Levy Taxes On The Evil Rich

It seems a lot of focus has been placed on taxing the rich. Somehow that is suppose to comfort us. We are finally getting the bad guys. The promise is that the evil rich are the only ones who are going to take a hit. It is a lesson to our society that the poor are the good and the rich are the bad. I see this as the height of manipulation, control and hypocrisy. It is smoke and mirrors when a politician says this to you.

Let’s call it like it is. The raising of taxes for government spending is the laziest, most non-creative piece of legislation that can be produced. It requires no imagination or effort whatsoever. It is a symptom that our politicians simply don’t know what to do. They don’t know how to generate wealth. They don’t know how to created jobs. They don’t know how to stimulate the economy or the free market. So to get the funds they want, they tax.

On top of that, it is an unreasonable demand that a man give up half or more of every thing that he has worked 16 hours a day, 7 days a week for most of his life, and be forced to carry the person who barely has the gumption to go to his mail box and get his government check, and stays in that condition for the most part because he is simply too lazy to ever do more than complain because someone else isn’t feeding him, clothing him and carrying his load. Here is the trap. Dependence on the government, just as it is with any other thing, depletes the independence of the individual to stand on their own two feet. The more government increases its oversight and control, the more incapable the masses become to live by their own strength. This creates co-dependence and should not inspire respect.

I agree that everyone should carry their load. But it seems immoral to penalize the rich simply because he is rich, and to reward the poor simply because he is poor. A tax without mutual responsibility becomes unjust, and the politician who would levy a tax on this level is irresponsible and misguided in his management and spending. We have rewarded people for slothfulness and indiscretion. As a result we have raised a generation of takers. In the process we have destroyed self reliance and created co-dependency. Our government should provide assistance and a hand up for those who need it. We should certainly take care of the poor and do everything we can to provide opportunities for them to better themselves, but I have no interest in the lazy. And if you think I am harsh, you should read the book of Proverbs. Thomas Jefferson said it this way. "The worst day in a man's life is when he sits down and begins thinking about how he can get something for nothing."

So the point remains, going after the rich is simply misguided. Rather we should work with business owners by giving them incentives to created new jobs and opportunity. Instead of taking their money through taxation, we should look for ways to give that money back to the people so they can get it into the market place rather than big government pockets and special interest greed.

There are many problems with dependence on government as a matter of policy and phiolosphy. But, the spiritual aspect of this debate is getting short shrift.

All of the "moral" discussions about health care and other issues have centered around providing for the poor and less fortunate. To some extent efforts to do this are necessary for the stability of our society. More importantly, there is a clear biblical role for the church in addressing these issues. However, relying solely or even primarily on government to fill this role, misses point of the most salient moral questions.

On whom are we teaching people to depend? What force are we suggesting they employ to get their help? Unlike tax revenue, GDP or other measures of economic vitality in which the size of the pie can be increased, dependence is a zero sum game.

The more people become dependent on their companies or their government for benefits, programs, health insurance, or any other thing--no matter who good and noble those things might be--the less dependent they become on God.

More than govenment over reach, more than the deficits and debts, more than the potential reduction in our personal choices and freedoms, this is the real danger of our present course and the real tragedy of that we must work to avert.