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Eternity
Eternity

Table of Contents
Preface


ARE WE ON THE RIGHT PATH?
Introduction
Fear And Favour
Urge of Dominance
Faith
Middle Eastern Mythology
Revelation


SEMITIC RELIGIONS
Introduction
Judaism
Christianity
Islam
Horrors of Fundamentalism


ORIGIN & DESTINATION
Introduction
Epistemology
The Creative Principle
Mind and Matter
Life After Death
Summary


THE WAY
Introduction
Harmony
Free Will
Ethics
Psychology
Sociology
Law
Politics
Taxation
Economics
Mysticism


Postscript
Glossary
Bibliography

Eternity

 
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ETERNITY

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

TAXATION

Taxation is the largest single source of evil. Why? Because it reverses the paternal role of the state into a rapacious one. Rulers love power but it costs money to secure and maintain it. The more money they have, the merrier they feel. As a result, legislators, judges and civil servants use such corrupt practices which are beyond the ingenuity of Lucifer. All this is done in the name of law, duty and welfare. These attitudes turn the state into a Mafia Organisation whose vice ranks as virtue provided it maximises tax-collection. This is what makes tax-gathering the worst method of financing the state.

State, the Taxpayer

Paternal role is the only true role for the state. As tax-gathering turns the state into a Mafia Organisation, it ceases to be the proper way of financing the state affairs. Again, the state can be truly paternal only if it relieves people from the yoke of taxation. In other words, it is not for the people to pay taxes to the state, it is for the state to pay taxes to the people.

Yes, it is not for the people to pay taxes to the state; it is for the state to pay taxes to the people. Why? Because taxation, especially the abject-taxation, has the most dehumanising effect on mankind. How? To answer this question, I shall analyse the reality of taxation with reference to various aspects of life.

The basic premise

I may start with the premise that taxation and liberty exist in inverse ratio: the higher the incidence of taxation the lower the magnitude of liberty and vice versa.

Peck order and Len behaviour

The type of people whom I have labelled as members of the gubernatorial class Suffer from the burning passion to dominate the masses. They pick on others not because they have done them any wrong. In fact, it is an expression of the law of the jungle known as "might is right". The evil nature of the dominance-urge is exhibited by the dominance-hierarchies found in domestic fowl, birds baboons, bumble bees, crabs etc. Take chickens, for instance. They demonstrate what is called the "peck order". If you watch them play, it will not go unnoticed that the bird "A" pecks the weaker bird "B" and "B" pecks the still weaker bird "C". Under such conditions, it is not necessary for "C" to be always pecked by other chickens. If it becomes strong, it will peck other birds including "B" and "A". This aggressive behaviour does not require an external cause; it springs from the dominance-urge which seems to be a remnant of the most primitive conditions of life. An even better understanding of this concept is provided by the "lek behaviour" which refers to a communal area where two or more males of a species fight ferociously to establish their dominance for securing priority to sex, food and water. This is what dominance is all about - the mania of self-preference to the total exclusion of others.

Wheel of History

In the previous chapter I stated that civilisation is an annotation of the continual strife between the Gubernatorial Will (of the elite) and the Instinctive Will (of the masses). Now, I may restate the same truth differently and add that the wheel of history is turned by the friction between the tax-gatherer and the taxpayers. Have I changed my mind? Not at all. In this context "gubernator" does not mean anybody who holds a high position in the administrative hierarchy such as a minister, judge or top civil servant, but the real governor and the actual members of the tax-gathering fraternity.

Taxation versus liberty

The reason for the restatement is simple: the gubernator uses taxation as the tool of dominance. Why? Because wealth or the worldly possessions of a person have the same significance to the liberty of a person as power of attraction has to a magnet, wings to the flying ability of a bird or roar to a lion. It is difficult to subjugate a wealthy person because he can find means to fight the aggressor the only way to crush him is by paralysing his source of defence which is his financial ability.

Again, an ordinary worker works hard to secure a certain amount of freedom from hunger and illness; he may improve his skill through education or apprenticeship, or he may work much longer hours. The purpose of this drudgery is to earn more money for extra security by way of buying a house or saving for old age, and even providing oneself with leisure for enjoying life. Here, the real point is not earning extra money but keeping it. It is obvious that if a person can keep what he earns or spend it the way he likes, he becomes independent. And we know that independence is another word for liberty. As there is a basic co-relationship between wealth and liberty, the most effective way of usurping one's liberty is through usurpation of one's wealth. Since dominance is all about usurping other people's liberties, the gubernator uses taxation as the tool of dominance with the same instinctive fervour as a dog pounces upon a cat or a cat chases a rat. Thus the real strife comes to exist between taxation and liberty because dominance and taxation become synonymous. It clearly shows that the magnitude of liberty depends upon the corresponding retention of one's wealth.

