Ax The Tax?🪓 What The Bible Says That Can Inform How We Think About Taxes

For as long as I can remember being alive, I have heard great groans and complaints over taxes people don’t want to pay.

This makes it over five decades of hearing year after year of a wish to ax the tax (shhh, don’t tell anyone my age🤣).

Of course, filing taxes in the first place is a nightmare: The paperwork is definitely not fun to fill out in any country, and usually, it’s quite confusing. This alone can make way for groans and complaints. I, too, don’t enjoy paperwork that has a deadline! It reminds me of all the years in school when the adults would tell us that our homework was important to get done on time. Many times most of us did not understand the importance of homework with a deadline. It occurred to me only a few weeks ago that those adults were preparing us to have a thicker skin to handle the paperwork for the rest of our lives (and deal with a ton of paperwork when someone close to us dies. Ugh! 😒 Had to share a personal groan here.)

The other complaints I have heard about taxes:

• The taxes are too high, especially for the poor and middle class.

• The rich get away with too many loopholes not to pay.

• The money that comes in through taxes is not well handled.

• Much of the money given in taxes is stolen and not put to proper use.

• Oh, and the last couple of decades, I have heard how taxes, at least in The United States, are illegal (against the Constitution) to be taken from any place but Washington, D.C.

How should we, as Believers, handle these issues of taxes? What should we do, and what kind of attitude should we have? What would God want us to do? I mean, we know that when we give our life over to God everything we are and everything we have belongs to Him. So, how do we handle this situation of taxes as we navigate life through trying to become more Christ-like, or in my own words, Owned By Love?

I have a few ideas to share with you about where we might be able to turn the tide on all of these tax issues. Maybe, as Esther was told, we are born for such a time as this (Esther 4:14). What do I mean? I think God endowed each one of us with gifts He personally put in us to send blessings and help to The Earth. We were born at the perfect time to be a blessing of God and from God to the world. When we fulfill this calling, we are also blessed for eternity, and we become ready to meet our Maker!

With this small list of tax groans and complaints I made above, I will go through each one and share what we might collectively be able to do to make a difference while we are here.

What do we do about taxes being too high?

Money issues are never fun when you always do not have enough or at least feel like you do not have enough. So, when taxes come to take a pound of flesh out of us, we shriek in pain. 

I am probably going to have rotten tomatoes thrown at me for what I suggest we can do to make a difference when many of us are already hurting, but deep down if The Holy Spirit is guiding you, there will be a knowledge that what I am saying is appropriate and helpful if we will humble ourselves and do these things together:

Pray that God would help our leaders adjust the taxes to be appropriate for what we each make. Yep, I just felt your rotten tomatoes on my body. Ouch! I hope it is good for my aging skin. 🍅

I can already hear some of you shout back at me, “Pray about it.?! Do you really think that praying about it will make a difference with these crooked national leaders we have? And do you really think my measly prayer will make a difference in this big mess? Really, Katrina? The world is going to hell in a handbasket, and I can’t wait until our Messiah returns to get us out of this mess!” Did I do a good job of expressing what you probably shouted at me?😉

I have a few reminders for those who decided to stop throwing objects and maybe hear me out. I do believe our prayers make a HUGE difference in whatever we pray about. I believe it changes the world, and it changes US. It DEFINITELY changes things in the spiritual realm where our battles really are! And I do believe it takes FAITH to believe what I just said about our prayers. I accept that things of faith I cannot prove to you, BUT doing things of faith grows faith. And faith is one of the only three things you take with you in this life and the next (you know the three? Faith, hope, and love? 1 Corinthians 13).

Hey, tell me, has moaning, complaining, and cursing worked for you all these years? What do you have to lose by praying about having a fair tax system at least once a year during your tax season? (And for those who believe taxes are illegal, stick with me for the last point near the end of this article. I do have some ideas to share with you.)

Here, I’ll make it super easy for you to pray about it. Repeat after me…

‘Hello Lord! Thank You that You are still on Your throne and in charge of everything, including me. I see a huge problem here on Earth where I live: The taxes are not functioning properly for myself and others. I am having a hard time under the weight of these taxes, quite frankly.

‘Lord, we were told to pray for our leaders. They are in charge of the taxes, and I have not been praying regularly for them, according to:

‘1 Timothy 2:1–4

‘1 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 

2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. 

