Taxation is not arbitrary.  

It is a moral issue for a province, nation, or municipality. We have made weak distinctions between social conservatism and fiscal conservatism. It is all moral. If we look at taxation, the boundaries of taxation say what you believe about a man’s right to property. The quantities of taxation say what you believe about a man’s right to provide for his family and tithe to his church. It says what the limits of the role of government are, which many in this age believe to be limitless. In summary, it says whether you believe that the government is god or if the One, Triune God is over the government. 

The issue of taxation is connected especially to the fifth and eighth commandments. You will find the moral code of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. By good and necessary consequence, we can argue from the command to honour your father and mother (5th commandment), that you also must honour both the authority of the church and the civil authority. Thus, the commands of Romans 13:1-7 fall underneath the fifth commandment. It gives the civil authority the right (authority) to taxation in verse 7 as an authority ordained by God. The eighth commandment in Exodus 20:15, “you shall not steal,” gives a man the right to property and a paycheque.

We consider matters related to taxation as modern-day Christians in the modern-day nation-state. As we do so, we should guard against simplistic slogans like “taxation is theft” and against giving the state absolute authority to taxation “because of Romans 13”. As Christians, we should seek to understand modern taxation within the context of the various commands within Scripture, to honour not only father and mother but also the civil authority, as well as to tithe (give to the church) and provide for one’s family.  In this essay, I also want to consider the general framework of freedom under the eternal reign of Christ in Scripture. 

Thus, this essay is not only an examination of contemporary taxes. It is a work of Biblical thought within the regulae Scripturae–that is, the rule of Scripture. This is a general principle for pastors/theologians. The Bible interprets the Bible. The easier texts of Scripture shed light on the more difficult texts. In this, I affirm the authority, sufficiency, inspiration, inerrancy, and clarity of both the Old and New Testaments.  

I affirm that God permits nations to govern by the light of nature. Nations can retain some natural notions about good and natural things, distinctions between morality and immorality, and demonstrate some eagerness towards virtue and moral behaviour. Yet, apart from the good news of Jesus Christ, it will always be confused. I also must acknowledge that this light of nature is unable to bring men and women to a saving knowledge of God and conversion.¹  Therefore, while men without God can rule justly to some degree, the Bible informs and illuminates the darkened eyes and hearts of men, showing the glory of Jesus Christ and the beauty of the order that comes when rulers submit their thrones to his throne.  

As a pastor, it is my interest to inform modern policy with the Word of God; and to bring light in our times from the Holy Bible. The Bible teaches us the way of salvation in Jesus. But it also teaches us how to live rightly.  

Wisdom speaks in Proverbs 8:15–16: “By me kings reign, and rulers decree what is just; by me princes rule, and nobles, all who govern justly.”  Jesus Christ is our wisdom. He has gifted us with the Bible to guide us in the way of wisdom.  

Does the Government Have an Absolute Authority over Taxation? 

In short. Absolutely not.  

First, the government does have some authority over taxation. In Romans 13:1-7, Paul highlights this authority: “Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing.” (Rom 13:5-6) Paying taxes then is a matter of conscience. Our consciences are compelled to do so by Romans 13 because these authorities are ministers of God. That is, they are servants of God, called to obey and submit to his authority over all things.

Even when taxes are unjust, we are called to pay them for the sake of conscience. Doing so for the sake of conscience is a principled reason.

There are also just pragmatic reasons to pay your taxes. If the government comes and tears down your business because you have not been paying taxes, then you are even further behind than where you were before now. In other words, don’t use the principles of this essay to defend foolish actions.  

Yet, the government does not have absolute authority on taxation.  

Notice what Paul does here in Romans 13. He establishes the duty of paying taxation but within the big picture of God’s absolute authority over all. As servants of God, they are to do his will, not their own. They will answer to him in how much they tax and how they enforce taxation. The sovereign rule of God limits their authority over taxation. The whole earth belongs to him, not the state (Ps 24:1-2).  

Christians pray to God in the Lord’s Prayer: “your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt 6:10b-c). The earth includes politics, economics and culture. In other words, Christians pray that God’s will be done in the Alberta legislature, just as it is done by the angels in heaven. God's will be done, both in the implementation of taxation and in the payment of taxation.  

The Problem with Statism 

Statism is when the state, the civil authority, becomes the highest authority in society. Statism is easy to enforce in an atheistic, agnostic, or secular state. We have seen this especially in communistic societies. If there is no God, or if God is ignored and even rejected, then something will and must pose as a god. Often the state fills in that role. We see this not only in modern communism but also in the Old Testament, such as in Israel’s captivity in Egypt and then later in Babylon. The state will demand the church’s worship and the absolute obedience of a Christian people. They will demand even the tithe that belongs to God alone.  

While Christians must submit to the government in God’s economy, we acknowledge that the government’s power is not absolute. We worship God alone and they are not God. Their power is delegated to them by God. Their authority comes from God. Moreover, God has also removed governments in his historic judgments.  

This quote has been popularly attributed to a 19th-century British leader, Lord Acton: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” When the state is given absolute authority, it will absolutely corrupt the State absolutely. When the state is given an absolute right over taxation, the citizens of that nation will suffer under unjust weights and measures. Where there is no law to hold the state authority accountable to God, they will abuse their authority.  

Thus, in Western nations, the power of the government (even monarchy) has been bound by the constitution. Historically, the Prime Minister, members of parliament, the Premier, members of the legislative assembly, the Mayor, and city counsellors were considered under the law. All their powers, even the powers of taxation, are intended to be under the law. It is possible to argue that some forms of taxation are unlawful and unconstitutional. Give some reflection here on the carbon tax, for example. 

If you study the Magna Carta in England, issued in June of 1215, you will see that several issues were protected from the unwieldy authority of the king. This included the protection of rights and property among the nation’s citizens. It established the freedom of the citizens. This is what our Canadian system is built on. This is what has been ignored in recent years by both Pierre and Justin Trudeau. They have favoured a more statist vision for society. They are not alone.

What Are Some Boundaries for Taxation? 

I will begin by introducing a few governing principles for the limitation of taxation. Then, I will address specific forms of taxation that are not only Marxist in nature, but are also uniquely oppressive to the citizens of a nation.  

There are several relevant commands in the Bible. We are to give from our firstfruits to God (Prov 3:9; Lev 23:10). We are to provide for our families. One who does not is described as worse than an unbeliever (1 Tim 5:8; Prov 6:6-8; Eph 6:4). There is also a general principle of passing property on from generation to generation, including a right to keep that property as a generational inheritance (1 Kgs 21:3; Lev 25:23; Num 36:7). Given that the reign of Jesus is even more expansive in the New Testament (Matt 28:16-20) it would only make sense that this Biblical and natural right of a man to his land would still be a deeply spiritual matter in these latter days.

I go to the Great Commission in Matt 28 in the context of the creation mandate back in Genesis 1:28: “And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’” The right dominion that man failed to wield at creation, instead bringing the world crashing into sin and misery, is now being restored to man through the gospel of Jesus Christ. In assuming to Himself “all power in heaven and on earth” our Lord establishes His kingly rights, protecting also a man's right to his land.

We must also acknowledge that a Christian man, in wielding proper dominion, will also be a very generous man. He will be a generous man in obedience to his Lord. We see this in the gospels, for example, in the account of “the Good Samaritan” (Luke 10:25-37) or in “the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant” (Matt 18:21-35). The King has saved us and forgiven us so much. We should show that same mercy and generosity to others. We must do so in love for God and neighbour. 

In the New Testament, the call to giving in the church takes on more of a voluntary nature than the strict 10% tithe of the Old Testament. Yes, the 10% tithe is still a good rule of thumb (2 Cor 8-9). Of course, if a wealthy Christian wants to give 25% to the church or even 40% or 60%, they are free to do so. 

Taxation, on the other hand, is involuntary. This is true whether taxation is done rightly or wrongly. Socialist Christians and statist Christians have pushed for the expansion of taxation over the last couple of centuries. Though misguided, this can result from sincere or godly motives. Citing the call to love neighbour, many have advocated socialized medicine, education, and other state/bureaucracy-led social services. However, for that, you must constantly increase coercive taxation. If you can force people to be generous at the gunpoint of the RCMP, then why not do it that way?  

I’m not saying that there are easy answers to socialized healthcare or socialized education. Yet, consider the way that the Old Testament drives in another direction when it considers the tithe, in part, as a source of social care. We find this in Deuteronomy 14:28–29: “At the end of every three years you shall bring out all the tithe of your produce in the same year and lay it up within your towns. And the Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance with you, and the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, who are within your towns, shall come and eat and be filled, that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands that you do.” The church must use the tithe & freewill offerings not only to pay their clergy but also to aid the poor and needy.

This should lead us to consider our current levels of taxation. If God imposed only a mandatory 10% tax in the Old Testament, then how is it that the state thinks it can impose a tax greater than God’s tax? The American Revolution began over lesser taxes than we pay today. Nowadays over 50% of our income goes into taxation, including sales tax, carbon tax, income tax, property tax, etc. To top it all off, despite that massive cash flow in the hands of the bureaucratic state, somehow, both socialized medicine and education have experienced significant failures.  

