Difference between Morally Wrong and Mortal Sin

[imo]

In another topic of mine, I asked about if it was morally wrong to not pay the full amount of due taxes, mainly when it does not depend only of yourself, but of your employer (off the books payments) or other business partners if you are the owners and/or if the taxes can be considered abusive.

Well, the Catechism says: [2240] Submission to authority and co-responsibility for the common good make it morally obligatory to pay taxes, to exercise the right to vote, and to defend one’s country:

However, Saint Thomas says: Reply to Objection 3. This argument is true of a law that inflicts unjust hurt on its subjects . The power that man holds from God does not extend to this: wherefore neither in such matters is man bound to obey the law, provided he avoid giving scandal or inflicting a more grievous hurt.

So, there is a margin of interpretation here, it seems. In this example case, morally wrong would mean a mortal sin?

 

[thistle]

In another topic of mine, I asked about if it was morally wrong to not pay the full amount of due taxes, mainly when it does not depend only of yourself, but of your employer (off the books payments) or other business partners if you are the owners and/or if the taxes can be considered abusive.

Well, the Catechism says: [2240] Submission to authority and co-responsibility for the common good make it morally obligatory to pay taxes , to exercise the right to vote, and to defend one’s country:

However, Saint Thomas says: Reply to Objection 3. This argument is true of a law that inflicts unjust hurt on its subjects . The power that man holds from God does not extend to this: wherefore neither in such matters is man bound to obey the law, provided he avoid giving scandal or inflicting a more grievous hurt.

So, there is a margin of interpretation here, it seems. In this example case, morally wrong would mean a mortal sin ?

It what the Church says that counts and not an individual Church Father.

Paying taxes is NOT morally wrong.

 

[Vico]

… In this example case, morally wrong would mean a mortal sin?

What criteria would be used to determine what is unjust?

I think tax evasion is theft so consider that with theft the amount determines the gravity, likely $400 USD is grave matter.

 

[imo]

I think is worse now, here in Brazil the total amount of taxes can reach 50% of our earnings during the year, just the income tax reaches 27%. How can this be fair?

 

[Elf01]

I think is worse now, here in Brazil the total amount of taxes can reach 50% of our earnings during the year, just the income tax reaches 27%. How can this be fair?

Given all your threads on this topic I suspect what you really want is someone to tell you it’s OK not to pay your taxes.

 

[phil19034]

I think is worse now, here in Brazil the total amount of taxes can reach 50% of our earnings during the year, just the income tax reaches 27%. How can this be fair?

Yes, taxes can be pretty high and it’s not fair. HOWEVER, in Thomas Aquinas’ time it was a LOT worse.

In Jesus’ time, tax collectors used to make money based on the amount they collected. They were responsible to collecting X amount and were able to keep anything they collected beyond X. So for example, if they collected X + 100, then they could keep that 100.

In Thomas Aquinas’ time, it wasn’t much better (depending on where you lived).

So it was very corrupt in the past. Today, not so much. HOWEVER, we can argue that taxes are too high, which is a totally different argument and one I will back you on 100%.

This is an interesting article with video

Medieval Taxes: How Much Would You have to Pay? - Medievalists.net