3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior,

4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

’I repent now and ask Your forgiveness for moaning, complaining, and cursing our leaders because of this tax situation. I plead The Blood! Thank you for releasing me. And I now bless with my mouth and heart:

‘Lord, I pray for the leaders who rule over taxes. Please, Lord, guide the right people to be leaders and also change the hearts of those already there to appropriately deal with all tax issues so that everyone can thrive better together. And also, keep us, Your children, free in the lands You have placed us to worship You and work for Your kingdom, unencumbered.

‘And Lord, I take the blessings You have given me already to thrive. I take the blessing of my hands that lets whatever You put into them be cleansed and function properly, including all money and every other resource. I also bless what I pay out or gift out, that it would be fair trade, and the money would be used righteously and be used to cleanse the circulatory system of money. Let Your Spirit be upon it as money comes in and goes out to enforce its proper use to strengthen and uplift everyone in this Land I am praying for.

‘I gave my life over to You, Lord, and I gave everything that You put into my life. So for Your glory and the care of what is Yours, please hear my prayers now and act.

‘And just for the practice of learning to bless, I bless the tax system to function properly! I speak the life of God into the tax system where the will of God in heaven works here on earth when I bless. I bless the money to be cleansed that goes into the tax system and to be used for all righteousness as it is spent for all of us in this country, in Jesus’/Yeshua’s powerful name!

‘Thank You, Lord, that I get the awesome job of blessing and not cursing! Thank You that I already know You will move because I am praying according to Your Word and Your will.

‘In Jesus’/Yeshua’s most holy name, amen!’

(By the way, this prayer works retroactively since God is outside of time.😉)

Ok, now, was that so hard, my fellow human? You just did what God already told you to do by praying this prayer, or a prayer similar to it. If we all do this and pass these truths to others to join us, then collectively, we can make an even stronger difference! It will change those who pray it first, which we need to change first. Then it will help God’s will in heaven to plant itself here on Earth as our Messiah prayed for in the example prayer He gave for us (Matthew 6:10).

The rich get away with too many loopholes not to pay.

It is definitely true that the more God puts into anyone’s hands to take care of, there is more accountability. The rich are more accountable than the poor. But who is rich? What is the number of zeros behind another number that makes you decide someone is rich? Is it ten thousand, a hundred thousand, five hundred thousand, or more?

Let us, including myself, deal with the splinters or beams in our own eyes. We have to do this before we go for the juggler of our ‘rich neighbors’. Shall we? I really think God expects this of us according to:

Matthew 7 

1“Judge not, that you be not judged. 

2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.

3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 

4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? 

5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

Especially if you live in a first-world country, most likely, YOU are the rich. Sure, there are those who are a lot richer than you, and maybe they do or don’t pay enough taxes. But since, really, most of us reading this are the rich, then ‘we have a problem Houston.’ And if you really think you are not rich and really struggling, have you been a good steward of the little The Lord has provided? Can you be entrusted with more from Him to be used properly? The solution to the problems of not having enough for the poor and middle-class people start with ourselves 😔, including me.

• How do I spend my time?

• How do I spend what money I have?

• How full is my house and garage with things I don’t use very often or don’t really need?

• Do I take good care of the things that I do have, or am I wasteful?

• How well am I taking care of my health and the health of others around me, especially those I am responsible for?

My suggestion is to take these questions one by one on paper and write down your answers, asking God to reveal the truth and help you be truthful. None of us are perfect in any of these categories, not the rich, not the middle class, and not even the poor. By the way, I met many poor first-world citizens, who were craving to get recognition by having “something rich” in their life: e.g. the biggest TV screen, the newest IPhone, Brand-labled designer clothing or high-class video games. We all have room for improvement, and we can ask God to help us see where we might be able to improve with His help and guidance so that He can entrust us with more resources to be blessed and bless others. 

Once things are revealed to you, I suggest you decide to ask God to help you come up with a plan to do better, even a little better, in the areas that need improvement. AND make it a PRIORITY to do better, even a little better at a time. If you have not exercised the muscle enough to be able to hold yourself accountable for extended periods of time, I strongly suggest you ask God to put someone in your life or listen to the ones He already put there (which is more likely the case for most of us) to hold you accountable and help you grow in holding yourself accountable. Dudes and Dudettes, this is a painful process! Yes, I personally know it is. But we gotta grow up. We must be open to God helping us grow up and quit resisting Him by giving up, becoming couch potatoes, being lazy, or choosing to be too busy with other cares and desires of this world.

