In my time I've dealt with some people of the liberal persuasion who believe that a robust tax-and-spend welfare or benefit system is the only moral or Christian way to run an economic policy. Jesus told us to take care of the poor and needy, they say, so what kind of a moral government would we have if we didn't tax the rich and give to the poor?

Well, I've come up with another way of looking at it (though I'm sure I'm not the first to look at it this way). The Lord certainly advocates caring for the poor and needy. But that doesn’t necessarily mean he advocates a government imposing a tax burden on the populace in order to distribute the nation’s wealth in a more egalitarian manner. In fact, this would probably frustrate the Lord’s main purpose in exhorting us to give to the poor. I don’t think the Lord cares so much that the poor person gets richer as he does that I sacrifice something important to me in service of another person. If a government—or anyone else for that matter—forces me to make that sacrifice, I don’t get the spiritual benefit out of it. I don’t become more like Christ, who made the ultimate sacrifice for our benefit.

All the prophets commanded the people to help the poor and to provide economic stability to their society. But they commanded the people to do it of their own free will, not as part of a government program.

There is a woman named Susan Pace Hamill who is fighting to reform the Alabama tax code to bring it into line with Judeo-Christian values. She seems to be fighting for greater tax breaks for lower-income people, and higher taxes on the rich timber corporations that own most of the property in Alabama. Wouldn’t a truly Christian tax code not provide direct tax breaks for the poor, but rather provide some sort of incentive for the rich to give to the poor, for example, beefing up the charitable contribution deduction?

The Christian element isn’t the increase in the poor person’s wealth; it’s the decision of the rich person to give to him. If we make that decision easier for him to make, then we are truly making it easier—even attractive—to follow the Savior.