Just Like Jesus
Pastor Rick Warren, who has made a nice living running a mega-church and writing inspirational books like The Purpose-Driven Life, tweeted this last night (now deleted):
Render unto Caesar and all! I certainly remember all of Jesus’s sermons about the unfairness of high taxes on the wealthy job creators, and about how welfare makes poor people lazy. I’ll let Karoli explain about taxes:
Let’s get this out of the way first: What you said is untrue. Had you said 50% don’t pay income tax, you’d have at least been partly right, because tax preferences currently benefit lower and middle class taxpayers to some extent via the EIC, the child care credit, and other tax subsidies.
But to say they don’t pay taxes? That’s flatly untrue. Everyone who drives a car pays taxes when they fill up their tank. Everyone who buys toilet paper pays sales taxes here in California. Everyone who works has FICA/FUTA taxes withheld and paid. Everyone. Rich, poor, or middle. And as a percentage of income, those taxes are a whole lot more than the ones you defend as “already paying taxes”, especially when the taxes they do pay means they have to ration meals, or medications, or go without in order to feed their children.
Here’s a partial list of entities who paid no taxes. This is who you defend: General Electric, Bank of America, Boeing, Wells Fargo Bank, Goldman Sachs, Exxon-Mobil, Koch Industries, BP, and more. And for that privilege, some outsourced jobs to other countries, others just downsized, and still others decided they’d overwork their younger employees and let the older ones go while they still could.
All working people pay Social Security tax (so it’s an entitlement that they’ve paid into all their life) and Medicare tax. They also pay property tax, sales tax, local tax, state tax, gas tax, cigarette tax, alcohol tax. Not to mention the various fees that poor pay that others don’t, like payroll advance (many can’t afford bank accounts for the fees) and rent-to-own.
Tags: Republican Bamboozlement, Rick Warren, taxes
Matthew 19:24
“And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.”
Makes sense, unless I missed the part where Jesus hung out with the country club set and money changers?
Nobody remembers the parable about the survival of the fittest? “The weak will be eaten by the strong.” That’s in the bible, page 187 as I recall.
I think Jesus was simply warning His followers to watch out for dinosaurs.
I think the actual verse, Jason, is, “The lion and the lamb will lie down together, but the lamb will get no sleep.”
Jesus does appear to favor taxing the poor. He had high praise for the widow who threw her two mites into the temple coffers. He seemed to feel that she was virtuous because even in her poverty she gave everything she had. (Jesus apparently failed to consider that due to her generosity she would land on the public dole next week.) The GOP’s approach is totally in keeping with this – to those who have, it shall be given; from those who have not, even what they thought they had will be taken. Frankly, the law of the jungle would be more compassionate.
WHOA – this coming from a mega- church pastor – which is also exempt from paying taxes?
all the money his mega-chruch takes in and he is kvetching?? really?
wow – -that takes stones!
Pastors are not exempt from paying taxes. He doesn’t pay a lot of taxes because he gives 90% of the money he earns in royalties to help the poor. When you give 90% of your money away aoine, I may listen to your whining more seriously.
Well David – maybe if you refrained from all that exercise you get from jumping to conclusions and ASKED me – I would tell you I was referring to the church itself – not the individual, as being exempt from paying taxes. see quote below
“”all the money his mega-chruch takes in ”
but then you right-wing nut jobs don’t ever really investigate anything to get to the truth, do you?
so just maybe, if you did a little investigating yourself, I would listen to your whining. and maybe think there was an iota of truth in what you say….
you are sooo good ay undermining your won cedibility that we don’t even have to do it.
Thanks for the chuckle. Now, like a good boy, go slink back under your rock