Martin Luther and Redistributive Taxation

Alon g with many other Reformers, Martin Luther advocated taxation as an instrument of poor relief. Protestants today are divided on the advisability of using tax policy to redistribute society’s resources, but at the very least, an understanding of the place that Luther’s view of redistributive taxation occupies in the history of political theology might lead us toward a distinctly Protestant conception of taxation. That Luther wrote more about taxation than the other Reformers is perhaps not surprising. In his early political theology, Luther sharply differentiated between the ways in which Christians and non-Christians related to civil government and its laws. “Christians should be subject to the governing authorities and be ready to do every good work,” Luther wrote, because “in the liberty of the Spirit they shall by so doing serve others and the authorities themselves and obey their will freely and out of love.” Citing Matthew 17, Luther insisted that the “children of the king, who need nothing,” should nevertheless freely submit and pay “the tribute.” For the unbelieving subject, on the other hand, the “temporal sword” is a “terror,” restraining “the un-Christian and wicked so that—no thanks to them—they are obliged to keep still and to maintain an outward peace.” Read Full Article »