You MUST choose that you strongly desire accountability when you are trying to change bad habits! If you are able to squirm out of accountability provided by yourself or by others, you automatically go directly to YOU ARE RICH AND IN NEED OF NOTHING category in the Bible:

Revelation 3

14 “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation.

15 “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! 

16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. 

17 For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. 

18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. 

19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. 

20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. 

21 The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. 

22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”

You can ask anyone around me that knows me well, I pray for gold refined in the fire, white garments, and salve for my eyes aaaalllll the time! They hear me do it. I ask God to reveal to me what gold refined in the fire looks like, white spiritual garments look like, and salve for my eyes looks like to not resist Him. I want Him to do what He needs to do to make sure I am ready for our Messiah’s return, or my death, whichever comes first.

Most of us are Laodicean. I am a recovering Laodicean myself. I am truly loving you as myself for God with everything I have by sharing all of this with you. I hope we all decide to make these things a priority every day because they are God’s priorities for us. And He only wants the best things for us. Listening to Him is a good idea since He just wants the best!

Too Many Loopholes?

Now that we have been honest with our own shortcomings here, let's tackle if the rich have too many loopholes, whoever the rich are. My answer is that I honestly don’t know. I mean, I have been told that this is true all my life, but just because people have spouted this out all of my life does not mean it is true. It may or it may not.

Even in my lifetime, there have been new pieces of evidence come to light to make major shifts in our perception of what is true or not. One example that I can think of is that I was taught in grade school that a person’s DNA is unchangeable. It can’t be changed for any reason. When I heard this, something inside me said, ‘That isn’t true’. But I had no proof that DNA could be changed and I sure was not an expert on why I thought what I did. Well, in recent years (many decades later), it is now common knowledge that DNA in a person does change. Sheesh! Oh, the things we learn collectively with time.

History of Loopholes In The System?

Going back to the rich maybe having too many loopholes: What I vaguely remember in Economic class, America’s system was based on businessmen and landowners making the strongest choices for our country. The argument was that they were more educated and more ready to take risks to make such decisions. Of course, they would have given themselves incentives. But the idea was that the richer people would be able to take care of the poorer people and give them more opportunities with some incentives. Everybody has heard about “trickle down economics.” I think we can all agree that this system kind of got off-balanced and the poor were not taken care of the way they should have been to our shame. (And for those history buffs who know way more than myself, I am sure your face is wincing at the very simple understanding I have. I ask forgiveness in advance. But the ideas I share are still solid about the responsibility of the rich and the poor.)

Then we had different movements that adjusted the system, one of them being worker unions. That balanced things out. But our country is always adjusting and trying to balance things out. That is the way the US government was constructed to work. Governments run by limited humans always have to be adjusted.

One ‘loophole’ the rich have is the possibility of donating to causes and getting a tax write-off. There is a lot of good that comes from those donations. And I do admit there can be corruption in that system.

A newer loophole in our history is the world of international finance streams. Rich people avoid taxes by concentrating their profits in tax havens.

The Poor Have Responsibilities Too

Having worked with some poorer people than myself, I have noticed how difficult it is for them to understand certain things and make good decisions. You can talk to them until you are blue in the face and they stay certain they are right even though you know they are running straight into a proverbial dangerous highway. Having had more education than they had, I could see the problems from a different vantage point. My Youtube video on helping a poor Ukrainian family is a very good example of how hard it is to break through uneducated and poverty-stricken minds.

To be honest, I don’t know what it is like to be richer and more educated than where I am at. That is a duh thing to say I realize. But my point is, that because I have not experienced what it is like to be even richer, I may very well be ignorant in the same way that the poorer Ukrainian family we helped was. Maybe richer and more educated people can see from a fuller angle than myself to make better decisions for all of us. Actually, I’m pretty sure that this is the case for me since my partner is waaaaay smarter than me and already humbles me with what I don’t know about world economics. He understands business way better than myself. But even he admits readily that being rich and clever is no synonym for God-pleasing decisions.

But THIS I do know, whether you consider yourself rich with many tax loopholes, or poor with no tax loopholes, we all have the command to love our neighbors as ourselves for the love of God. Instead of pointing fingers, we have to do our part properly and be an example to those who are not doing it right. We cannot be hypocrites by doing the very same things that we accuse others of doing. There is no Godly power working in us when we point fingers and do not take care of the log in our own eye.

