Abstract
One hesitates to make general statements about “Christian” views on anything, given the fact that Christians of various sects have persecuted and even killed each other (not to mention Jews and Muslims) over the centuries because of doctrinal disputes. Nevertheless, I will attempt to make some general statements regarding Christian doctrine on the ethics of tax evasion. The literature on this topic is scant, or at least was scant until recently (McGee 1998 ). Therefore, I will necessarily be limited in my discussion to some Biblical passages, a few recent articles ( Pennock ; Schansberg ; Gronbacher ; Smith and Kimball ; McGee 1994a ) , the views of some Popes, and a doctoral dissertation that was written in the 1940s ( Crowe ).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
As someone who has gone through the Catholic school system to grade 16 (university) I even hesitate to claim to know what Roman Catholic doctrine is, since I learned several, contradictory versions of it during the course of my studies.
- 2.
Roman Catholic doctrine has considered the Pope to be infallible, meaning incapable of stating error on Catholic doctrine or morals, only since 1870, when the doctrine was approved by majority vote of some council. Even then, infallibility applies only to certain statements.
- 3.
Crimes such as murder are considered crimes against the state for some reason. In fact, they are crimes against some individual. Yet the state is the one that prosecutes and punishes rather than the individual, or more accurately the surviving family of the murdered individual. Whether, and under what circumstances, something can be a crime against the state is an interesting question that is, unfortunately beyond the scope of the present paper.
- 4.
I say mostly Catholic because some of Crowe’s references were to Christian scholars who wrote before the Reformation. Prior to the Reformation, there was no distinction between Christian and Catholic.
- 5.
He cites several Christian scholars to buttress his position. For example, “There is an obligation in justice for all the subjects to contribute to the expenses of the state according to the ability and means of each.” (LeCard 504).
- 6.
Even these functions are not necessarily monopolies that only the state can provide. The majority of police protection in the United States, for example, is provided by private security guards, who are retained by shopping malls, warehouses, and businesses to protect their customers and property. There are thousands of private roads, private schools, private parks, etc. as well. Many of these things are provided by the private sector better and cheaper than by the state, which leads one to wonder what we need a state for anyway.
References
Bonacina. 1687. De Morali Theologia, Tractatus de Restitutione, disp. II, q. IX, n. 5 (1687), II, p. 449, as quoted in Crowe at 48.
Crowe, Martin T. 1944. The Moral Obligation of Paying Just Taxes. Catholic University of America Studies in Sacred Theology No. 84. Doctoral Dissertation.
Davis, H. 1938. Moral and Pastoral Theology, as quoted in Crowe at 40.
Gronbacher, Gregory M.A. 1998. Taxation: Catholic Social Thought and Classical Liberalism. 1 Journal of Accounting, Ethics & Public Policy (Winter), 91–100, reprinted in Robert W. McGee, editor, The Ethics of Tax Evasion. South Orange, NJ: The Dumont Institute for Public Policy Research, 1998: 158–167.
LeCard, S.E. 1869. Gousset, Theologie Morale I, as quoted in Crowe at 59.
Marx, Karl. 1875. Critique of the Gotha Program.
McGee, Robert W., editor. 1998. The Ethics of Tax Evasion. Dumont, NJ: The Dumont Institute for Public Policy Research.
McGee, Robert W. 1994a. Is Tax Evasion Unethical? 42 University of Kansas Law Review 411–435 (Winter).
McGee, Robert W. 1994b. A Trade Policy for Free Societies: The Case Against Protectionism. Westport, CT: Quorum Books.
McGee, Robert W. 1990. The Trade Policy of a Free Society. 19 Capital University Law Review 301–341.
New Rules for an Old Faith. 1992. Newsweek, November 30, p. 71.
Pennock, Robert T. 1998. Death and Taxes: On the Justice of Conscientious War Tax Resistance. 1 Journal of Accounting, Ethics & Public Policy (Winter), 58–76, reprinted in Robert W. McGee, editor, The Ethics of Tax Evasion. South Orange, NJ: The Dumont Institute for Public Policy Research, 1998: 124–142.
Schansberg, D. Eric. 1998. The Ethics of Tax Evasion Within Biblical Christianity: Are There Limits to “Rendering Unto Caesar”? 1 Journal of Accounting, Ethics & Public Policy (Winter), 77–90, reprinted in Robert W. McGee, editor, The Ethics of Tax Evasion. South Orange, NJ: The Dumont Institute for Public Policy Research, 1998: 144–157.
Sins, Ancient and Modern. 1992. The Economist, November 21, p. 50.
Smith, Sheldon R. and Kevin C. Kimball. 1998. Tax Evasion and Ethics: A Perspective from Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1 Journal of Accounting, Ethics & Public Policy (Summer), forthcoming, reprinted in Robert W. McGee, editor, The Ethics of Tax Evasion. South Orange, NJ: The Dumont Institute for Public Policy Research, 1998: 220–229.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
McGee, R.W. (2012). Christian Views on the Ethics of Tax Evasion. In: McGee, R. (eds) The Ethics of Tax Evasion. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-1287-8_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-1287-8_12
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-1286-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-1287-8
eBook Packages: Business and EconomicsBusiness and Management (R0)