Tax Law, Religion, and Justice: An Exploration of Theological Refections on Taxation

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Cover Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents Acknowledgments Introduction Purpose and approach of the book Limits of the book Outline of the book Notes References Chapter 1 Equity and efficiency Introduction (Re)distributive taxation The role of “side constraints” Libertarian rights Classical utility theories of sacrifice The rise of welfarism Optimal tax theory Politics and economics The demise of equity Property rights Notes References Chapter 2 A society within a society Introduction Taxation in the Roman Empire in the fourth and fifth centuries A model of regressivity The bishops and taxation The Christian narrative of late Roman taxation A representation of oppression and inequity Lactantius Salvian Christian negativity toward taxation “The template for an experiment” “Lovers of the poor” Christians and wealth: renunciation or use? “Transactions with the supernatural” “The salvation of the commonwealth” “Perfection of the political economy” “The poor of Israel” Managerial bishops The role of providence Economic theology Notes References Chapter 3 Thomas Aquinas: The interplay of natural and positive law Introduction Necessitas and superflua Property and taxation in the Summa Debitum Natural law, positive law, and material necessity The measure of indebtedness Between feudalism and sovereignty The problem of private property The reemergence of taxation The principle of necessity Identity of interests Locating Thomas in the development of sovereignty Tax justice as equilibrium Justice and liberality Notes References Chapter 4 William of Ockham: Repudiation of power and wealth Introduction Ockham’s An princeps and other political writings Ockham and political theology Four justifications of taxation Payment theory Donation theory Common good Interplay of right and need The law of evangelical liberty Dominium revisited Ockham and the tax narrative Notes References Chapter 5 Martin Luther’s redistributive theology of the Lord’s Supper Introduction “Preface to the Ordinance of a Common Chest” The redistributive logic of Luther’s theology The communicatio idiomatum Freedom, faith, and love Necessity Sign and sacrament The Lord’s Supper Transposition The Lutheran systematization of taxation Regularization, universalization, institutionalization Bureaucracy The material realities of existence Notes References Chapter 6 John Calvin and the challenge of inequality Introduction Taxation and poor relief in Calvin’s Geneva The diaconate and the two kingdoms Calvin’s economic vision Economic inequality Reformulation of the symbiotic relationship Eschatology, providence, and command Eschatology Providence Oikonomia Circulation of goods Will and command Calvin’s explicit teaching on taxation Notes References Chapter 7 Triumph of the economy Introduction The Enlightenment inversion of Calvin’s doctrine of providence Individualism and altruism Grotius Hobbes Rousseau and Kant Three modern options Economy Bargain and balance Alliance The cycle Conclusion Notes References Index