“Don’t smoke, chew, or run with girls that do” is a popular adage in some Christian circles today. Christians are concerned about what God thinks about their behavior. They are also concerned about what men think. Of course, any true Christian who struggles with pornography will not herald his addiction, but in many places Christians will seek to cover up arguably less egregious activities like drinking alcohol, smoking cigars, or even gambling now and then. These practices are often viewed as taboo— even when used in moderation. Paradoxically, Christians are able to openly indulge in overeating or overspending on cars, clothing, and entertainment devices without chagrin. Gluttony and profligate spending seem to be more acceptable sins among believers than other excesses, creating a (widespread) inconsistency of thought about what is appropriate Christian behavior.

In my last column, I argued that the state lottery is the best tax because it is a voluntary, even if it is a “stupid tax” paid by the fatuous and the ignorant. That is the public policy side of the issue. But the “moral side” deserves to be developed as well. In doing so, we might consider a classification of Christian practice highlighting four items: pornography, wine, Milky Way candy bars, and prayer.

The broad headings of this arrangement (noting an assignment of each of the four items) would be: [A] “never permissible” (e.g., pornography) and [B] “permissible”. Category B could be further divided into three sub-classifications: [1] “permissible in moderation” (e.g., wine), [2] “always permissible unless there are extenuating circumstances” (e.g., Milky Way candy bars), [3] “always permissible without qualification” (e.g., praying or preaching the gospel). These categories are especially apropos in terms of our entertainment choices, and in terms of the public policies we would support or criticize.

Category A practices, such as viewing pornography, are relatively easy for Christians to identify and eschew. They are, obviously, always sinful. At least I cannot think of any general, legitimate use for something like pornography (although I would be willing to entertain an argument to the contrary if someone wanted to make one). In a word, Category A items are intrinsically evil themselves or are part and parcel of an institution that is intrinsically evil. The scriptural rule regarding such practices would seem to be summed up in I Thessalonians 5:22, I Peter 2:11 and Romans 12:21: “Abstain from every form of evil”, “Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul” and “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (NKJV). In his January 11, 2003 article in World , “Wages from Sin”, Pastor John Piper seems to place playing the lottery in this category. I think he is mistaken. There is nothing intrinsically evil about either the purchase or the entertainment provided by the lottery ticket. Whether or not the lottery as an institution is evil is more intriguing, but to condemn any voluntary action that is not specifically condemned by the Scriptures (such as gambling or lotteries) is probably imprudent and may well be an encroachment upon Christian liberty. Indeed, the institution of the lottery, at least insofar as it is by nature a game based on probability like the casting of lots, is mentioned in the Bible without condemnation (e.g., Leviticus 16:8; Joshua 18:6-10; I Samuel 14:42; I Chronicles 24:31, 25:8, 26:13-14; Nehemiah 10:34, 11:1; Jonah 1:7; Proverbs 16:33; Acts 1:26). It was even used (apparently) to determine the will of God.

The Scriptures seem to indicate that Christians may use alcoholic beverages like wine and beer in moderation (e.g., John 2:1-11, 4:46; I Timothy 5:23, etc.). Thus, Category B1 practices would be permitted up to a point, beyond which (e.g., inebriation) the practice becomes sinful. Although there might be some people who abstain from Category B1 practices because of past excesses or because it would cause another to stumble (cf. Rom 14:13-21), they would not be considered evil in general but are essential amoral . I would include buying lottery tickets among the many Category B1 practices, which may provide genuine enjoyment or entertainment value when used in moderation. Certainly, a family that spends $5 per month on lottery tickets is not going to harm itself financially any more than a family that spends $5 per month at Blockbuster video. Like any form of entertainment, the value of which is always determined by subjective individual preferences, Category B1 practices provide some value to the participants. Just because I am not very entertained by renting and viewing Mary Poppins or by playing skee-ball in an arcade does not mean that they do not entertain others. Is there a point at which expenditures for entertainment for a Christian turn into excess? Of course there is, but that point is not usually a bright line that can be objectively determined by onlookers. The scriptural rule regarding such practices (or Christian liberties) would seem to be summed up in I Corinthians 6:12 and Romans 14:4: “All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any” and “Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.”