The rich and their loopholes are not the core of the problem. The rich not taking their responsibility properly to take care of the poorer is where they fail. The poor, on the other hand, fail in not taking care of the even poorer many times and also abuse what resources come into their hands already, just like the rich do! We gotta repent, my fellow humans and start taking care of each other no matter how much money we have. Oh! We need to take care of ourselves too so that we are less of a burden on others. We always must continually balance ourselves just as governments must go through rebalancing.

The money that comes in through taxes is not well handled.

Handling a huge government and taking care of millions or billions of imperfect people with that government is a mind-boggling task in my personal little mind. Just dealing with the few people I already am responsible for before God to lead is humbling! I definitely need God’s help constantly at this level. If God has to help me, then God has to provide even bigger miracles to keep these governments going so we don’t have total chaos everywhere. I personally don’t want to go back to tribal living! No thank you very much! I have no nostalgia for the so-called “good old times.”

Do you know what tribal living was like? Look back on history. There were many wars between tribes. There were no well-kept roads. There were roads but I would call them more like trails and they were definitely not secure. There was no mass industry and the same amount of collective creativity: Those things afford us a life that kings and queens could not even dream was possible to live! Kings and Queens died as randomly as anyone else with any new plague arriving at their doorsteps. There would not be the same breakthroughs in medicine that makes us live longer than most generations did in history. I don’t want to go back to these “good old times” personally. And without these more massive united peoples under governments, we go back to tribal living and surviving. As I said before, no thank you very much!

Back to huge governments: it’s incredible how they find a way to handle anything, including funds they take from those who profit from the services of that government. We have a better life together with a big government overall. (I feel the tomatoes flying in my direction again 🍅.)

It is definitely God somehow making things function even with the wonky people who are in the government. And in a democracy, EVERYONE is that government. Yeah, that would be you too (Unless you are in a dictatorship obviously😉). And yes, I am ready to receive your rotten eggs now… even though my delicate nose protests.🤢 

You will hear me as a broken record throughout this article, have you been praying blessings and help into the tax and government systems? Or have you been grumbling, cursing, and being bitter?

Here is a sample prayer you can use to pray over the taxes you put into the system:

‘Lord, I bless these taxes I am paying to be used properly. Put angels around this money to make sure that these resources are put to Godly use for Your Kingdom. Inspire all peoples and groups this money passes through to use it properly. Help the money to really work in loving and blessing my neighbor and myself for Your glory! Amen!’

Much of the money given in taxes is stolen and not put to proper use.

Depending on which country you live in, this kind of government corruption is more or less bad. We get news accounts regularly sharing where certain people or groups have not handled tax revenue appropriately. All in the Western World, we read it in the news. But let’s not fool ourselves and believe that there is no corruption in e.g. China or Russia, just because they do not have a free press that can uncover these unloving acts. 

But again, I still hold out that we have a certain amount of responsibility to this issue, since we have not been blessing the funds going to taxes or the people and groups responsible for getting those funds appropriately used.

And I think we forget too easily what our taxes given to the government do for us all. We forget to be thankful. We forget how almost all of us live better than most people ever did in human history because of the investments in our infrastructure by governments. Have you been thanking God and blessing these infrastructures?:

• clean running water

• sewage systems

• electricity

• Internet

• military for safety

• taking care of our veterans

• schools

• parks

• orphanages

• hospitals and clinics

• social security

• roads and bridges

• street lights

• Public transportation

• mail service 

• homeless shelters

• social helps: food stamps, helping people find jobs, helping abused women and children

• international relations work

• courts

• prisons

• attorneys for the poor

• police

• fire departments

• subsidies for farmers (I admit that system is really not working well, we must pray)

• ...and interest on national debt which is a problem on its own because we live as a community above our means!

I am sure there are hundreds of things I did not list that our governments work on taking care of. How many of these government services do you use or have used?

How many of you would be willing to budget out what you make into hundreds of accounts to cover paying for all of these services? 

• Would you give to veterans every month? 

• Would you set money aside for your street lights in your neighborhood? 

• Would you write a monthly check to your police officer? 

• Would you hand $10 every month to the prison guard who locks away the bad guys?

• … the list goes on and on my friend.

The government, chosen by a majority of us, takes care of all that. Flawed, yes, but it does.

How many of you would value putting money into some of those services that might not benefit you but takes care of the poor, elderly, widowed, orphaned, and weak? Come on now! We all would feel overwhelmed if we had to figure out how to build the infrastructure and services we all are blessed to use without a government structure thinking of all these things and making things happen for all of us. Even with all the flaws and corruption, we would not have the quality of life and services we have now without paying taxes to our government.

