Taxes, Taxes, Taxes...

Most recently I have been reading a book about taxes.  I know I know, boring right?  Wrong.  The book I am reading is one of the most well-written and carefully thought out books that I have read this year.  It is entertaining, thought-provoking, educational, and yes even fun.  It is entitled "The FairTax Book" and is authored by Neal Boortz (radio talk show host) and Congressman John Linder (of Georgia).  I wanted to share with you an excerpt from the book that discusses how federal Income Tax Withholding came about and then how it convicted me of my sin. 

In the early years of the income tax, taxpayers would calculate the full amount of income taxes they owed for the previous tax year and write one check to the Internal Revenue Service.  Your taxes were paid just as you pay your automobile insurance premium or your real estate property taxes today.  you get your bill; you write your check.  Before withholding came along, you can bet your life savings that people knew how much they were paying in income tax.  You write the government a check for that kind of loot every year, and it has a way of sticking in the old memory bank.

That was a good thing for the individual taxpayer's sense of he fiscal well-being, at least.  For politicians who want to raise taxes?  Not so good.  Then came withholding...

In order to gain the necessary level of public support for income tax withholding, a fiction was created.  It was called the Ruml Plan, cleverly named after the man who came up with the idea, one Beardsley Ruml.  Here's the bill of goods the Ruml Plan helped sell to the American people.  It seems very simple: if, starting in 1943, you allow us to start withholding taxes from your paychecks, then we'll forgive you all of the taxes you owe for the year 1942 and you won't have to pay them when March 15 rolls around!...

Now let's take a moment to apply some logic to this Ruml Plan.  Were Americans getting away with anything?  Of course not.  Perhaps the best way to dispel any notion that this was a "tax elimination" scheme is to point out that the government's revenues wouldn't decline under the plan.  Now, if you're going to forgive an entire year's income tax collections, you would expect government revenue to take quite a hit, wouldn't you?  Well, it didn't.  The simple truth was that, instead of paying the previous year's tax bill in one lump sum, wage earners would really be paying the previous year's taxes  over the course of the current year, paycheck by paycheck, through the new withholding system.  The politicians realized that expanding the income tax, while instituting the withholding scheme, would allow them to increase the government's tax revenues enough that it easily compensated for this supposed 1942 "tax forgiveness" offer.

After reading this I was infuriated to say the least.  My own government, knowingly deceiving the American people and robbing them of their money and freedom.  Arrgh.  To top it off, after I read this yesterday I received my W-2 from work, informing me of how much money the government "withheld" from me this year.  Coincidence?  I think not.  I quickly began to grow angry and bitter in my heart, thinking I deserved that money that I had worked for.  What right does the government have to take my money out of my paycheck before I even see it?  I was ticked off to say the least.  

Then came my Bible.

Then Conviction.

The Lord reminded me of a verse we read while discussing "Trusting God" and the sovereignty  of the Lord in our government.  Mark 12:17 "render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are Gods."  Sweet, sweet conviction.  It always goes down smooth.  The fact of the matter is, is that God has placed our Government where it is and he has ordained "withholding" to be apart of our government.  Though the Ruml Plan was deceiving in nature and wrong in my book, it doesn't give me a license  to store anger and bitterness in my heart and thus sin against God.  I can quietly disagree with the way the Government collects our taxes and then move on to trusting the sovereignty of God in all areas of my life.  Yes, even in taxes.  Now for that repentance thing...

Kyle