Spiritual/Political/Philosophical Blog on the Nature of Truth and Falsehood and Heaven
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| Sunny Days in Heaven Spiritual/Political/Philosophical Blog on the Nature of Truth and Falsehood and Heaven |
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Friday, March 12, 2004 The lost prophet Jonah Goldberg has gone off the deep end today. First he attacks Mel Gibson for the profits he's going to reap, wondering about his obscene profits from portraying the death of Christ. Then as he's criticized for it, an emailer points out that Mel's social obligations will be well met by having to pay one half of a possible half billion dollars in taxes. Jonah explodes with, " Taxes are not charity. They are not good works. They are not "social obligations" at all. They are a legal requirement ofthe state. Indeed, one sign that our current taxes are too high is that so many people think paying them absolves them of other social responsibilities. This is one of the reasons high taxes are immoral because they constitue the coercion of citizens to do what other people think is right, but you don't (think of federally funded abortions, for example). If paying taxes satisfies your "social obligation" does that mean folks -- like me -- who are always trying to minimize their taxes are less socially responsible, less moral? " Well, you're wrong, Jonah. I do consider much of what I pay in taxes as charity. They are clearly taken from for that reason, so why shouldn't I regard them as such? In fact, because so much is stolen from me by people who coerce charity from me, that I spend less disposable income on charity by my own choice. When we tax people for matters of "social justice" or good works, the cause is charity, coerced or not. posted by Mark Butterworth | 12:14 PM | |
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