Give Up the Tax Deduction

As American Christians we are woefully ignorant of our godly heritage. Fortunately, God has raised up several ministries to help educate us in America's Judeo-Christian roots. Men like David Barton of Wall Builders Ministries (www.wallbuilders.com) have raised the level of our awareness through speaking and political action. Peter Marshall (www.petermarshallministries.come) and David Manuel (www.davidmanuelbooks.com) have written three excellent books on our Christian heritage, The Light and the Glory, From Sea to Shining Sea, and Sounding Forth the Trumpet which trace the American religious heritage from Columbus to Lincoln.

What has been forgotten is that the American Church had always been politically active, denouncing unscrupulous politicians and endorsing godly men in office from the pulpit. We are a generation that has never seen that action. What happened? A conspiracy that began in the 1700's to set up a global government to control all the earth has prevailed. The main culprits, amongst others, are the international bankers of Europe - the Rothschild family - who want to control all the world's finances. Our founding fathers were well aware of their desires and dreams, and thwarted their plans in advance when the U.S Constitution was ratified. Article I: Section 8 states that "the Congress shall have power... to coin money, regulate the value thereof...." Yet today the Federal Reserve, which is a private central bank affiliated with the European banking systems prints our money and controls the value thereof.

They gained that right with the Federal Reserve Act which was passed by Congress on December 22, 1913. The argument is made that Congress has not forsaken their authority, but rather have delegated it to the private sector. This was a swindle made secretly by American bankers J.P Morgan, Jacob Schiff and David Rockefeller who met at the Hoboken, NJ train station and traveled to Jekyll island off the coast of Georgia to implement their scheme. They slipped into Congress just before a holiday break. Once they established their private central bank with the government they implemented their second scheme to fill their coffers and to control our government: they got the 16th Amendment added to the US Constitution ratified on February 3, 1913. President Lincoln and Congress passed the income tax to fund the Civil War and created the Commissioner of Internal Revenue in the Treasury Department. Ten years later the income tax was repealed. Congress tried to re-introduce it 1894, but the Supreme Court declared the Income Tax to be unconstitutional. So when it was made an constitutional amendment, the mechanism for tax collection was already in place.

The reader may wonder how do the banks get our income tax when the money goes to the U.S. Treasury? Simple, the government borrows the money that the Federal Reserve prints, and the central bank charges interest on the money loaned. Since the 1960's all the money collected from the income tax goes to pay this interest. So what does the government do, borrow more money.

The income tax was not set up to fund government expenses. A sales tax could accomplish the same thing. In fact, the argument against the income tax from a macro economic point of view is that it weakens the economy. With a sales tax, citizens are penalized for excessive materialism. Wise stewards of their funds would then save their money. Money in the bank means more capital to loan out for entrepreneurs which means more industry and a vigorous economy. With the income tax there is no incentive to save since what ever you make is taxed. Therefore there is less capitol reserved and more debt accumulated which puts citizens in bondage to the banks. Proverb says, "The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender." (Prov 22:7 KJV). But putting citizens in bondage to the banks is only one reason for the system. The income tax provides a way to control the economy any way that the government wants, and with economic control follows moral and behavioral control. To encourage their agenda, deductions are given as reward for certain purchases whereas other purchases are not.

An attempt in 1913 was made to give a charitable deduction failed, but passed with the War Revenue Act of 1917. At first glance this seems like an honorable thing to do. But history has shown that when any strings are attached by the government, they will take control in the long run. Government schools seemed like a good idea, but no where in the Bible does it say that parents should farm out their children to other agents. Instead the Bible directs the parents to raise their children. Likewise, no where in the Bible does it say that our offerings to God should receive credit from the government. Indeed, the misused quote of Jesus saying, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. " (Mark 12:17 KJV) suggests that the two need to stay separate.

Even up to then, however, the American pulpits were politically active. During the American Revolution the cry, "Give 'em Watts" referred to the use of Isaac Watts sheet music to fill the muskets. The pulpit had been freely used to exhort members in how to vote up until the 1950's. The nail that sealed the coffin of the church was hammered by Texas Senator, Lyndon Baines Johnson. In 1954 - an election year - LBJ was plagued by tax-exempt groups who were pointing out the alleged communist connections of some Texas liberals. So he had inserted into the IRS tax code a penalty - a loss of exemption - for any organization whose leaders endorsed or opposed the election of a politician. His amendment was not intended for churches, but it bound them nonetheless. The moral influence of the church on the nation has been in steady decline ever since. And now the IRS will not recognize any contribution that is not given in a little preprinted envelope! Enough is enough. Things have got to change.

The mess that our country is in is deep and heavily entangled. The income tax and the Federal Reserve need to go. But removing them is extremely difficult. The truth of all government bureaucracies is they remain until the government is gone. That is not going to happen. Governments historically are removed either by revolution or by the moral decline of the culture, which weakens the society so that they are conquered by another people and government.

But the church has not been given the Great Commission of "overthrow your government." Instead, we are called to preach the gospel to every creature and to make disciples. God calls individuals to work in the government, and within the system, the slow process of change can happen. But the tax deduction has undermined the church in an even more insidious way than just the endorsement of political candidates: it moved faith and dependence upon God to dependence upon the government.

In a word, the tax deduction for charitable giving is an American idol. Ask most members of any congregation if we should remove the deduction, and you will get an uncomfortable response. But the truth is, the deduction barely saves anyone money, especially Christians who tend to be honest, and don't cheat on their taxes. The damage done by the deduction is that American Christians don't believe that God can take care of them with high taxes. And that is a lie from Satan. It doesn't matter if Americans were taxed at 90% of their income (we are already at 50% with all taxes combined), our God can supply all our needs!

The time has come for church leaders to throw out the deduction. Do not use it. Give up their 501 C status. Be taxed as any other business. It is time for church leadership to demonstrate their trust in God and let the government tax them. It is time for the congregation to trust God and forsake the charitable deduction. It is time for the body of Christ in America to be loosed from the shackles of the government who is controlled by the banks. If we abandon the tax-exempt "privilege" we will have more clout in regaining our government's godly heritage. If we don't leave this behind, the Church's first order of business won't be attended to: evangelization and discipleship. The people of our nation are not going to regain control of the government until the people are changed. As long as both pagan and Christian continue in self indulgence, our nation will get worse. If the Church will repent and obey God again, then we will be the salt and light that will transform the nation. If the majority of Americans embrace biblical Christianity again, the political changes will occur. Throwing out the deduction is the first step in this repentance.