I had this conversation on Facebook with a pastor, Kevin. What he believes and teaches is absolutely false. Here’s the conversation. His first comment is in response to me saying that anyone who votes in favor of taxation to fund a swimming pool is committing the sin of covetousness.

As a Christian, you might believe that you have a biblical duty to pay every dime you owe in taxes, and I have no problem with you if you believe that. I can see how you’d arrive at that conclusion.

However, Romans 13:4 gives government its mandate, which is to carry out God’s wrath on criminals as His Word defines criminality. They aren’t allowed to collect taxes for schools, roads, swimming pools, or anything other than criminal justice. That means any taxes they attempt to collect other than for criminal justice are theft.

My ending question was, “What is the biblical penalty for not paying taxes?” The answer is there was no penalty in ancient Israel under God’s law for not paying taxes. You not paying taxes was between you and God. It would have been a sin to not pay proper taxes. But there weren’t tax courts or people going to jail or receiving any other punishments for not paying their taxes.

So anytime the US government tries to force you to pay a tax you’d rather not pay, other than criminal justice, they are stealing from you. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t pay it, but it does mean the people participating in that theft will face God on Judgment Day.