Scriptural Authorization for Taxation

The purpose of this article is to show that the scriptures authorize taxation with a critical and fundamental limitation.  The authority to levy limited taxes is based upon the Stewardship Principle.  Such powers of taxation are justified in the eyes of the Lord, and the scriptures provide examples of proper use of tax revenue and restrictions on its use.

In the midst of Amulek’s discourse with Zeezrom, the scriptures point out that Nephite judges received set wages for time worked:

“And the judge received for his wages according to his time – a senine of gold per day…according to the law which was given”  Alma 11:3

Judges received a set wage, not the market wage, for time spent in government service.  Lawyers in contrast received market rates for work performed.

“[Lawyers] received their wages according to their employ, therefore, they did stir up the people to riotings, and all manner of disturbances and wickedness, that they might have more employ, that they might get money according to the suits which were brought before them.”  Alma 11:20

The lawyers were hired or paid by the people whom they stirred up (Alma 10:13,14).  The judges were paid according to wages set forth in the law which were (by inference) obtained from tax revenue.

Alma described to Korihor the wages he received while serving as chief judge.

“And not withstanding the many labors which I have performed in the church, I have never received so much as even one senine for my labor; neither has any of my brethren, save it were in the judgment seat; and then we received only according to the law for our time.”  Alma 30:33

These wages were obtained in government service.  The money to pay the wages was obtained through taxation.  As a side note, Alma was translated approximately one year after making the statement in the last verse (see Alma 45:19).

The Nephite system of government was similar to the type of government organized in the early days of Israel.  Jethro recommended to Moses a system of judges in Exodus 18 but does not mention in that chapter whether the judges are paid for their labor or not.  Based on statements made by the prophet Samuel, it can be inferred that the judges were paid in a manner similar to the Nephites (according to their time).  They were also paid with money acquired from tax revenue.

When Israel came to Samuel asking to have a king instead of a system of judges, Samuel ‘rehearsed the nature and evils of kingly rule’ in 1 Samuel 8.  At one point Samuel reveals a key limitation on the taxing power of the government:

“And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants…He will take the tenth of your sheep and ye shall be his servants.”  1 Samuel 8:15, 17

Why only ten percent?  If the king is so tyrannical, why would he stop at ten percent, why not twenty or thirty percent?  I believe this verse reveals a key limitation imposed upon the government, by the Lord, on the rate of taxation.  Under the type of rule authorized by the Lord, the government did not have power to take more than the Lord requested (i.e. the tithe).  Under the reign of the judges the government was not authorized to tax its citizens at more than a combined ten percent tax rate.  Samuel was pointing out the fact that instead of tax payments made to the equivalent of local, state, and federal levels (which combined could not equal more than ten percent), the entire tax bill would be consolidated into the coffers of the king.  This would result in a more centralized and less efficient form of government.

It is also important to note that along with the Lord, the state would only tax net increase and never a person’s capital.  To fund his church, the Lord does not require a tithe on what we own (i.e. property or capital goods) but on our net increase derived from those capital goods.  If there is a bad year, and there is no net increase, there is no tithe.  Through Samuel’s warnings we learn that a tenth of the produced seed, a tenth of the product of the vineyard, and a tenth of the new sheep would go to the king.  The government by implication could not tax property or capital goods just as the Lord doesn’t.

The ten percent limitation is inferred by these verses.  I would not be surprised if the verses explicitly stating the ten percent limitation were among some of the ‘plain and precious’ parts of the scriptures that were removed the by great and abominable.  Samuel deplored the consolidation of a (meager by modern standard) ten percent tax rate into the hands of a single individual.  How much more deplorable is the current +30% tax rate which goes into the hands of the federal government.  Another important aspect to remember in regards to this tax rate is that it was not a progressive rate.  All people rich or poor paid ten percent of their net increase (after the Lord received his) to the government.

Further instruction on the ten percent rate can be possible found in King Noah.  It appears that King Noah began to appropriate the tithe payments of his subjects into the coffers of the government.  He also changed the form of taxation to include net increase and property.

“And he laid a tax of one fifth part of all they possessed, a fifth part of their gold and of their silver, and a fifth part of their ziff, and of their copper, and of their brass and their iron; and a fifth part of their fatlings; and also a fifth part of all their grain.

“And all this did he take to support himself, and his wives and his concubines; and also his priests, and their wives and their concubines; thus he had changed the affairs of the kingdom.”  Mosiah 11:3-4

King Noah levied a tax on property (capital) at a twenty percent rate to support himself, and his priests.  This would definitely qualify as a policy shift or as the scriptures indicate a change in “the affairs of the kingdom”.  The people might not have wholly objected to this change as they already in effect paid twenty percent (ten to the Lord and ten to the government).  The people after all were flattered by ‘great’ speeches of King Noah and his priests (See Mosiah 11:7).  This obviously has occurred in our time.

Returning back to the statements made by Samuel, he does not mince words. The government took this money; it was not a freewill offering.  The Lord thus authorized taxation to support the government with a critical ten percent limitation.  The Nephites also used taxation to support their governments.  It can be assumed that the ten percent limitation was used by the Nephites.  Either way, these verses present enough proof that righteous men, both of whom were prophets of God, were not against the limited tax rate authorized by the Lord to fund government.  I believe these concepts are in the scriptures for a reason.

Now that it has been shown the Lord approves of a limited tax rate, we will move on to scriptural examples in the Book of Mormon which illustrate a few examples of the proper role of government in the eyes of the Lord.  Part two is located here.