Dear Friends,
I hope you can join us for the Spaghetti Dinner today. Lots of our parishioners have worked hard preparing for this wonderful event. I am deeply grateful to all who have helped and will be helping today. It takes many people to make these kinds of events successful. Working together provides the opportunity to meet other parishioners and form a better community. The money raised helps fund parish ministries, most notably, All Saints School which continues to reach out to the larger neighborhood and recent immigrant families as it has done for generations.
Not to spoil the goodness of our festivities, but this is also “get your tax forms in” weekend! So, maybe, you snuck over to the spaghetti dinner in the midst of doing your taxes. The yearly task can bring about lots of groaning and it can be a bit painful to part with your hard earned dollars. It might be a spiritual help, then, to reflect briefly on the Catholic Church’s teaching on taxes. Here is what is found in the Catholic Catechism following upon the teaching of St. Paul:
“Live as free men, yet without using your freedom as a pretext for evil; but live as servants of God. Their loyal collaboration includes the right, and at times the duty, to voice their just criticisms of that which seems harmful to the dignity of persons and to the good of the community. It is the duty of citizens to contribute along with the civil authorities to the good of society in a spirit of truth, justice, solidarity, and freedom. The love and service of one’s country follow from the duty of gratitude and belong to the order of charity. Submission to legitimate authorities and service of the common good require citizens to fulfill their roles in the life of the political community. Submission to authority and co-responsibility for the common good make it morally obligatory to pay taxes, to exercise the right to vote, and to defend one’s country: Pay to all of them their dues, taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due. ‘Christians reside in their own nations, but as resident aliens. They participate in all things as citizens and endure all things as foreigners…They obey the established laws and their way of life surpasses the laws…So noble is the position to which God has assigned them that they are not allowed to desert it.’ The Apostle exhorts us to offer prayers and thanksgiving for kings and all who exercise authority, ‘that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful in every way.’”
Now, let me wade gently into the world of politics. For its part, the government does have an obligation to ensure that the tax system conforms to principles of justice. The Church teaches three conditions must exist. First, the collection of taxes must be reasonable and fair. Second, there must exist precision and integrity in administering and distributing public resources. Third, public spending must be directed to the common good.
The Church does not give specific approval to any particular system as “fair and reasonable.” Theologians guided by Catholic teaching usually conclude that a progressive tax system comes closest to meeting the requirements of justice. In a progressive system, like our income tax, people pay in proportion to their ability to pay. They also conclude that a regressive system, like sales tax, is the least just because the poor end up paying a higher proportion of their income. A fair system alone, however, does not make a tax system just. How the government expends the public revenues is just as important. In those areas a solid public debate needs to take place as citizens decide how to best use the tax revenue.
Whether your taxes are paid or still to be done – enjoy the dinner!!!
Peace,
Fr. Damian