Even if you believe that taxes are illegal (a minority) or too high (everybody!!!), you would definitely not have the services you personally use without even thinking about it without governments taking taxes. Have we become so blind that we have become entitled? Do we curse our governments, taxes, and therefore the services (even in their more broken state) just because we see corruption?

Have you been praying about what you see is broken in the tax system? Have you been considering the needs and paying for all the people around you who have problems, poor, elderly, orphaned, etc.?

Words spoken are very powerful! Blessings or curses are very powerful. We were told to bless and speak life into things! Are we blessing things to become better or are we cursing?

Do you bless those who are fixing the roads? Do you bless the roads and bridges? How about the school teachers and administrators? The military? Those who work in government-run sanitation services? I am sure you can come up with other things that need to be blessed and prayed for that you see are not working or are breaking down. Make a difference by blessing what you see needs fixed!

I have a girlfriend who goes around her neighborhood, puts her hands on the houses and buildings, or raises her hands toward them and blesses those households, businesses, and peoples. She uses her authority she knows she has from Christ to ask for the will of God to happen on earth as it is in heaven, people would be freed, healed, and for things to thrive and live! She gets results in getting whole shady businesses to either turn around or leave the neighborhood just by loving everyone and blessing everything. She takes back spiritually what was stolen by blessing and standing in faith. 

We are no different than she is! She is not complaining. She is DOING what we were instructed to do. If there is a problem, we are supposed to be a part of the solution for God. My fellow human, we have repenting to do! We are not doing what we were instructed to do. We need to start blessing. And don’t worry if you have no idea what you are doing. God does not care if you know. Just show up and do it anyway and He will teach you how to be better as you walk forward. You want to see breakthroughs? It starts with blessing, thanking God for what is working, and asking for those things that aren’t working to be healed. Also, ask if God is asking you or calling you to do more than just pray. The answer might be yes or no, but be willing anyway. 

I always say this; If you see a problem, it’s because it has been revealed to you to make a difference! Prayer always makes a HUGE difference! And then stay open on how to pray better into the situation and if you are to roll up your sleeves and do more than pray. Again, we are not called to do something every time. Well, except to pray!

Oh, and the last couple of decades I have heard how taxes, at least in The United States, are illegal (against the constitution) to be taken from any place but Washington D.C.

After reading everything I have written about above, has this issue of whether taxes are legal or not legal moved your heart and mind? Does it really matter if it is legal or illegal? If you are deciding not to pay taxes, are you using the amount you would have paid in taxes to support the infrastructure and many services you personally use in the government and in society?

If you are the stubborn type, then you won’t be moved. Sigh. Could you possibly be in an ungodly state of mind of wanting to be right more than loving and considering the needs of everyone? Taxes being paid considers the needs of everyone and not just you. EVERYONE. What is God’s way? Let me answer that for you:

Matthew 22:34-40

English Standard Version

The Great Commandment

34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 

36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 

37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 

38 This is the great and first commandment. 

39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 

40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

So now that we have what God establishes as important, it would be a good idea to either pay taxes OR come up with a new system to make everyone contribute towards the welfare of all. Pray about it and see how you can fulfill these laws.

And read 1 John chapters 3 and 4 if you are fuzzy on what happens when you hate your neighbor or don’t take care of them properly. This should plant some kind of seed that might grow and make a difference for The Lord here on Earth while you are here.

What I teach on this website and other channels is about growing in being Owned by Love, also known as owned by God. It’s about HOW to make it your priority and not just telling you the goal. These things are not easy to hear. I know. I hear them myself and have a hard time. But I know for sure it is worth taking this path of doing it God’s way instead of my own or someone else’s. I know this by experiences as I work on getting better at doing His ways with His love and strength. He gets full glory of any success I have. But He does have success in me, all glory to Him. He said He would put a new heart in us. Well, He is doing it for those who diligently seek Him and His ways. We just must wake up now and quit trying to live in survival mode and go into living in faith mode! Survival mode is sucking the life out of us and making us complainers. We really need to jump to a different mode to possibly get different results.

Who is with God on this? I sure hope it is you, my loved fellow human. I do love you. God loves you. Let’s make a difference for ourselves and others for the love of God while we still have breath in us❣️

We Are Owned By Love,

Katrina

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