In his campaign speech at the National Prayer Breakfast last week, President Obama explained how his Christian faith supported his calls for higher taxes on the rich:
“And I think to myself, if I'm willing to give something up as somebody who's been extraordinarily blessed, and give up some of the tax breaks that I enjoy, I actually think that's going to make economic sense.
But for me as a Christian, it also coincides with Jesus’ teaching that ‘for unto whom much is given, much shall be required.’”
I think that President Obama should be a little careful about using Jesus quite so prominently in his call for the rich to pay more taxes. I say this because President Obama wants the government to force the rich to pay more by raising their taxes. But I don’t recall Jesus ever calling on Caesar to raise taxes. Instead, Jesus called on people to give more. And giving more money to the government voluntarily is not something I have heard the President – or Mr. Buffett – ask their fellow billionaires and millionaires to do.
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