{"id":10018,"date":"2023-10-17T08:16:09","date_gmt":"2023-10-17T13:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/?p=10018"},"modified":"2023-10-12T15:30:19","modified_gmt":"2023-10-12T20:30:19","slug":"october-15-2023-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/october-15-2023-2\/","title":{"rendered":"October 22, 2023–Taxing Question"},"content":{"rendered":"

Drew Tucker, Columbus, OH<\/b><\/p>\n

Warm-up Question<\/b><\/h4>\n

Think of something that affects everyone, that\u2019s often unpopular, and that\u2019s necessary for living in a society. Share with a group or a trusted friend how you feel about that thing that you\u2019ve named.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Taxing Question<\/b><\/h4>\n

Thanks to the recent threat of a government shutdown, averted by a last-minute stopgap funding bill<\/a> that President Biden signed into law on September 30th<\/sup>, 2023, I\u2019ve been doing a lot of thinking about how we fund living in our shared society. From infrastructure like roads and utilities to people like first responders and postal workers, our taxes pay for many services we utilize frequently without ever having to think about it. Thanks to taxes, I\u2019ve never had to build a bridge to cross a river or put out a fire at my neighbor\u2019s house or pay for disaster relief after a hurricane. In that way, I\u2019m thankful for taxes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But \u00a0I\u2019m aware that I\u2019ll never even see about 20% of my income because it goes directly to federal, state, and local governments. When I\u2019m being selfish, I think about the vacations I could take or how much more quickly I could afford a new car if so much of the money I earned didn\u2019t disappear into the vacuum of government tolls. And as the recent specter of a government shutdown revealed, even when we pay our taxes, that doesn\u2019t mean that the things we need are necessarily guaranteed!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ultimately, I know that taxes are necessary because they help us to connect with one another. \u00a0They provide support for those who don\u2019t have the same access to resources that I have and ensure we can weather the literal and metaphorical storms that face our country. So I guess today\u2019s news is this: taxes are complicated.<\/p>\n

Trust me, I know that it\u2019s no newsflash that taxes are complicated. Indeed, throughout my life, I\u2019ve vacillated from thinking we all pay too much in taxes, thinking we all pay too little in taxes, and thinking some people should pay more taxes than they do while others should pay less.\u00a0Amidst all that confusion and imperfection, which is often what makes taxes so unpopular, it\u2019s clear that taxes affect everyone because most pay them and all benefit from them. To live in a society where we share one another\u2019s burdens, taxes are necessary.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Discussion Questions<\/b><\/h4>\n