WWJD? Not Jesse Kelly’s Tithe Flat Tax

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The other day i was reading the Arizona Daily Star's stenographical reporting on the last GOP debate for the CD 8 Special Election (why doesn't the Star just let the candidates write their own copy, that way they wouldn't have to pay anyone), when I was struck by something that Jesse Kelly said in debate, GOP congressional contenders lay out their views on tax reform:

Repeating what he's said many times before, he proposed a 10-percent flat tax.

"Every single American should pay the exact same tax rate," Kelly said. "If 10 percent is good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for the federal government. They can find a way to make that number work."

It won't happen overnight, he conceded, but that should be the goal…

If 10 percent is good enough for Jesus? Now I have to assume Kelly was speaking in theocratic dog whistle to the Christian Reconstructionist and Dominionist base of the GOP,  because the man clearly does not know his New Testament.

Tithing is Old Testament Jewish law. And Jesus had very little to say about in the New Testament. I have looked through numerous Biblical phrases search engines, and here is a good to-the-point summary that is consistent with the other searches. What Does Jesus Say About Tithing? | eHow.com:

In the New Testament, Jesus mentions tithing three times, and each time it is a form of reprimand to the attitude of the Pharisees about tithing. He did not instruct his followers to tithe, and seems to have had nothing further to say about the matter.

Each of the three times when Jesus specifically mentions tithing, it is as a reprimand to the Pharisees. In Luke 11:42 he says, "But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass by justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone." In Matthew 23:23, which includes the comment from Luke, additional words are reported and Jesus declares that the Pharisees are omitting the greater parts of the law, which are judgment, mercy, and faith. He addresses the issue of Pharisees and tithing once more in Luke 18:12, by telling a parable in which the Pharisee brags, "I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess." Jesus ends the parable by saying "Everyone that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted."

The only other discussion of tithing in the New Testament occurs in Paul's letter to the Hebrews, in Chapter 7:1-12 where he speaks of the Old Testament king and priest Melchisedec, who blessed Abraham upon Abraham's return from victory over a confederation of kings. Abraham then gave Melchisedec a tenth of all the spoils of these battles.

Most Christians generally accept that the law of tithing, as other Jewish laws, was abolished upon Jesus' crucifixion, when he fulfilled the Old Testament law. Christians do not follow Jewish community laws such as the extensive dietary restrictions in the Old Testament, for example, and tithing was part of that group of laws.

But others believe that simply because Jesus spoke about tithing, he was instructing his followers to continue the practice — because churches need money to operate and to keep their ministers in the lifestyles to which they have become accustomed, don't cha know.

In any event, there is no version of the Bible in which Jesus instructs his followers to "tithe ten percent" as Jesse Kelly blithely asserts.

As for his "flat tax" idiocy I have addressed this topic multiple times, but here is a post from the 2010 campaign regarding Kelly's support for the "Fair Tax" which he later abandoned for his "tithe" flat tax, which is far more reckless and irresponsible than what most economists refer to as the "Fair Tax" proposal. Giffords ad attacks Jesse Kelly's crackpot ideas on taxation:

Bruce Bartlett, a conservative economist who was a domestic policy advisor to the Reagan administration and a Treasury official under George H.W. Bush, explained in The FairTax: A Big Tax Increase?:

[T]he FairTax would constitute a substantial tax increase in the current environment. That is because the proposal has always had a 23 percent tax rate. Yet during the time this proposal has been kicking around federal revenues as a share of GDP have ranged from a high of 20.6 percent in 2000 to 14.8 percent in 2009.

* * *

[B]y every measure federal taxes are at their lowest level as a share of income or the economy in 60 years. And no matter how much the tea party people deny it and rant about over-taxation that is a fact.

As I have explained on more occasions than I care to recall, the FairTax is a totally crackpot idea. The fact that its supporters always claim that the same rate will equal current federal revenues no matter what federal revenues are is actually among their lesser deceptions.

The most notable advocate for the "flat tax" is failed presidential candidate and multi-millionaire Steve Forbes (heir to the Forbes Magazine fortune). Under Steve Forbes' plan the flat rate tax would be 17%.

Not wanting to be burdened with learning complex subjects like economics and taxation, the simpleton Jesse Kelly simply throws out "10 percent" based upon an incorrect notion of tithing for a flat tax and blithely asserts that "They can find a way to make that number work." Ummm, no. Sorry. I assure you that there is no way the numbers "work out."

To reprise a campaign theme from the Giffords campaign in 2010, "Jesse Kelly is a risk we can't afford."