Jesus paid his taxes

Now that Congress and the government wants to review the tax exemption privileges of “religious organizations,” chances are the defenders of the faith and the experts of the law will run to legalism, the Constitution and provisions of law. Since the principal party or group that will be most affected are the religious particularly Catholic schools, it is always well worth the effort to go to what the source, or book of faith tells us regarding taxes. WWJD or What Would Jesus Do if we were to ask him on the matter of taxation? Well, he actually addressed the issue head on and with absolute clarity on two occasions during his time.

The first incident involved being charged “Temple Tax” which is equivalent to today’s entrance fee, donation or tithing. Bear in mind that he was a respected preacher and for all intents and purposes he was and is the Son of God. But read how he responded in the book of Matthew 17: 22 – 27:

“After Jesus and his disciples arrived at Capernaum, the collectors of the two drachma temple tax came to Peter and asked, “doesn’t your teacher pay the Temple tax?”

“Yes he does,” Peter replied. When Peter came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first saying, “What do you think Simon? From whom do the Kings of the earth collect duty and taxes – from their own children or from others?”

“From others,” Peter answered. “Then the Children are exempt,” Jesus said to him. “But so that we may

not cause offense, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open it’s mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.”

I’m not sure if the Temple Tax was “voluntary” or if the collectors were simply unsure if they could collect from the teacher. In terms of concepts and perceptions, Jesus being a Jew, a Rabbi, and the Son of God could have pulled out the power or status card and got a “free entrance” given to celebrities. But instead, he sent Peter to do light work, arranged a mini miracle, and actually paid “His” tax along with Peter’s. He also left us a valuable lesson regarding the solemn responsibility of leading by example. Instead of claiming entitlement Jesus opted to do his duty and cover his share.

Biblically speaking, just because you have the right does not necessarily make it the right thing to do. Why is it that those who have the most in terms of money, profit and possessions are always given the VIP treatment or the exemption while ordinary people have to fall in line or pay taxes even before they collect their salaries?

A few chapters later we find Jesus being “entrapped” by his enemies in Matthew 22: 15 – 22:

Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. They sent their disciples to him along with the herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “We know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you don’t pay attention to who they are. Tell us then, What is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?

But Jesus knowing their evil intent said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? Show me the coin used for paying the tax. They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?

“Caesar’s,” they replied. Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”

In an era where we have removed or eradicated PDAF and other forms of pork barrel, it is only right that extra-ordinary exemptions or privileges gained through lobby or political lobby be removed or returned especially by religious organizations involved in business instead of ministry.

* * * One of our readers sent a list of complaints in reaction to what Speaker Bebot Alvarez has been doing to represent complaints being aired by the public:

“Tama si Speaker Alvarez sa kanyang ginagawa, lalong lumala ang red tape sa govt. ngayon.

“Sa Census na-streamline ni GMA noong pagkuha ng birth certificate, isang araw lang nakakakuha ka ng authenticated copy.

Sa ngayon binigyan ako ng 3 week s para makuha ang foundling certificate, noong balikan ko binigay ‘feed back form’ lang, ni walang paliwanag kung ano kulang pa. Basta sinabi tumawag sa PSA ni hindi sinabi kung kailan makukuha.

“Sa pagkuha naman ng passport dati wala pang isang linggo nakukuha mo kung completo papel, ngayn buwan din kailangan na kahit meron k ng nakuhang authenticated 'foundling certificate' noon, kailangan kumuha k ng bago uli, kaya kahit two month pa bago kami umalis iniapply ko n ang aming adopted daughter di pa siya nabibigyan ng passport kaya baka di ko maisama.

“Sa aking manukan naman, sapagka’t walang 10,000 bird exempted sa CEE ng DENR, pero ang LLDA kung ano-ano hinihingi para maikuha ko ng permit, kahit walang water discharge ang manok hinihingan ng water discharge certificate, pinakukuha ng Pullution officer na isang engineering graduate na magseseminar ng 3 Araw sa isang hotel sa Manila sa halagang P10,000. Buwan bago k rin makakuha ng permit.

“Kabaliktaran sa sinasabi ni Digong n pag-aalis ng red tape sa govt.”

Translating this letter would eat up space but it is very clear that there is still a lot of red tape wasting people’s time and money. It is also very disturbing to see that in terms of the right hand knowing what the left hand is doing, the DENR and the LLDA have to streamline the process. By the way a local resident of Tagaytay recently commented that the fish pens in Taal Lake are slowly but surely increasing in numbers.

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