The Taxman Cometh!

Stop reading this blog and get back to doing your taxes! (That is, if you haven't already finished them.)

Each year Americans have a infamous day when we all pay our dues. We rifle through 68,000 pages of tax code to find what we are supposed to pay. Even the best accountants don't know all the code. Any of them can make a mistake.

It is on this day that, while we say we live in a free country, we realize that nothing in our country is free! Every service provided, every politician elected, every federal employee, every bit of our security, education, research, roads and a myriad of other things present us with a bill that must be paid.

Many people are wanting to shrink our government and those bills, yet they can't agree on what things to shrink. It seems that everyone has an idea of what needs to stay and go but they can't agree on what those things are. Thus, we are much more likely to have a growing, rather than a shrinking, government. So, the government only has two choices if it continues to grow since it doesn't produce any marketable goods. It can print more money and/or raise the taxes. I can assure you that it will be a combination of both.

On the other hand, God has never wavered in His requirement. He told us that we need to give Him a tenth. That has stood for thousands of years. He never increased the amount. He said that by doing these things He would "throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it" if we would bring Him this tenth. I am not an accountant but that sounds like a much better deal than the government is giving me.

Please pay your taxes if you haven't already done so. Rejoice in these now because taxes have to go up. Next year you will pay more.

Matthew 22:16-21 (NIV)
¹⁶ They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. "Teacher," they said, "we know you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren't swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are. ¹⁷ Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?" ¹⁸ But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, "You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? ¹⁹ Show me the coin used for paying the tax." They brought him a denarius, ²⁰ and he asked them, "Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?" ²¹ "Caesar's," they replied. Then he said to them, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's."