Category B2 practices are never sinful in and of themselves. It is not wrong to buy candy bars— Baby Ruth, Milky Way or otherwise—in general. However, if a person is overweight, buying candy might be sinful because it compounds his gluttony and lack of self-control. It might also be sinful for cavity-prone people to buy candy. In either of these cases, issues arise involving caring for our bodies (cf. I Corinthians 6:19-20). Moreover, in large enough quantities, partaking of Category B2 practices could entail poor stewardship, lack of wisdom, or defective priorities. How much of God’s money should we waste? The scriptural rule regarding such practices would seem to be summed up in (among other places) I Corinthians 4:2, 9:27 and 10:23: “Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful”, “But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified” and “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful; all things are lawful for me, but not all things edify”.

I concur with Piper’s condemnation of greed and covetousness among lottery players. Paul said that, “those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition” (I Timothy 6:9). Jesus said, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses” (Luke 12:15). However, Piper’s notion that playing the lottery harms the poor is debatable. Even if poor people are worse off because state lotteries or other gambling exists, that fact does not mean that the participation by relatively wealthier individuals exacerbates poverty. Moreover, there is no good reason to assume that public policy outlawing lotteries would reduce poverty or gambling, any more than Prohibition in the 1920s reduced alcohol use. Indeed, Piper’s notion smacks of the sentiment that is commonly found in modern American liberals, who blame big business or big government for bad individual behavior and its outcome. But such sentiment is false.

Is it not said that lung cancer and smoking addiction are not the fault of the individuals who choose to smoke but rather the fault of greedy, manipulative firms like Phillip Morris and R. J. Reynolds, along with advertising firms and the media which make commercials that impel people to smoke? They are supposedly profiting at the expense of the weak and poor and the federal government compounds the problem by issuing subsidies to tobacco farmers.

This sort of drivel, although commonplace, is simply not true. People choose actions, and expend scarce resources for them, because they expect to benefit. Individual choice, when voluntary, is never someone else’s fault. Adam had no right to alleviate his guilt by blaming Eve, nor did Eve by blaming Satan. As the Scripture says in Galatians 6:5 and II Corinthians 5:20, “each one shall bear his own load” and “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad”. Individuals will be judged according to what they have done in the body without appealing to the sins of others for mitigation of the consequences. Lottery winnings are not “plunder” (as Piper said), and playing the lottery in moderation does not necessitate “spiritual suicide”. They are proceeds from an entertaining game (at least to some) with very poor odds, in which millions of individuals voluntarily choose to participate.

Piper does not want his ministry or church to receive any of the filthy lucre of lottery winnings. I could certainly understand Piper’s reasoning if his goal were to reduce the number of people in his church who are given to excess in the lottery. But Piper should be careful to not go beyond what the Bible says. After all, Jesus received a fragrant, expensive gift that was bought by a woman of ill repute (Luke 7:3639).

On a similar occasion, the Apostle John records that the disciples too—Judas Iscariot in particular—complained about Mary’s inefficient use of the valuable oil. “But Jesus said, ‘Let her alone; she has kept this for the day of My burial. For the poor you have with you always, but Me you do not have always’” (John 12:7-8). It was Judas Iscariot who raised concerns about the poor being harmed. If Jesus Christ was willing to receive benefits from apparently wasteful means, or even from ill-gotten gains, then why should the church reject them? Furthermore, one might argue that the doctrine of Proverbs 13:22b would reach the epitome of fulfillment in the giving of lottery winnings to the church. It says, “The wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous”. Why is it wrong for the saints to benefit by the undoing of the wicked? Accordingly, the Bible records many instances where the wealth of the unsaved is rightly received by God’s people and used for righteous purposes. The Queen of Sheba—not necessarily a believer—and Hiram’s ships brought exotic treasures to Solomon that augmented the glory of the Temple and wealth of God’s people (I Kings 10:1,10-12; II Chronicles 9:1,9-11). The unbelieving king Artaxerxes granted Nehemiah’s request for safe passage and timber to rebuild the Temple, Jerusalem’s wall, and houses in Judea (Nehemiah 2:4-8). The wise men from the East (or magi)—astrologers that interpreted dreams and performed magic—were probably not truly converted men and yet Christ received their gifts by Joseph and Mary (Matthew 2:1-2,9-12). Ananias and Sapphira were slain for lying to the Holy Spirit but there is no indication that their offering was refused by the church (Acts 5:1-11).

