Paying Taxes

Luke 20:19-26

A person who tells you they enjoy paying taxes is often the one who has found a loophole and one such person is Warren Buffett whose personal worth is reported at $72.7 Billion at age 84.  “It is an odd twist that a company controlled by Mr. Buffett — perhaps the most outspoken businessman in the country supports raising taxes on the “mega-rich” — is now in a dispute with the government over his company’s paying too little in taxes.” (The New York Times)  If you trust the New York Times, Mr. Buffett may be a good example of others who are mega-rich with this exception, since 2002 the IRS has been trying to collect back taxes his companies owe in the amount of 366 million in taxes and penalties, and he is saying publicly that he and others like him should pay higher taxes.  It seems to one who is uneducated in such matters, as if Mr. Buffett is speaking out of both sides of his mouth, and would be wise to pay before speaking. 

Taxes are not a new thing, and not enjoying paying taxes is sure not novel to our time.  Do you recall the scribes and the chief priest sought to lay hands on Jesus but they feared the people.  Dr. Luke gives this report: “So they watched him and sent spies, who pretended to be sincere, that they might catch him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor. So they asked him, “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach rightly, and show no partiality, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar, or not?”  (Luke 20:20-22 ESV)  What a great question, they are under Roman rule and the Jewish people and these religious guys hate  tax collectors and they have a problem, they cannot touch Jesus, but the Roman IRS and even Caesar’s boys will take Jesus down in a heartbeat if he tells them not to pay taxes.

It seems our current administration and a few others in the past have used the IRS to bring down its perceived enemies, maybe they did not read the full parable of paying taxes to Caesar?  So how did Jesus deal with this crafty trap?  Jesus said to them; “Show me a denarius. Whose likeness and inscription does it have?” They said, “Caesar's.” He said to them, “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.”  (Luke 20:24-25 ESV)

When Jan and I moved to Spring, Texas, we had never heard of a “MUD District,” it is a special-purpose district that sells bonds to put in public utilities such as water, waste collection/management, and roads for the district residents.  Ours was MUD 19 and it had debt of 3 Million at 15% and our developer and his family were killed in a helicopter accident, after building only 10 homes.  I got a good deal, or at least I believed it was at the time; only to find out we would need to choose bankruptcy as a district.  We had a lot of help from one of the most powerful law firms in Houston who told us they would do Pro Bono to help us out.  What they did not tell us was they worked for the bond groups.  They assured us if we voted to double our taxes we as homeowners would never have to pay and the district would not go into bankruptcy.  We did and when the taxes were not paid we were hit with a fine and penalties.  Needing good counsel, I asked to visit with our elders at our church and I will never forget Bro. Moss came in and did not listen to one word I said, He said Bob I’ve got a meeting to go to, so pay your taxes, or did he say; “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.”   I’m not sure, but he left and went to his meeting and I paid my taxes with penalties, and learned another bought lesson.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice