An Unhappy Centennial

On February 3, 1913 the 16th Amendment of the Constitution was ratified.  It says, "The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration."  There had been two other times in American history when we had individual income taxes, but now the constitution allowed Congress to levy taxes against Americans.  The reason given for this amendment was the United States could tax her richest citizens which would help alleviate dependence of tariffs and taxes on goods.  This one amendment opened the flood gates for the federal government to grow at the outrageous rate which has given us such a behemoth bureaucracy that we have today.  Until this amendment was passed, the size of the federal government was limited by the revenue from tariffs and taxed goods.  Now, the rate of taxation continues to increase and increase as our bloated federal government spends trillions of dollars they do not have.  Can you imagine what life would be like if we didn't have to worry about filing our taxes or April 15th?  Can you imagine all you could do with the income you would have if there was no federal income tax or FICA?  Wow!  Unfortunately, one hundred years ago, Congress took a step which has led to the brutal financial situation our country is in today.  One small step with a flawed purpose has led to the invasive and overwhelming federal government we have today.

That is how compromises often work in our lives.  We rationalize that making this small little compromise in our faith won't be too bad, so we take that step.  But, rarely, does sin stop at one small step.  Before we know it, we have made one compromise after another until we find ourselves in a situation which seems unbearable with no way out.  We now find ourselves in a hopeless situation and wonder how we got here.  Well, it started with that first step.

A child decides to stay out past curfew.  So he has to sneak home and hope he isn't caught.  He is able to get into the house and in bed without getting caught.  The next day, his parents ask what time he came in.  He decides to lie to cover his tracks and say he was in on time.  Then his parents tell him that they heard him come in late.  So he quickly decides to lie and tell them that he had a flat tire while taking a friend home.  Now he has to make sure his friend will help cover the story.  So the parents call the friends later in the day to ask about the flat.  Now the friend is sucked into the lie and has to lie to cover for his friend.  Then the parents ask about the tire which went flat.  The child now has to pick a tire which went flat.  So the parents ask if he has gotten the tire fixed yet.  If he says "No", they will want to see the flat in the trunk to see what caused the flat.  If he says, "Yes", they may ask to see the receipt from the tire company and find out when he got the tire fixed.  Before long, the lies will catch up with the liar.  Now, this child has broken the trust of his parents and will lose privileges for his lies.  All he had to do was own up to his first bad choice:  Coming in late.  But each compromise leads to another compromise.  Colossians 3:9 tells us, "Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self."

If we are really going to be discerning in 2013, we need to move away from compromises.  We need to move towards being honest with God and others.  Seek to live to His standard and when we don't meet up, own up to it.  Don't give a foothold to Satan by that first compromise.  The end result is never worth it if we compromise.  It is so much easier to just confess and face the consequences of that bad choice.  Don't get sucked in to the situation of our country.  Let the centennial of the personal income tax serve as a reminder for us to live faithfully without compromising the standards Christ has for us.