The Bible does not condemn gambling per se. It only condemns the excesses that might devolve from gambling. The lottery is permissible in moderation (a Category B1 activity in last week’s column), like using wine or beer, which the godly may use in moderation. In saying this, I am careful to concur with the Westminster Confession of Faith in its application of the eighth commandment against fraud and lying. Its Larger Catechism (question 142) condemns “wasteful gaming; and all other ways whereby we do unduly prejudice our own outward estate, and defrauding ourselves of the due use and comfort of that estate which God hath given us.” Excessive gambling is sin, just as excessive use of alcohol (drunkenness) is sin. I also affirm my commitment to a providential understanding of life. There is nothing that is outside of the control of a sovereign God. Yet God has set forth certain random processes to serve His purposes in the world, as Ecclesiastes 9:11 affirms: “I returned and saw under the sun that—The race is not to the swift, Nor the battle to the strong, Nor bread to the wise, Nor riches to men of understanding, Nor favor to men of skill; But time and chance happen to them all.” In this life, God permits the lottery to work just as He permits random number generators to work, but always under His permissive decree.

While I do not play the lottery, I will leave others to their liberty. And I see no reason for churches to abstain from receiving gifts derived from state lottery winnings that will help them further the Gospel, edify the church, and assist the poor, widows, and orphans.

Originally published in The Times Examiner on February 16 and 23, 2005.

Post from: LibertarianChristians.com

Are State Lotteries Immoral?

The state lottery is one of those things which divide men of good will on the political and social right. For instance, the platform of the Constitution Party says: “Gambling promotes an increase in crime, destruction of family values, and a decline in the moral fiber of our country. We are opposed to government sponsorship, involvement in, or promotion of gambling, such as lotteries, or subsidization of Native American casinos in the name of economic development.” Conversely, a state lottery policy is refreshing for many libertarians.

Why would libertarians like the lottery? It has nothing to do with the morality of gambling but it has everything to do with the nature and propriety of the tax. Yes, the lottery is a tax. The lottery funds functions of civil government just like coercive taxes. The difference is that lotteries are voluntary — unlike any other significant tax source. In fact, enthusiastic and greedy people rush to play the lottery. I recently spoke to the South Carolina Lottery director. He stated that during a recent $100+ million “Powerball” game, sales exceeded 15,000 tickets per hour—a rate faster than the tickets can be printed. Can you think of any other tax that people rush to pay? By contrast, the state extorts money from people by taxing income, sales, gasoline, real property, luxury, and various “sins”, along with requiring licenses, permits, registration fees, and traffic fines, all of which go to the general budget of the state. Then the state doles out paltry welfare benefits, but receiving these benefits is nowhere near as exhilarating as having the television station’s cameraman at your front door. Somehow, buying a pile of lottery tickets (albeit with a remote chance of winning) is much more fun than “contributing” 12.4% of your earnings for the Social Security “program”? The odds of winning the lottery are probably greater than a young man’s chances of ever collecting Social Security.

Let’s face it: the state lottery is a “stupid tax”. Like other monopolized “public enterprises”, the lottery does not produce the high quality, low-priced, innovative, and consumer-friendly product that would be offered in a free market. For instance, Las Vegas and Atlantic City casinos compete by advertising the highest payouts (e.g., slot machines paying 98.3% in one casino versus only 97.8% in others), and people flock to consume the services provided. The South Carolina Lottery’s payout is a measly 58%— rather meager compared to Las Vegas. Hence, one could make the case that playing the state lottery is a pursuit of fatuous or ignorant people.

Of course, not all lottery players are dolts or idiots. For instance, my brother-in-law once stated that—as a Calvinist—he need buy only one ticket. If God wants him to win the jackpot, only one ticket is required. Perhaps one could argue that the Calvinist-lottery thesis provides a basis for a person buying five $1 lottery tickets per year. The opportunity cost imposed on the family from buying these tickets corresponds to ordering one medium pizza instead of one large one—not much of a concern. I choose not to play the lottery, not so much out of scruples, but because I do not want pay the Stupid Tax. Yet such choices should be left to the liberty of conscience of each individual.

Now someone will argue that I am forgetting about the fact that gambling is a social evil and that it supports wicked institutions. I agree, at least in terms of excessive gambling. However, as far as my brother-in-law is concerned, I am not convinced that his $5 annual expense has any moral implications other than a pound or two less on his waistline from eating a little less pizza. I would also have to agree that the state is the wickedest institution in our world, and far worse than any Mafia family in Atlantic City. But why should the lottery’s moral ramifications block its support as a voluntary taxation scheme?

The Bible says that “the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous” (Proverbs 13:22) and “he who is filthy, let him be filthy still” (Revelation 22:11). I prefer that obtuse people scurry to pay a voluntary Stupid Tax any day versus having state-organized crime units blitz me with extortionist policies. Somebody has to pay for the limited government we desire. Why not let the government be financed by voluntary taxes like lotteries? In fact, I am willing to go out on a limb and call for a general repeal of all income, sales, and real property taxes, replacing them with lotteries instead. That idea should at least catch the eye of the most zealous Constitution Party member, along with all libertarians!

One last practical item regards the South Carolina Life Scholarship and Piedmont Fellows Scholarship programs that are financed by the lottery. These are educational grants that are financed 100% by voluntary taxes. Some of my regular readers might be surprised that I see no moral problem with taking such grants. I have argued in Bible and Government: Public Policy from a Christian Perspective that it is wrong and sinful for Christians or for all those who love liberty to take any welfare state, proactive policy benefits. Doing so makes one complicit in receiving stolen funds and effectively robbing innocent people.

However, the state lottery is categorically different than welfare because there is no extortion and thus no stolen funds. There is no Robin Hood role of robbing from one group and giving to another. Plus, the whole policy does not seem to be proactive, but rather a means for the state to pad its coffers and for politicians to garner votes. The whole lottery scheme is better characterized as a policy of inefficient provision. The educational grants are a means of making voters happy, creating government jobs to “boost” the economy, and a means for the state to skim off a small portion of the spoils. (Lottery administration costs are 12%, 30% of revenues fund scholarships—or slide into the state’s coffers—and 58% are paid out in prizes.) Thus, if you have no scruples about choosing to use “public enterprises” like public libraries or state parks, then letting the ignorant fund your family’s intellectual development should not be troublesome. A lottery-funded program is not morally repugnant like proactive redistributive welfare policy.

In certain rare or unusual circumstances, lottery-funded scholarships pose a moral dilemma. When the number of students “entitled” to receive lottery money in a given year exceeds the lottery receipts available to fund their corresponding scholarships, the shortfall must be made up out of the state’s general budget. So it would behoove a person to confirm that no such unusual circumstances exist prior to applying. Do you have college-bound kids wanting to attend school in South Carolina? Have little fear of gathering what sinners have voluntarily stored up for your family. And while you’re at it, enthusiastically support state lottery policy—the great Stupid Tax. The “sinners” who indulge themselves in it will end up paying some of the expenses of government. One day we may be able to replace our extortive taxation system with a purely voluntary one utilizing lotteries.

Originally published in The Times Examiner on February 9, 2005.

Post from: LibertarianChristians.com

The Lottery is the Best Tax

Besides taxation being theft, immoral, and pure evil, there is a simple solution to this idiotic problem.

80% of Americans could just write a check to the U.S. Treasury, then shut up about tax increases.

This quote from the linked article is priceless:

"We don’t need a constitutional amendment to do our jobs," he said, rejecting conservative calls for a balanced-budget amendment. "The constitution already tells us to do our jobs."

Yeah, the Constitution is what drives excessive taxation, a welfare state, fiat currency, and endless wars. Or maybe it does? Lysander Spooner was right:

“But whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain – that it has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case, it is unfit to exist.”

Post from: LibertarianChristians.com

80% of Americans should write a check to the U.S. Treasury then SHUT UP.

This video is brought to you by the Foundation for a Free Society, who have done other videos featured here on LCC like their first video on liberty and the video of David Simpson’s speech from Nullify Now..

Post from: LibertarianChristians.com

Vikings and Legalized Plunder, oh my!

—–

I absolutely despise tax season. This year especially. I made less money this year and yet paid more to the State.

And what for?

So a run-amok military can go bomb Libya, Iraq, and Afghanistan in the name of "freedom" and "democracy"?

So I can watch the economy dissolve while the Wall Street banksters enrich themselves with printed money from the Fed and inflate us to death?

So I am "protected" from "harm" by thugs in uniforms from the perils of harmless immigrants and the devil weed?

So I can entertain myself with the antics of politicians (if only that were all I had to worry about)?

So I get my precious interstate system, education system, welfare system, and the like?

So the alphabet soup bureaucracy "regulates" my health, wealth, food, drugs, and internet?

I have to ask, is it worth the cost?

Never. But you did get what you bargained for.

How foolish that you, America, would stoop so low. This government of lawlessness deserves no anthem, no salute, no pledge, no respect. Turn your back on it.

—–

For more on why I hate thievery, I mean taxes, check out my article series 10 Things I Hate About Taxes.

Post from: LibertarianChristians.com

Ode to Tax Season 2011

I love this post by my dear friend Anthony Gregory at the Independent Institute: “Saved from the Precipice of Doom!”

————————

Thank goodness for the Republicans and Democrats, who in the eleventh hour, put aside their differences and compromised to avert the catastrophe of a government shutdown. You see, the Republicans wanted to cut something like $78.5 billion from what Obama wanted to spend—itself more than $78.5 billion over the year before. The Democrats were initially willing to talk about “cutting” much less. And now, thanks to the greatest political compromise since the one in 1850—and surely one that will be as permanent in preventing a national crisis—we can all sleep at night knowing that Yosemite and the National Archives will continue to be open for business. The Washington Post reports:

The final pact on 2011 spending called for $38 billion in cuts to federal agency budgets compared with last year’s levels, about $78.5 billion below the president’s initial funding request for 2011. The White House, which initially resisted any funding reductions, started touting all the cuts it signed off on in a statement that praised reductions of $13 billion in funding for education, health and labor programs.

Oh my, oh my! $38 billion cut from Obama’s budget proposal? I guess everyone gets what they want. Obama gets to pat himself on the back for avoiding a shutdown. The Republicans get to pat themselves on the back for avoiding a shutdown, and the American people are satisfied as well.

Oh, wait. Those who love government spending are not so satisfied. You see, the cuts appear to target hot-button social programs. And those who want (at a bare minimum) for government to live within its means might also be dissatisfied. They might protest that even if we go by Obama’s projected deficits, these cuts will only shave a few percent of the amount deeper the U.S. goes into the debt hole in a year.

Yet we should forget about all this and just be glad the government didn’t shut down. For if it did, we would surely awake to a dystopian nightmare, coastal cities collapsing into the ocean, civil unrest at every corner, whole swaths of previously populated centers abandoned, disease and lawlessness rampant in every direction. Thank goodness Congress and the President got together and stopped this.

After all, we all remember when happened when the government shut down in 1995. Traffic lights didn’t work. All the prisoners were running wild in the streets. The US military was completely put out of commission, allowing the Soviet Union to spring back to life and take over half of the world. In the Great Government Shutdown of 1995, an estimated 150 million Americans died of starvation, pertussis, rubella and acute cynicism. Cats were chasing dogs, telephones and plumbing ceased to function completely, and only 75 channels were available on cable television.

Some will respond that these claims are preposterous—that in fact, not only do modern “government shutdowns” only close down a handful of functions (including such programs as tax refunds and national museums, just to annoy the American people)—but that, in the United States, such shutdowns are so superficial an example of the government truly shutting down that they actually cost more money than allowing the government to run as normal.