The Ten Points of Communism: 

Before we look at the various taxes, I want to lay out the Ten Points of Communism as stated in Marx and Engels’ Communist Manifesto. Notice how they imitate the Ten Commandments.

1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes. 
2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax. 
3. Abolition of all right of inheritance. 
4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels. 
5. Centralization of credit in the hands of the State, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly. 
6. Centralization of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State. 
7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State; the bringing into cultivation of waste-lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan. 
8. Equal liability of all to labour. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture. 
9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country, by a more equable distribution of the population over the country. 
10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children’s factory labour in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, &c., &c.²

I do not intend to analyze all these points, but to consider how some points affect modern forms of taxation. While we might not be full-blown in our Marxism, we are almost full-blown in our Marxism.  

The Property Tax 

Property taxes are a way in which the state confiscates the property of its citizens—if you can’t keep up with taxes, you lose your land. To divest a man of his land, which has been lawfully bought and paid for, is to divest a man of his life. You see this in the Old Testament (like 1 Kgs 1:21). 

To make this point, consider elderly people who have spent a lifetime paying for a home. They own their home and are no longer able to work. They should be able to live in their home and simply pay for utilities. Meanwhile, a property tax raises the threat of losing their property, or lowering their quality of living, if they are unable to provide for themselves. Not only do they lose their property, but their children lose their inheritance—an inheritance that ultimately belongs to the Lord and not the state (Ps 24:1-2); an inheritance that the Lord graciously gifts to his children.  

The same could be said for a family who has their home paid off. Dad gets sick and is not able to provide for the family or pay the property tax for a time. They lose their home and property or are forced to sell what was once an inheritance for their children.  

The property tax is wicked. It is deeply Marxist in its assumptions. As you can see above, there is no fundamental right to private ownership of land in Marxist ideology. Even what is owned can be extorted by the government for taxation.  

The Income Tax 

I will focus here on the graduated income tax rather than on the income tax altogether. I’m sure that you will find more literature in the coming days arguing against income tax as a category.  

You will see that the graduated income tax is a core tenet of Marxist doctrine. This form of taxation taxes the rich more than it taxes the poor. This form of taxation is based on a form of economics that is foreign to the principles of Scripture. God protects the wealth of both the rich and the poor without tipping the scales one way or the other. You see this concept in the head tax of Exodus 30:11-16: “The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than the half shekel, when you give the LORD’s offering to make atonement for your lives.” Marxism imposes unequal weights and measures in that it tilts the scales toward the poor. It is built on a doctrine of envy. It does not acknowledge that the gospel overcomes class warfare. It is built on the idea that the rich and the poor will necessarily be at odds with one another.  

Historically, the Federal Income Tax in Canada was instituted in 1917 as a temporary war measure. This war measure has never gone away, even in times of peace.³  In fact, income tax rates have grown exponentially. The crisis strikes, and when the government’s powers over taxation are not limited, it continues to acquire more and more powers unto itself.  

In principle, the heavily graduated income tax is a form of stifling enterprise. A man who makes $60,000 or $200,000 more per year than I do, should reap the benefits of having a higher-paying job. Once taxation comes around, he should not be making about equal to what I do. The worker is worthy of the wages of his hard work. He should not be “punished” for it by all the fat cat bureaucrats who push pencils and restrict honest labour with more and more red tape and taxation.  

How Should We Think of Taxation as a Province and as a Larger Nation? 

As I get into this, I must briefly consider a short account in Matthew on the teaching of Jesus Christ:  

“When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax went up to Peter and said, ‘Does your teacher not pay the tax?’ He said, ‘Yes.’ And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, ‘What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tax? From their sons or from others?’ And when he said, ‘From others,’ Jesus said to him, ‘Then the sons are free. However, not to give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook and take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth you will find a shekel. Take that and give it to them for me and for yourself.’” (Matt 17:24-27) 

Taxation is a big issue in Scripture. Here, Jesus is talking about the Temple tax, but in so doing, he draws lines to taxation in the surrounding nations. Jesus often speaks of the freedom of sons, the freedom of sons in the Son. As nations increasingly understand this principle, they will order their life together according to this principle of freedom. Nevertheless, like our Lord, we must “take the hit” of taxation in the meantime in order not to give offence. In principle, a Christian man is free in Christ (from sin, the flesh and the Devil) even while he is paying the taxes of a slave. As Christianity makes its impact on society, it will direct that society towards the freedom principle.  

