Should We Pay Taxes to Our Government If It Funds Abortion With Our Tax Dollars?

We are having a discussion in our church email forum (called GIDDY) on the question listed in the post above. And I thought I would post my response to the question here to extend the debate.

My simplistic answer to the question is this: “Yes, pay your taxes regardless.”

Mark 12:17 clearly commands us to pay our taxes. And Romans 13 commands the government to punish evildoers. Just because the government may not be obeying God as He calls they are instructed to protect the innocent does not give me license to disregard what I have been commanded to do by paying my taxes. I am not free to NOT do what I have been commanded just because someone or something else is not doing what they have been commanded.

Paying your taxes does not make you guilty of what they are used for. I find no biblical support for the case some Christians make when they claim that if you pay your taxes and those tax dollars are used to fund abortions, then that means you support abortions.

That’s like saying, “If you take your kids to the next Pixar movie, which is owned by Disney, and Disney supports homosexuality, then we as Christians must endorse homosexuality because we give Disney our money.”

Now, we should voice our opinion about how our tax dollars should be spent through elections or signing petitions or writing our Congressmen or supporting crisis pregnancy centers. But once I have fulfilled my obligation to pay my taxes, the government then decides how to use it. I am not culpable for their misuse.

When Jesus commanded the original audience to pay their taxes, you have to remember the context. Those taxes were going to purchase the nails and hardware that would build a cross and put our Savior on the Cross. They paid for the Roman soldier’s salaries; they gave Pilate a palace. You could argue, by implication, that taxes helped make the crucifixion of our Lord possible.

So yes, pay your taxes. And pray for the government and it’s leadership to repent of it’s disobedience to it’s part of Romans 13.

In summary, obedience is obedience. When the Bible commands us to obey our government, we are to obey our government. As long as their laws don’t contradict Scripture, I am to obey the government.