Sure, refuse to take such a catastrophe seriously. But as our Dear Leader says, “Americans of different beliefs came together. . . [i]n the final hours before our government would have been forced to shut down. . . [to pass] a budget that invests in our future while making the largest annual spending cut in our history.” Thanks to these courageous and selfless efforts, “when 50 eighth graders from Colorado arrive in our nation’s capital,” they might “get a chance to look up at the Washington Monument and feel the sense of pride and possibility that defines America.”

Doesn’t that make your burn with patriotic fever? Red-white-and-blue fumes are just making their way up my esophagus right now. The two parties put aside their vast disagreement—over whether to borrow another trillion or so of to be paid back by these eighth graders or whether to cut that amount down by a few percent—and they agreed to meet in the middle. Just like their parents and grandparents, these kids will have the pride to know that they live in a country where every generation has the chance to grow up with much more money owed by the government on their behalf that the generation before it.

Post from: LibertarianChristians.com

News of the Week: Saved from Doom!!!

According to the Tax Foundation, Americans will spend about 30 percent of their income on taxes in 2008. For comparison, in 1900, it was around 6 percent. Put differently, for almost four months out of the year you work just to pay for government. In the current system most types of income are taxed, sometimes twice, and often progressively. These are just some of the taxes levied by government: federal and local income tax, sales tax, property tax, gasoline tax, cigarette tax, liquor tax, vehicle sales tax, utility tax, marriage license tax, inheritance tax, and capital gains tax, etc. On top of that, you pay to compensate for taxes levied on others. For instance, you, as a consumer, pay higher prices for goods and services because of the corporate income tax levied on businesses. The government, if it is to exist, should protect people from force and fraud. Therefore, at most, government should tax only to maintain a national defense, a police force and law courts. But instead, legislators seek to fulfill the so-called “needs” of the constituencies and special interest groups that put and keep them in office. So, the government has tasked itself with providing cheaper prescription drugs for seniors, improving education for children, supporting for farmers by keeping food prices high and paying them for any product they fail to sell, covering the living expenses of the poor, paying for medical research, and so on. The result is not a system that protects our individual rights but a system that provides benefits to some at the expense of others. Typically there will be concentrated benefits and dispersed costs, which makes organizing resistance difficult and leads to even larger government interference.

Taxes violate individual rights. Specifically, it violates your property rights. By using taxation to benefit some people, the government says that you have no right to keep what you have earned or how you spend it, as long as there is someone else who needs or wants it, and that it, the government, has the right to seize your property in order to provide it to the person or group they see fit. That’s damn close to making you a slave. As John A. Pugsley stated, “How does the IRS agent who collects our taxes differ from the gunman? He does not. You are forced to pay under threat of imprisonment (the gun). Your money is taken without your voluntary consent. It is used by other people who claim that their need is a just demand of your property. The process is justified because a group of people (voters) decide as a group that you should be robbed and that the money should be used for whatever purposes they deem proper.”

The current tax system creates winners and losers. The government does not create wealth, but only usurps and redistributes it. The winners in this redistribution are legislators and the special interest groups that pander to them. Also, foreign producers win because the taxes levied on businesses increase prices on domestic goods. Tax accountants win because they garner more business due to the complicated the tax codes. And, people who are the least productive win because their income tax is lowest; some do not have to pay income tax at all. The losers are clearly productive individuals, those who have created wealth by providing goods and services to others, who have chosen to voluntarily patron their business. But more than that, everyone who pays income tax loses because they have to spend time and money to complete complicated income tax returns. As Mark Skousen penned: “Oliver Wendell Holmes once said, ‘Taxation is the price we pay for civilization.’ But isn’t the opposite really the case? Taxation is the price we pay for failing to build a civilized society. The higher the tax level, the greater the failure. A centrally planned and totalitarian state represents a complete defeat for the civilized world, while a totally voluntary society represents its ultimate success.” Taxes trample the idea of virtue. Forcing individuals via taxation to pay for the “needs” of others (often determined by a bureaucrat) does make them benevolent or charitable. What makes people charitable and benevolent is realizing that there are persons in true need and causes well worth while contributing to. Many people do realize this, which is why they give voluntarily. Moreover, excessive taxation discourages charitable giving because people have less money to give, or figure that their taxes already pay for helping the needy.

