Quotes from the Brethren
First Presidency & Council of the Twelve–
Church members in any nation are obligated by the 12th article of faith to obey the tax laws of that nation. A member who refuses to file a tax return, to pay required income taxes, or to comply with a final judgment in a tax case, is in direct conflict with the law and with the teachings of the church…
If a member disapproves of tax laws, he may attempt to have them changed by legislation or constitutional amendment, or if he has a well-founded legal objection he may challenge them in the courts. (Quoted by Dallin H. Oaks in 1994 Provo Freedom Festival speech)
Gordon B. Hinckley–
Think, my brethren, of what would happen if the principles of fast day and the fast offering were observed throughout the world. The hungry would be fed, the naked clothed, the homeless sheltered. Our burden of taxes would be lightened. The giver would not suffer but would be blessed by his small abstinence. A new measure of concern and unselfishness would grow in the hearts of people everywhere. Can anyone doubt the divine wisdom that created this program which has blessed the people of this Church as well as many who are not members of the Church? (Gordon B. Hinckley, “The State of the Church,” Ensign, May 1991, 51 )
Ezra Taft Benson–
Many are now advocating that which has become a general practice since the early 1930s: a redistribution of wealth through the federal tax system. That, by definition, is socialism!…The chief weapon used by the federal government to achieve this “equality” is the system of transfer payments. This means that the federal governments collects from one income group and transfer payments to another by the tax system. These payments are made in the form of social security benefits, Medicare and Medicaid, and food stamps, to name a few. Today the cost of such programs has been going in the hole at the rate of 12 billion dollars a year; and, with increased benefits and greater numbers of recipients, even though the tax base has been increased we will have larger deficits in the future. (Ezra Taft Benson, “A Vision and a Hope for the Youth of Zion,” 12 April 1977)
Harold B. Lee–
Now there is another danger that confronts us. There seem to be those among us who are as wolves among the flock, trying to lead some who are weak and unwary among Church members, according to reports that have reached us, who are taking the law into their own hands by refusing to pay their income tax because they have some political disagreement with constituted authorities. (Harold B. Lee, Ensign, January 1973, p. 106)
Quotes from the Founders
Alexander Hamilton & James Madison–
It will be of little avail to the people, that the laws are made by men of their own choice, if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood; if they be repealed or revised before they are promulgated, or undergo such incessant changes that no man, who knows what the law is to-day, can guess what it will be to-morrow. (James Federalist No. 62, 1788)
Alexander Hamilton–
If duties are too high, they lessen the consumption; the collection is eluded; and the product to the treasury is not so great as when they are confined within proper and moderate bounds. This forms a complete barrier against any material oppression of the citizens by taxes of this class, and is itself a natural limitation of the power of imposing them. (Hamilton, Alexander Federalist No. 211787)
Thomas Jefferson–
Taxes should be proportioned to what may be annually spared by the individual. (Jefferson, Thomas letter to James Madison, 1784)
Thomas Pain–
If, from the more wretched parts of the old world, we look at those which are in an advanced stage of improvement, we still find the greedy hand of government thrusting itself into every corner and crevice of industry, and grasping the spoil of the multitude. Invention is continually exercised, to furnish new pretenses for revenues and taxation. It watches prosperity as its prey and permits none to escape without tribute. (Paine, Thomas, Rights of Man, 1791)
James Madison–
A just security to property is not afforded by that government, under which unequal taxes oppress one species of property and reward another species. (Madison, James Essay on PropertyMarch 29, 1792)
Alexander Hamilton–
As to Taxes, they are evidently inseparable from Government. It is impossible without them to pay the debts of the nation, to protect it from foreign danger, or to secure individuals from lawless violence and rapine. (Hamilton, Alexander Address to the Electors of the State of New York, March, 1801)
Thomas Jefferson–
Taxes should be continued by annual or biennial reenactments, because a constant hold, by the nation, of the strings of the public purse is a salutary restraint from which an honest government ought not wish, nor a corrupt one to be permitted, to be free. (Jefferson, Thomas letter to John Wayles Eppes, June 24, 1813)
Thomas Jefferson–
To take from one, because it is thought his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers, have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, the guarantee to everyone the free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it. (Jefferson, Thomas letter to Joseph Milligan April 6, 1816)
Thomas Jefferson–
For example. If the system be established on basis of Income, and his just proportion on that scale has been already drawn from every one, to step into the field of Consumption, and tax special articles in that, as broadcloth or homespun, wine or whiskey, a coach or a wagon, is doubly taxing the same article. For that portion of Income with which these articles are purchased, having already paid its tax as Income, to pay another taz on the thing it purchased, is paying twice for the same thing; it is an aggrievance on the citizens who use these articles in exoneration of those who do not, contrary to the most sacred of the duties of a government, to do equal and impartial justice to all its citizens. (Jefferson, Thomas letter to Joseph Milligan, April 6, 1816)
Speeches and Other Resources
Latest comments