Below is a chart comparing categories of income tax between 1913 and 2016, published by Americans for Tax Reform.  Note the categories labeled “Top Tax Bracket Threshold” and “Family Standard Deduction,” both adjusted in terms of today’s dollars.  Our tax liability now begins at 25 times the amount it began at in 1913.  Our deduction has been reduced by a huge percentage.  This is illuminating information, assuming it is accurate (I have no reason to question the basic numbers).  It looks like the Federal government (and Congress included) has been slowly strangling the American taxpayer.  And this is purely apart from the higher rate brackets.  I ask, what do we get in return for all this money forked over to Uncle Sam?  And more particularly, how much better has the functioning of the bureaucratic agencies given authority to implement all the programs this money funds?  Examples:  The VA, the EPA, the Justice Department, the HHS Department, and many others.  Scandals, corruption and cronyism seem to be in the news constantly, but the money just keeps rolling in and heads never roll off.  Ah, that’s government in the twenty-first century I suppose.

Besides this, we also have seen and are seeing controversy in relation to the IRS itself.  Apparently it was used as a political vehicle to punish perceived enemies of the Obama administration.  But it doesn’t end there.  The IRS and liberals also don’t like firms keeping their profit in other countries—where it is legally non-taxable in the United States (that is law).  So they are going after a few bigger firms using dubious means.  A US News and World Report article of February 1, 2016 details the problem:

“One company that has had to deal with this is Microsoft, which for some time has been fighting with the IRS over a previous filing. The agency [the IRS] refuses to affix a dollar amount to what it believes the company owes but has instead gone on a fishing expedition, taking numerous and lengthy depositions from company executives, subpoenaing reams of documents and, in something that should be of concern to all, bringing in outside counsel to assist them with the project. You read that right. The IRS apparently doesn’t have enough lawyers and tax experts on staff to do the job so it brought in the politically connected Los Angeles-based law firm of Quinn Emanuel, which legal experts say has no special expertise in tax matters but is known as a first-rate shop for litigation.”

This too evidences the power grab of taxing agencies in the modern world.

We are commanded to render to “Caesar” what is due and to God what is His due.  But that should offer no sanction to government to do whatever it wants and to begin to oppress regular people with its “legal theft” (I borrow from Frederic  Bastiat here—yes, it is a strong term).  Christians should pay their taxes.  But that does not mean we cannot, along with other individuals and groups, express our disagreement with agencies and even seek, through the political and legal process, to change the way things are done.  Our own Constitution has given us that right.

So I dutifully pay my taxes—and help my daughters with theirs—but write blogs like this one which I hope will gain some readership and in some small way contribute to a long run solution.

Happy Tax Day!