Taxation is frequently “progressive.” That means that individuals who earn more are forced to pay more. But why? They do not derive any greater benefit from the government by doing so. The underlying assumption of progressive taxation is that wealth is a like a fixed pie from which some people get to take a larger piece, thereby decreasing the share of others. Accordingly, income inequality is the expression of unfair wealth distribution and should be decreased by reallocation from the top to the bottom. Hence, those who make more should pay more because they have to give back in some way what they have taken from others. This depiction of the economy is inaccurate. More production generates more economic progress which leads to an increase in wealth for everyone (at least in a free market system), so that the pie does not remain a fixed size.

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Post from: LibertarianChristians.com

Tax Slavery Sucks

Lost Productivity – “Ever wondered how much time and money are lost through federal tax returns? It actually is rather astounding even by conservative estimates.”

Newspeak – “Governments manipulate language for their own purposes constantly. It allows them to circumvent truth in the public square (at least to the unobservant eye and ear).”

The Truth About Government Spending – “Every cent that the government spends is the tax, not merely what is collected. Every cent spent is an income tax. Cutting collected taxes without cutting spending is merely tax deferment, nothing more.”

Privacy and Personal Income – “Let’s ask again, what right does the government have to my income, or even the information about my income? Constitutionally, the government does not have the right to force information about my income from me.”

Your Tax Dollars at Work – “Think about all the crazy things you know your tax money pays for…”

Withholding Taxes – “The withholding tax allows the government to make their insane demands more palatable to us. A penny here, a penny there – these won’t add up to much in the end, right? Withholdings from every paycheck is like silent theft, gone unnoticed.”

Caesar’s Benevolence – “Government benevolence is notoriously inefficient. Statistics show that for every dollar the government uses in a ‘benevolent way,’ only 25 cents actually is used to ‘help’ those in need.”

Living in Fear – “To say that the tax code is complicated would be the understatement of the century. It is, in fact, far beyond complicated, so much so that no one in this world could possibly understand it.”

Taxation is Theft – “I have already said and illustrated this numerous times in previous articles, but I will say it once again: Taxation is theft, period.”

Lost Prosperity – “We have to realize that trade, the social mechanism of increasing our economic well-being, is a win-win proposition. By definition, when you and I agree to trade the fruits of our labor, we are implicitly agreeing that we are both better off by making the transaction. Conversely, government force is a lose-lose proposition.”

Epilogue – “The government has over $56 trillion of outstanding, unfunded liabilities – financial commitments that you and I will pay. If this number seems hard to comprehend, then picture that this is $184,000 for every man, woman, and child in the United States.”

Are you attending a Tax Day Protest today? I’ll be at the south steps of the Texas Capitol come late afternoon, speaking out about the evils of the State. I hope you get a chance to do the same soon.

Post from: LibertarianChristians.com

It’s Tax Day 2010, have you paid your fee to live?

On February 18, 2010, Joe Stack set the final plan of his life in motion. At roughly 9:00 a.m., he burned his house down, traumatizing his wife and child. By 9:40 a.m., Stack had departed from the Georgetown airport 21 miles from his home in his Piper Cherokee PA 28 airplane. At 9:56 a.m., he crashed this plane into an IRS office near the intersection of Mopac Boulevard and U.S. Route 183 in Austin, Texas, ending his own life, killing one individual, seriously wounding others, and causing immeasurable grief to many more.

On behalf of the libertarian community in Austin, I want to offer our most sincere condolences and prayers for the victims and their families. Our hearts go out to you.

Joe Stack was a disturbed individual. His motivation for violence was outlined on his personal webpage, EmbeddedArt.com (the site has been temporarily taken offline, but you can see an archived page here). Apparently, he was angry at the government, and in particular at the Internal Revenue Service, for their part in causing his financial ruin. He wrote about his painful history of personal economic distress and how tax laws had left him with little to live on. He had been treated unfairly, just as any taxpayer has been. Nevertheless, though is anger was justifiable, his actions most certainly were not. It was not an act of self-defense, but rather distinctly criminal. In my opinion, he may have simply gone insane. Rational people do not believe that crashing a plane into a building will bring about deeply sought change.