Taxation and Plunder

To explain this point further, I must add that the initial purpose of military campaigns of the conquerors was more than a search for prestige or economic benefits. It sought gratification of the dominance-urge by plundering the vanquished. Plunder is a form of tax-gathering. If you don't believe me, look at modern Britain where Income Tax rate rose to be 98% And this was m addition to the many other enormous taxes. If this is not plunder, then what is it? After the preliminary depredation, the victor would subject the vanquished to an annual payment of tribute. The safety of the conquered depended upon payment of this imperial imposition. If he did not, the conqueror returned with a vengeance to give the defaulter a blood bath. This punishment was not indicative of financial loss to the emperor but a symbol of frustration which hurts the urge of dominance most rudely. After all, submission which gratifies the dominance-urge is confirmed by the promise to pay tax or tribute. No tax, no submission, no gratification of the dominance-urge. Once the dominant has established his right to collect taxes, the economic benefits and prestige follow automatically.

This trend is equally visible in the relationship between the state and citizens who are called taxpayers. Non-payment of the levies is deemed a crime against the state though, in fact, it amounts to an act of defiance against those who run the affairs of the state, because the state is representative of the Gubernatonal Will.

Taxation and Robbery

There is no difference between taxation and robbery. When a thug extorts money out of you under the threat of violence, it is called "robbery" but when the state wrings wealth out of a citizen under the threat of legal violence through a "judicial" process enforceable by police and jail wardens, it Is described as taxation.

In fact, taxation is worse than robbery. If you empty your wallet to the robber, this is usually the end of the matter because he may not come back for more. But it is entirely different with the state. Once you have paid one tax demand, it is likely to be followed by yet another.

Satisfaction value of taxation

Why does taxation gratify the urge of dominance more than anything else? It is because the tougher the barrier of resistance a dominant breaks down, the more elated he feels. It is an open secret that people have tremendous love and reverence for their wealth because of the security and dignity it offers. Therefore, they hate parting with it. Now, it Is obvious that what people don't want or care about has no satisfaction value to the urge of dominance because it involves no resistance or breaking down of the barrier. Since dispossessing people of their wealth involves a real struggle, taxation has the greatest satisfaction value to the gubernator. The tendency of the gubernator to express his dominance through the mechanism of taxation, and the tendency of the masses to evade payment of taxes through all sorts of ruses including armed conflict, create an eternal abrasion between the tax-gatherer and the taxpayers and thus moves the wheel of history because in the main, history is a process of a conquest and submission, which turns on the polarity of tax-gathering and tax-evasion. Even the major social events such as the Magna Carta, the American, French and Russian Revolutions emanate from the friction between tax-gatherers and taxpayers.

Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great provides a good example of this fact. Of course, historians have invented many stories for his conquest of the Persian Empire; one of them being that he wanted to avenge the Greek honour. He was a Macedonian, therefore, avenging the Greek honour was less important to him compared to the desire of amassing the dazzling Persian treasures of gold and diamonds. Before he started bus campaign, he was a debtor to the tune of 500 gold talents. At Susa (the Persian capital) alone, his pillage came to 50,000 gold talents, a staggering amount both by the old and modern standards. Through pillage, he grew so rich that he arranged a funeral ceremony for his deceased friend Hephaestion costing 10,000 talents This rite which was performed in the autumn of 324, was so expensive that it has not so far been excelled by any person or nation. The majesty of this tax lord can be gauged by the fact that his ordinary dinner parties involved an expenditure of £400 every day. To realise the worth of this sum in terms of time, think of Edward the Black Prince of England who received only thirty shillings a day for his expenses, and that was around 1367. What would be the value of £400 seventeen centuries earlier?

To evaluate the magnitude of dominance-urge, we should know that Alexander the Great believed in the institution of universal monarchy; he did not think that there was enough room for two kings on Earth at the same time. This is the reason that he claimed that he was God. This is the last boundary of dominance because there is nothing beyond Godhead. Thus he demanded deification i.e. the right to be treated and worshipped as God. His wish was carried out throughout his Empire.

Alexander the Great achieved the ultimate desire through his power of tax-gathering. He was not the only one to become divine through the right to levy and collect taxes; the Pharaohs of Egypt had attained this position long before him by saddling their subjects with the heaviest burden of taxes as well as through a process of plundering their Asian colonies. All Roman Emperors were apotheosised i.e. proclaimed gods, at death, and this honour emanated from their ability to reduce foreigners to the status of tributaries.

