Part 1 - AL-Tax

Chapter 12one must concede that the viewpoints expressed in their articles at least representsome segment of Jewish thought on the issue.The Baha’i position is also near absolutist (DeMoville, 1998). The literature of thisreligion espouses the view that people have a duty to obey the laws of the countryin which they live, which is the main justification for their position.Some Christian groups also take this view – that individuals are morally boundto obey the laws of the country in which they live. There are passages in theChristian Bible that support this absolutist view (Romans, 13:1–2), although anotherpassage is less absolutist, holding that people must give to the state the thingsthat are the state’s and to God the things that are God’s (Matthew, 22:17, 21). Theliterature of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) espousesthe absolutist view that people have a duty to obey the laws of the country in whichthey live (Smith and Kimball, 1998).But other Christians are not so absolutist. Gronbacher (1998) reviewed theChristian literature and found passages that allow for a less than absolutist view.Basically, he takes the position that there are limits to the duty one owes to thestate to pay taxes. Schansberg (1998) reviewed the Biblical literature and arrivedat the same conclusion. Much of the literature Crowe (1944) discussed also takesthis position. Pennock (1998), another Christian writer, views evasion as ethicalwhen tax funds are used to support an unjust war.Angelus of Clavisio (1494) took the position that there is no ethical obligationto pay taxes if the government does not use the revenues collected to provide forthe common good, at least as long as neither lying nor perjury are involved. Berardi(1898) took the position that there is probably no moral duty to pay a tax even iflying or perjury are involved, since the Prince merely dictates what is owed.Taxpayers never enter into a contract with the Prince, and thus are not bound topay anything. Genicot (1927) stated that partial evasion is justified on the groundsthat the government does not have the right to the full amount and that it wouldbe unfair to impose heavier taxes on conscientious men while wicked men usuallypay less. Crolly (1877) took the position that there is no duty to pay taxes unlessevasion would result in violence.Lehmkuhl (1902) took the position that it is unethical to evade taxes when theresult is that nonevaders have to pay more. In other words, there is some moralduty to other taxpayers even if there is no moral duty to the government. But Davis(1938) took the position that it would be unfair to require honest taxpayers to takeup the slack and pay higher taxes to make up for the evasions of others.The Islamic position on the ethics of tax evasion is also mixed. McGee (1997,1998b) reviewed Islamic business ethics literature and concluded that tax evasion295