In the ancient Jewish society there was what is considered ‘Mosaic Law’. This started with the 10 commandments from God to Moses but over the years ballooned to 613 (remind you of anything?). One day Jesus was summoned up to a mountain (allegedly Mount Tabor) where he met with Elijah (a prophet), and Moses (the man who received the 10 commandments from God). Now, how this happened and the supernatural forces at play, I won’t delve into, but the result was that Jesus became ‘transfigured’ into a more radiant and beautiful being, and additionally or alongside this, the commandments were distilled from 613 into basically two: 1)Love God and 2)Love your neighbor as yourself.
So, again, what does this have to do with the tax code?
Well, there may actually be a lesson here. Think of all the pronouncements, publications, rules & regulations in the IRS tax code (and this is not even considering the states), they number way more than even 613. What if the tax code could be distilled into a couple key principles – like 1) each person shall pay the government a tax in the same proportion of their net income and 2) the sales of assets and services are all treated equally.
Christians would acknowledge that Jesus encouraged others to perform greater acts than even he had done…and this from someone who served the poor, walked on water and raised the dead back to life. In many ways, ‘transfiguring’ the tax code would be like moving mountains…and then, of course, we could move to the legal system.