Paying Taxes and My Bar Mitzvah
A Thought – by MZH
Paying Taxes, Oy Vey!
We pay Taxes and we get infrastructure and democracy in return. Or assumedly we do. (I stopped counting the pot holes in my community, and how many times the DOS didn't take my garbage, or how many times I needed the police and they never showed up...)
But the idea of paying Taxes is perhaps as old as the world itself.
What I, like so many others don’t get is why we need to be taxed everywhere, all the time. You know what I mean ?!
First we pay income tax - federal and state, Social Security tax (which I may never see - considering it's going bankrupt very soon) , and then we pay sales tax, gas tax, cell phone tax, FCC tax, tax tax, tax and the list goes on.
The BIG Question
Often I (wonder) have been asked – do “we” need to pay taxes? The government doesn’t give us (yeshiva) school vouchers? America is a Christian based - albeit democratic society? Furthermore, one can argue, that the government allows and inevitably promotes promiscuous permissibility’s such as biblically- unacceptable gay marriage laws, pornography businesses online and off, overall corruption of Ethics in the government, which is rampant in so many ways? Incarciration vs. rehabilitation and even the death penalty... In turn we are supporting, one may argue, an infrastructure that is more too often counter- productive and even destructive to our holy Jewish way of life?!
Although, as some may argue, the questions sound great and in some instances sadly true and it is indeed that we live in a Jewish-morals and ethics challenged society – - - our obligation stands. And here is why – in brief.
The Infamous “Law of the Land” Clause
The Halacha is explicit and unequivocal: one is absolutely obligated to pay taxes imposed by the government. The obligation stems from the famous statement of Shmuel, "Dina de-malchuta dina," literally, the law of the land is the law. This halachic principle does not mean that Jews have to follow secular law (the "law of the land"); it means that Halacha incorporates the law of the land in which Jews live. In other words, where dina de-malchuta dina applies, a requirement of secular law becomes a halachic obligation as well.
Though different opinions exist regarding the precise scope of this principle, all Rishonim-early codifiers agree that dina de-malchuta dina applies to laws of taxation.
As the need to pay soo much tax pains me deeply, not just for my self but for all my fellow citizens, I can not elaborate on this matter, rather I will lead you in the direction of sources on this matter for you to read and research on your own.
Some Sources on the Matter:
Don’t evade taxes - Bava Kama 113a
Don’t steal from the King/Government – Maimondes laws of Hilchot Gezelah ve-Avedah 5:11
Don’t steal from a gentile – Talmud Bavli Bava Kama 113b
Don’t assist a tax evader - Rabbenu Nissim, Avodah Zarah 6b; Magen Avraham, Orach Chayyim 347:4; Bi'ur ha-Gra, Yoreh De'ah 151:8.
Don’t charge interest – Talmud Bava Metzi'a 75b
To lead by example - Shemot 19:6
Maintain honest weights - Devarim 25:16
From these sources it is evident, as with past governments who were no less grievous and challenging to the Jewish way of life – the law of paying taxes remained.
So when paying taxes today or whenever you file – if nothing else, when you painfully need to part with all that money to your government – (and I truly hope you don't get Audited because then it's each man unto himself, and pray hard you get a nice-boy-Auditor otherwise welcome to KGB style territory) the one that picks up your garbage, usually, (if you don’t get a ticket alongside it for not recycling) - and the police that protect you, if a cop is shot that is,(and let’s not forget to mention our very dear traffic police who harass you and bombard you with parking tickets in NY, where there is never any where to park),- and the fire men who die for you in a warehouse fire, and the soldier men and women who protect our shores, [these guys I take my hat off to] and the secret service – who are being paid millions to “protect our president” in the USA or let us say... Columbia, - or a president who wants to sell Israel short…-Just remember this: nothing bad, per se, comes without good in this world of the Golut, look at it like you’re doing another mitzvah of the "Law of the Land". Or, maybe consider it as a large contribution to some of the greater good of the global society – being that the US – pretty much donates billions to outside world.
If that doesn’t work for you – my dear and noble friend and citizen of this "land of the Free and home of the Brave" - then Good luck and Good day – the only solution then my friend for your taxing anxiety is, have a bagel and go get some sun. But always, as I have been taught, look on the bright side: at least they let you keep some of it, when I was bar Mitzvah and received “gifts”, my dad took it all. : - )