Divinity and Taxation

Divinity is the apogee of the dominance-urge. This is the stage where a gubernator wants to appear as a symposium of most brilliant virtues Irrespective of what he really is. He wants to be treated as divine so that people should obey his laws as a matter of reverence and obedience to him long after he Is gone. It shows that the urge of dominance does not perish with the gubernator's death because he wants to command people even from his grave! Strange as it may seem, Divinity or Godhead Is grounded in the right to levy and collect taxes.

Religion and Taxation

Since divinity belongs to the realm of religion, and this is what this book is all about, I should explain the concept of taxation and divinity with reference to religion:

Jewish tax philosophy

Jewish claim to tax-collection was based on the pretext that God wanted then. to take over foreign lands through a system of taxation based on genocide.

Chapter 31 of Numbers and Chapter 20 of Deuteronomy clearly state that the Jewish tax philosophy consists of the following:

1. Give a city the option to become Jewish tributaries i.e. taxpayers who should serve their Jewish masters, and if they don't,

2. Murder all the men and take over everything as spoils, including women, infants, cattle etc. The Book of Joshua lays down that in relation to foreigners, genocide is an integral part of tax-gathering: all the cities such as Al, Makkedah, Hebron, Jericho, Libnah, Lachish, Eglon, Debir etc., that Joshua conquered, he utterly destroyed them including the infants (Josh 10, 28-42).

3. While the two rules referred to above explain the Jewish tax philosophy in the exotic lands, its internal canons of taxation discriminate between the Children of Israel and the non-Jews.

Some of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites had managed to escape the Jewish campaign of genocide. Solomon levied the tribute of bondservice on their children (I Kings 9: 20-22).

It implies that a function of taxation is to keep Israel a racist state by discriminating between the Children of Israel and those who are not Israelites even if they were born in Israel. They are required to pay taxes as a bondserv~ce and not in cash or kind. This is what Jews themselves were required to do m EgsP

Widsom of Solomon

We hear a good deal about the wisdom of Solomon yet his tax policies led to the destruction of Israel and its people. On the one hand, the tax treatment of the non-Jews contributed to their disloyalty, and on the other, the Jews themselves were unhappy with the state because they were made to carry an excessive burden of taxation to build the Temple, Solomon's palace, Millo, the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer.

Solomon's Life-style

Maybe Solomon's own house was far more expensive to build and run because it heaved with the fragrance of seven hundred wives and three hundred choicest concubines whose beauty and delicacy stood far above the imagination of a poet, skill of a painter, and adroitness of a sculptor. These one thousand beguiling females equipped with the erotic charm far more lethal than the thunderbolt of Zeus, must have demanded a very high standard of living compatible with their royal station. With jewels, pearls, rubies, amethysts, and costly apparel went not only a host of maids, servants, cooks and cleaners, but also an army of chamberlains who managed the royal bedchambers. Besides these costs of gaiety, were the expenses of royal grandeur associated with the gratification of dominance-urge which required the most expensive maintenance of the cities which Solomon needed for keeping his slaves, chariots and horsemen. In addition, he carried out extensive building works throughout his dominion.

Christian tax philosophy

Jesus had no particular love for the tax-gatherer. In fact, he thought of them as psychologically diseased people prone to sin and perversion. This is the reason that the publicans or tax-collectors of his time were hostile to him.

1. Matthew 9: 10-12 clearly states that: People of that time, as of all times, thought it odd that a good man like Jesus should share the eating table with such a debased person as a tax-collector.

2. Jesus ate or mixed with the tax-gatherers because he believed that they were morally perverted and spiritually diseased people and thus needed him for his healing powers.

Why does the Bible treat tax-collectors as evil people? It is because they are inclined to overassess people. John told them not to make improper demands on people (St. Luke 3: 12-13).

John the Baptist

John the Baptist has very aptly pointed out the taxman's disease: it is the impulse to over-collect coupled with the authority to plunder, and is akin to the sharp beak and talons of a falcon powered by the tremendous ability to fly which makes it a bird of prey. Not only in the past but in modern times, every state has set up special departments variously known as Investigative Bureaux or Enquiry Branch to hound people on the pretext of tax-evasion, whereas the truth is that such tax officers are nothing but glorified thieves who specialise in over-assessing taxpayers and then shooting them down with their diabolical powers through the due process of law,'. In ``Taxation and Liberty", I examined in detail this due process of law in a chapter headed: "Gubernatorial Law" which reveals the evil nature of tax laws and the high-handedness of those who adjudicate and enforce them.

Reality of overassessment

Over-collection or overassessment is an act of state-theft because it makes undue tax demands on the taxpayer. This is exactly what is meant when John says: "exact no more than that which is appointed you".

