s not the lack of taxes that bothers them. It’s the fact that they’re allowed to continue to own billions of dollars in assets instead of being forced by law to spread that wealth around to those who are seen to deserve it more than they do: namely the programs run by those selfsame leftists.

The warning to “take heed and beware of covetousness” applies just as well to the would-be socialist as it does to the filthy rich capitalist.

I gave my own thoughts on the “What Would Jesus Cut” crowd recently but when I read Jeff Jacoby’s response this morning, I couldn’t help but re-post a bit of it here:

Wallis fumed in an interview that Congress should be cutting defense spending instead of health or nutrition programs. “House Republicans want to beat our ploughshares into more swords,” he said. “These priorities that they’re offering are not just wrong or unfair, they’re unbiblical.” Unbiblical! Does Wallis really believe that no one advocating budget cuts he opposes can have serious ethical grounds for doing do? It must be wonderful to be so certain that what Wallis wants is precisely what God wants. Not all of us are as confident that our religious faith translates as readily into a detailed partisan agenda.

A more fundamental problem with the “What Would Jesus Cut?” campaign is its planted axiom that Jesus would want Congress to do anything at all. Yes, we are emphatically commanded by Scripture to help the poor, to comfort the afflicted, and to love the stranger. But those obligations are personal, not political. It requires a considerable leap of both faith and logic to read the Bible as mandating elaborate government assistance programs, to be funded by a vast apparatus of compulsory taxation. I admit that I am no New Testament scholar, but I cannot recall Jesus ever saying that the way to enter Heaven is to dole out money extracted from your neighbors’ pockets.

Wow. That last line especially sums up the real problem with the philosophy behind this movement. It’s all about giving away large sums…of other people’s money. Where is the spiritual value in giving away another person’s possessions via the power of a tax code? I really can’t see how Jesus would be particularly impressed.

via businessinsider.com

Today’s question comes from @TheNewDeal

“I Wonder, How Long Would Jesus Christ Extend the Bush Tax Cuts for The Top 2%”

Well, for starters the Bush tax cuts weren’t just for the top 2%, they were across the board cuts for everybody. Of course people who had higher taxes on larger amounts of money will save more actual dollars but that doesn’t mean that “the rich” are getting special treatment that nobody else was enjoying.

But to the primary question, does Jesus think I have the right to someone else’s property merely because they happen to own more than I do? There’s no doubt that there are many warnings about the deceitfulness of riches in the Bible and yet there are many example of godly men like Abraham and Job who had immense wealth. Being rich  is no sin in and of itself and the right to private property is implicit in the eight commandment: Thou Shalt Not Steal.

We would all agree that entering the home of a rich person and taking their property by force would be both illegal and immoral.  Is using an onerous tax code to the same effect really significantly different? Yes, we are commanded as Christians to pay our taxes and the governments can legalize such confiscation of property — but does mere legality make it moral for one group of people to take what belongs to someone else merely because that person has more than they do?

Let me hasten to add that Jesus certainly didn’t let the rich off the hook with their responsibility to help the poor. There’s an awful lot in Scripture about the social responsibility of Christians towards the truly needy and a pretty dim outlook for those believers who ignore it.  But those commands to generosity are given in the context of a spiritual imperative that will be weighed by an Eternal Judge. Indeed, we also read that even if one gives all his goods to feed the poor and yet has no love for them it counts for nothing in an eternal sense. The biblical observations about riches and poverty are never mere social commentary — they go much, much deeper to motivations and intentions that a secular government can never hope to enforce.

While Jesus warned the rich against trusting in their riches and not helping the poor He also made this command to rich and poor alike: “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. ” Coveting the riches of the top 2% is coveting all the same.

Today’s topic comes  from @thesmallman via Twitter:

“Talked in class about how tax/tithe in the Old Testament was 23.3%. Wonder if I can get any of the Republicans to call God a Socialist.”

In short, the answer is no.  The idea that only Socialists believe taxes are necessary is a straw man. In fact, the Fair Tax which is supported by many Republicans would levy a flat 23% sales tax on all goods and services.

But lets say for the sake of argument that God is indeed a Socialist and that the Israelites are model of good Socialist policies. Are you equally ready to embrace the practice of  people selling themselves and their children into servitude instead of declaring bankruptcy? Because in Israel’s economy not only  is  that on the table, but a good number of other uncomfortable laws regarding property and money are in play as well.  Levirate marriage, anyone?

In reality, most of us  (Democrats and Republicans alike) would be thrilled to pay only 23.3% in taxes. That would be especially true  if we were using the Old Testament model that included in that 23.3% the 10% that went to our local church.  Ten percent  to the church and a mere thirteen to state,local, and federal? That’s a bargain!

Being against Socialism is not about not paying taxes, it’s about not using the tax system to redistribute wealth based on some ideal of “fairness.”

This tweet is glib but it ultimately turns out to be less than clever.