Posted by
Curt Day on Tuesday, March 03, 2009 7:48:18 PM
We have heard these objections too many times. Taxing the rich is the same as punishing the successful. And since, according to conservatives, success is due solely to an individual being responsible for him or herself, why should the rich feel obligated to pay taxes? Of course, since the rich provide jobs for the rest of us, then why shouldn't the rich look at the move to increase their taxes as being nothing more than ingratitude.
The problem with the above line of reasoning is the attribution of all success to individual responsibility. This notion is neither Biblical nor reality. Biblically speaking, we are to recognize that all that we have comes from God. This is why we are commanded to give to God and to support those who are in need. The Israelites were constantly told to take care of the alien because they to were once aliens. It gets even worse in the New Testament because the end of Acts 4 shows a church that is practicing socialism.
With regards to reality, our success depends on many variables besides individual responsibility. The individual can take full responsibility only if the individual lived on completely selfsustaining farms. No one lives on such farms. Rather, the rich depends on society producing workers who will produce at a level that brings in profits. The rich may try to circumvent their local society by move jobs to other countries where the workers work for less money. This brings a temporary benefit for some of the rich by saving money on labor. The problem for them here is that by eliminating local jobs, the consumer market for their products shrinks. So not only do the rich depend on society for producing good workers, it relies on a society for consumers.
We have just reviewed just a couple of variables, other than individual responsibility, that contribute to the success of the rich. In essence, taxes help maintain the society that contributes at least two of the variables that help the rich get rich. That the rich are in the best position to help maintain the society is trivial. But what is not so obvious is whether the rich will recognize society's contribution to their wealth.