For many Americans, this will confirm in their minds that people who hold anti-government ideas are altogether crazy and delusional. Let us as libertarians be perfectly clear: we do not condone aggression such as this whatsoever. Let us be the first to condemn this violent behavior. For that matter, let us be the first to condemn all institutionalized violence as well, for what else is the State but organized violence? Stack was just as much a victim of the evils of government as anyone, but this fact does not give him, nor anyone else, the right to kill others in response.

We have already begun to see comments after news articles decrying “tea party nutjobs” or even libertarians as a whole. Please, friends, do not think that Joe Stack’s actions are representative of true libertarians at all. We wish to be peaceful voices for peace. We do not believe our good ends – ending the coercive State – justify our means. More violence is not the answer.

Those of us who consider ourselves Christian libertarians will be even more quick to say that Stack’s actions were nothing short of evil. Let us recall Jesus and the tax collector Zacchaeus from Luke 19:1-10. Zacchaeus was likely a far more aggressive person (if our understanding of history is near accurate at all) than anyone in that building, and yet Jesus still entered his house and ate with him. Doing so put Jesus in a position of immense vulnerability to the violence of the state. Tax collectors in Jesus’ day had the power to destroy people outright. Yet Jesus was humble enough to show compassion to “tax collectors and sinners” and his very presence inspired a profound change of heart in Zacchaeus. Jesus even called Matthew, another tax collector, to be one of his twelve apostles (Matthew 9:9-13). We want to exhibit that same kind of compassion towards those who commit aggression against us.

And for any modern-day “tax collectors” reading this, consider the response of Zacchaeus and Matthew. Are you ready to abandon the use of force and follow Jesus?

Murray Rothbard says it eloquently: the State is “a bandit gang writ large.” As libertarians, we seek to end the institutionalized violence of the State. We envision a society characterized by voluntary interaction between individuals, where aggression being criminal and exceptional rather than commonplace and accepted. But, you may wonder, how can we possibly achieve such a society? How can we quell the cycle of violence?

Any lasting change requires changing ourselves first. Surely, more violence cannot be the means for resolving violence. We must refuse to condone this system that continually brings about strife. We do not need merely a new Congress or president, but a philosophical revolution brought about using the means of peace. Philosophical revolution brought forth at gunpoint is worth very little, but through persuasion and reason hearts and minds are transformed.

This is not an easy task; in fact we may never see the defeat of the State in our lifetimes. It is not as though we can fly a plane into the Death Star and end the Galactic Empire in one fell swoop. To truly defeat the State, we must see a drastic shift in public ideology and morality. Nothing else could possibly work! Those who love liberty have been on the losing side for thousands of years, and we will continue to lose until society abandons its love of institutional violence. Unlike Joe Stack, who said, “Violence not only is the answer, it is the only answer,” we know better. Violence is ultimately the greatest enemy, let us not take on the same characteristics of the State that we oppose so much.

May we never forget that we will accomplish our goals by being men and women of peace, not war.

(1) Special thanks to Anthony Gregory for helping me form these thoughts.

(2) Photo credit: Jay Janner of the Austin American Statesman.

Please feel free to comment and express your own condolences.

UPDATE: This article was featured on LewRockwell.com on February 22, 2010.

Post from: LibertarianChristians.com

Joe Stack and the IRS: A Christian Libertarian Response

“Do you wish to know whether that day is coming? Watch money. Money is the barometer of a society’s virtue. When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion–when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing–when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors–when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you–when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice–you may know that your society is doomed. Money is so noble a medium that is does not compete with guns and it does not make terms with brutality. It will not permit a country to survive as half-property, half-loot.”– Ayn Rand

I think Rand is spot on. This is why we need to End the Fed and stop the spending spree.

I highly recommend reading Francisco d’Anconia’s Money Speech from Atlas Shrugged in entirety. Great stuff…

Post from: LibertarianChristians.com

A Quote from Rand to Consider