In light of this passage, rather than penalizing citizens for being citizens, a government ought to see its citizens as free men and women.  

Christians should desire to lead quiet lives, to work with their own hands (1 Thess 4:11-12). We should pray for kings and emperors so that we can live quiet and peaceable lives with godliness and dignity (1 Tim 2:2).  

As Christians, we want to pay the tithe to the Church and provide for our families. We want to know that the houses and land that we work hard to buy will be passed on to future generations, and not at threat of being taken by tyrannical governments. We want to invest wisely, give to the church, and build institutions to care for the poor. We don’t want to just throw money at the poor and the needy. We want to teach, once again, the importance and value of hard work, to a society increasingly dependent on welfare. We want our sons to work in hope, working hard to provide for a wife and children, and to give freely and generously to those in need.  

This means that it is okay, and even a positive good, for Christians to criticize municipal, provincial, and federal governments on matters regarding taxation. In this, men do their duty as husbands, fathers, and members of a civic society that they want to see flourish. It is good for a man to speak out and defend the future of his family, community, and freedom.

Free men create free societies. And the only way to be free is to recognize that you are already free through faith in Jesus Christ. Free from sin, free from greed, free from wasteful spending, through the confession of those sins and faith in Christ.  

There are various forms of taxation that provincial or federal governments could employ to help freemen achieve these healthy and wholesome goals. These types of taxation would recognize citizens as free men and women, striving to lighten the burden of taxation on citizens.

First, it was common for independent nation-states to impose tariffs on imports and exports before World War I. It could be helpful to impose a reasonable tariff on imports from foreign nations. This moves the burden of funding of the civil courts to other nations that benefit from our economy. Second, it could help to impose a head tax on all immigrants (with no partiality) who are seeking citizenship in our nation. 

Of course, as Christians, we might have to give up many state-run social services to achieve this. Rather than asking the government to run those services, we should run them locally through free associations and generous giving.

My intent is not to make this a policy paper. I’m sure that there are other creative forms of taxation that would help give us a reprieve from our current crushing tax burden. Forms of taxation that would be helpful not just to citizens, but also to the poor. Even if there was a light head tax necessary to go to the polls, an equal tax on all men would encourage more men to work, rather than having men and women on welfare voting in more welfare for themselves.  

Freedom should transform society in an orderly manner. This is not the freedom to do what is wrong, but the freedom to do what is right: to buy land, to build equity, to provide for a wife and a family, to support the church, to show generosity without fear of punishment. This was the idea that inspired the Magna Carta. That is the idea that has bound the power of modern governments to a law outside of their own machinations.  

Sure, we need realists. Realists also need a high power, the power of a Christian imagination, an imagination under the rule of Christ, to bring Christ’s justice into a fallen world.  

Not Revolution, but Reformation 

As you reflect on the issues that I raise in this essay, I exhort you to think about this not as revolutionaries, but as reformers.  

This essay affirms the authority of civil government as a servant of God called into obedience to God. It affirms the right of a government to taxation. 

It contradicts anti-God philosophies like Marxism as a mechanism for understanding taxation. It also rejects anti-God philosophies like statism, which turns a legitimate government into an all-encompassing bureaucratic organism that consumes a society. It also rejects radical libertarianism that ignores God-ordained government as a Biblical institution altogether. Remember as well, the solutions to these bad forms of taxation are not limited to what I propose here.  

The guiding principles that guide us towards reformation should be these: (1) The government should not impose a tax higher than God’s tax, the tithe; (2) a man must be able to provide for his family, own property, and provide an inheritance for his children through hard work; (3) there should be perks to being a citizen, rather than a higher level of taxation; (4) a citizen should be seen as a son and not as a slave; (5) a man must be able to show generosity—not only in tithing but in freewill giving.  

The ultimate way to achieve this is not by revolution but by regeneration, which leads to reformation. A free gospel creates freemen and freemen create free societies. So it starts with you. It starts with me. It starts with men and women who are forgiven of their sins and know the love of God in Jesus Christ. They know the beauty of the City of God as it descends among the cities of men. It starts when men start to live by Biblical principles in provision for a family, in tithing to the church, in living as much as possible as a freeman even in a constrictive society, and in seeking the good of the city (Jer 29:7). 

And then, when one day the civil magistrate submits his rule to the rule of Jesus, this ought only to lead to greater flourishing in our society.  

Jesus is Lord.

1 - Canons of Dordt, https://threeforms.org/canons-of-dort/#corruption, 3/4.4

2 - Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto (London: Penguin Books), p. 243-244.

3 - https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/income-tax (Accessed Jan 24, 2024).