In 1789, Benjamin Franklin, a significant figure in early American history, coined a phrase that is still quoted today. He said, ‘Nothing is certain except death and taxes’.
Sunday 12th June is Tax Justice Sunday; an opportunity for churches simultaneously to address the two certainties that Benjamin Franklin spoke of. We have a gospel that brings meaning and reason to both subjects.
It seems incongruous that we can get worked up about taxation and yet often prefer to avoid the subject of death. Taxation, implicitly, is something that should be levied on the wealthy but not us. We avoid admitting that in many ways, and relative to those who have next to nothing, a lot of us taking time to read or write these daily thoughts are the wealthy.
Taxation aims to level out the peaks and troughs of need and abundance between us, and at different stages of life. If you went to school, have been to a doctor, have your bins emptied or drive on a road you benefit from taxation. When you were a child you could not have paid for your own education. These are trite examples that scratch the surface but they illustrate a point.
I have no wish to preach to people who, in many cases, will already have an understanding of why we cannot survive as society without taxation.
However, we still grumble about the principle when we could be using it is an example, flawed as the system may be, of our expression of loving support for one another.
If we are not doing so already, might we not emphasise the need to work for greater justice within the taxation system without giving the impression that all we really would like is to find a way to join those who manage to avoid tax?
And what of death? There is no means testing or poverty trap in the invitation made to us by God to take up the offer of eternal life because Jesus gave away his life for us all.
A prayer
Loving God, we give you thanks for the certainty of eternal life. Give us the generosity of heart to be gracious in all our sharing of our resources for the sake of Jesus who emptied himself of everything for us. Amen.