Morality of Paying Taxes

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Not forbidden, yes, but is it required? That is the real question in my mind. At what point does this become a legitimate case where civil disobedience is a moral option?
 
Catechism is pretty darn clear http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/para/2240.htm:

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:

Pay to all of them their dues, taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.

[Christians] reside in their own nations, but as resident aliens. They participate in all things as citizens and endure all things as foreigners. . . . They obey the established laws and their way of life surpasses the laws. . . . So noble is the position to which God has assigned them that they are not allowed to desert it.

The Apostle exhorts us to offer prayers and thanksgiving for kings and all who exercise authority, “that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful in every way.”
 
That said, Paul made full use of his rights as a Roman citizen to shield himself from persecution at the hands of Jews and to preach the Gospel. From this, we see that there is nothing wrong with making use of our earthly citizenship’s benefits, provided we use them in the service of good and not evil.
 
TheLittleLady said:
morally obligatory to pay taxes, to exercise the right to vote,
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So one must vote? If not, can’t also say one must pay taxes since same language in 2241 used with both

Also you have 2242 which is far more on point since it directly quotes Matthew 22

2242: The citizen is obliged in conscience not to follow the directives of civil authorities when they are contrary to the demands of the moral order, to the fundamental rights of persons or the teachings of the Gospel. Refusing obedience to civil authorities, when their demands are contrary to those of an upright conscience, finds its justification in the distinction between serving God and serving the political community. “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s."48 "We must obey God rather than men”:49

When citizens are under the oppression of a public authority which oversteps its competence, they should still not refuse to give or to do what is objectively demanded of them by the common good; but it is legitimate for them to defend their own rights and those of their fellow citizens against the abuse of this authority within the limits of the natural law and the Law of the Gospel.50

http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p3s2c2a4.htm#V
 
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If you look at the top of the dollar bill you see this:
Federal Reserve Note
(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)
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The key term is note. It is a finance term. It means debt. It is a debt instrument that is printed and owned by the Federal Government (Ceaser). You are literally borrowing Ceaser’s money to facilitate trade. It was made in his image, and thus you are to render it unto him when he redeems it via taxes. Just like how the currency was made in the image of Ceaser, you , me, and everyone else was made in the image of God. We don’t own our souls or bodies, God does. Thats why Jesus is the great redeemer king. He is reverting ownership of us back to Him and not the evil one.

Literally if you use Ceaser’s currency, use his protection service (law, courts, police, etc), use his roads, you have to pay taxes. You COULD go all “Into the Wild” and completely sequester yourself from civilization and fend for yourself and never have to pay taxes again, but your life will be much MUCH harder and your life expectancy will be cut significantly.
 
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Aquinas11 said:
2242 : The citizen is obliged in conscience not to follow the directives of civil authorities when they are contrary to the demands of the moral order, to the fundamental rights of persons or the teachings of the Gospel. Refusing obedience to civil authorities, when their demands are contrary to those of an upright conscience, finds its justification in the distinction between serving God and serving the political community. “ Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s."48 "We must obey God rather than men ”:49
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Paying taxes is morally neutral. The taxpayer is not morally responsible for what the govt does with the taxes.

Paying taxes that wind up funding immoral activities is not the same as voting for a government official you know is going to do immoral things (when there is a more acceptable candidate).
 
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Aquinas11 said:
So one must vote?
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Yes. The Church teaches us that we should vote and not refrain from voting. If both/all candidates are bad, we should vote for the lesser evil.

NOTE: I can’t quote where I’ve read about this (other than this quote from the Catechism).
 
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CarmeliteKnight said:
The key term is note . It is a finance term. It means debt.
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Yes but it’s the original meaning is more like a deposit receipt you get at bank when you make a deposit. The deposit receipt is a debt that the bank owes you that money you deposited. In same way, notes were issued as a deposit receipt of gold someone would deposit in bank (hence the term “gold backed currency”), so the note actually represents a debt of the government to the citizen based on amount of gold deposited
 
Unfortunately, thanks to tricky dick Nixon, we don’t have a gold backed currency, we have a fiat currency. It’s a debt based monetary system. Literally every dollar in existence is borrowed from the Federal Reserve and backed by US T-bonds.
 
The Federal Reserve is apart of the Government. They are literally legislated by Congress and has chairmen appointed by the President.
 
If it is created by Legislation, it can be taken away by Legislation, ergo it is controled by the government. It is given autonomy as, in theory, it is a government institution that needs to be free from the restraints of politics and politicans.
 
Yet, paying taxes is morally neutral, Christ gave us an example, the Church tells us to obey the law and pay our taxes and to exercise our right to vote. I’m not going to turn this into another political thread. Sometimes voting is morally neutral, some times it is not and we all know that.

Honestly, it is stunning that people here are encouraging our brother/sister to break the laws in their country by evading taxes.
 
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TheLittleLady said:
it is stunning that people here are encouraging our brother/sister to break the laws in their country by evading taxes.
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that’s stunning statement given that the Catechism encourages our brother/sister to break the laws in their country under certain circumstances (see bold highlighted below)
Aquinas11 said:
2242 : The citizen is obliged in conscience not to follow the directives of civil authorities when they are contrary to the demands of the moral order, to the fundamental rights of persons or the teachings of the Gospel. Refusing obedience to civil authorities, when their demands are contrary to those of an upright conscience, finds its justification in the distinction between serving God and serving the political community. “ Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s."48 "We must obey God rather than men ”:49
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Your reasoning is very clear and grounded, congratulations. I have just one question for you, the part in the Cathecism that seems to oblige the payment of taxes, how it fits in all of this?
 
Aquinas11 said:
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TheLittleLady:
paying taxes is morally neutral,
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phil19034 said:
The taxpayer is not morally responsible for what the govt does with the taxes.
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(A) whether one is compelled to pay taxes, and
(B) whether one is morally responsible for what government does with the paid taxes

are two different topics. I’m discussing (A), not (B) which is strawman.
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The answer to (A) is yes, we are compelled to pay taxes. We are supposed to follow the law unless the law breaks God’s laws.

Paying taxes is the law and does not break Divine Law. Therefore, yes, one is compelled to pay taxes.

God Bless
 
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