The Bible guides not only as to the methods of tax collection but also lays down the principle of tax-fixing. Sadly, it has become the most forgotten Christian rule but it is there in St. Luke 20: 21-25:

When Jesus was asked about the legality of paying taxes to Caesar, he remarked that as Caesar is the lawful ruler, render him what is his, and to God what belongs to Him.

The fact that the questioners were being crafty and wanted to trap Jesus, clearly establishes that he looked down upon the tax-gatherers for their malpractices, and they were hostile to him.

Since the coin of the realm bore the image of Caesar, it proved that he was the lawful ruler, and thus entitled to taxes according to the custom of his time because the administration of government costs money. However, he could not claim the lot because God was yet another claimant, thus the government's share of taxation was restricted. However, a government cannot claim taxes just for being the government. The Bible is quite explicit about what makes this entitlement legal.

Biblical Canons of Taxation

Romans 13: 3-7 states that a ruler is God's minister for doing good work and deterring the evil. Therefore, render him the due tribute and customs.

Here are the Biblical canons of taxation:

1. The basic function of government is to fight the evil and establish the good. Unless a government is righteous in deeds, it is not a Christian government and thus not entitled to taxes.

2. A Biblical tax demand is not a command of the ruler to the ruled; it is payment of a due, that is, something owed as a return for the services rendered. Thus legality of tax demand is intrinsically connected with the performance of government s duties.

3. Since a Christian tax is a due and not a command, it is not an arbitrary imposition but subject to certain objective measures. Therefore, it anticipates a regular, reasonable and respectable machinery for calculating the size and nature of taxation.

4, It follows that not only the determination of actual taxes is subject to regulations but their collection, and any disputes arising from collection and enforcement are also the problem for a judicial machinery which will be guided by the rule of righteousness and not by the needs of convenient legality.

Papal violation of Christian canons of taxation

If it were not for the gross violation of these Biblical canons of taxation, Christianity might have become the vehicle of righteousness in the world affairs. What did go wrong with Christianity?

Simply stated, the excessive power which Matthew 16: 18-19 bestowed on popes the successors of Peter, the rock, on which the Christian Church was founded. Thus, a Christian's entry into heaven or hell came to depend upon Pope's pleasure.

Pope, the representative of Peter, claimed to be invested with all these powers, and a lot more. As the papal grip over Christianity strengthened gradually, up went the papal claim to divinity. Popes asserted that they had greater power even than the Christ Himself, and people began to believe in their infallibility, that is, the Holy Father cannot do anything wrong in relation to the faithful, because whatever he may do, is a matter between him and God. This became the basic principle of the faith and it controlled the entire psychological mechanism of every Christian. They all looked to him for secular and spiritual guidance, and disobedience to him meant disobedience to God. A noble, prince, king or even an emperor held his power subject to the pleasure of the Pope.

Pope, the Secular Prince with divine powers

Had popes stuck to their spiritual authority, matters might not have deteriorated as much as they did. The rot started with popes becoming secular princes in their own right when in 755, Pepin the Short, laid the foundation of the papal state by giving the Church all those territories that he had won from the Lombards. Stephen II was the first Pope to become a mundane ruler. However, temporal powers of popes soared high when at Reims in October 816, Stephen IV crowned Louis I the Pious, and his wife, as Emperor and Empress because this event gave the pope the exclusive right of anointing a Christian monarch, thus making papacy not only the medium of king-making, but also laying down the principle that the ruler anointed by the pope was his lieutenant and the secular arm. The reality of papal power revealed itself when St. Nicholas I (The Great) claimed the right to legislate for the entire Christendom and asserted to be the supreme judge with final authority to settle all doctrinal disputes.

During 1050-60, the Roman curia took on royal splendour and Lateran palace, that is, the papal residence was reconstituted; the chancery, the treasury and the judicial tribunals - along with an army of officials, were given a new outlook which favourably compared with the elegance, grandeur and sublimation of any royal court - Christian or pagan. Papal expenditure rose and means had to be found to meet it. The Spanish prelate Alvaro Pelayo wrote On The Lamentation

Of The Church, that, whenever he entered any of the ecclesiastic chambers, he found brokers and clergy engaged in weighing and counting heaps of money which were large and plentiful.

Pope, the feudal landlord

Where did this money come from? Originally, the Pope had enhanced his moral authority during the 6th Century by acting as protector of the civil population of Rome against extortion by the tax collector and abuse of power by the government. An act of 554 by lustinian acknowledged this fact. But now the defender become the aggressor because his needs resembled less the former and more the latter. The loving rule of St. Peter was converted to the loathesome function of a feudal lord. Acting as his representative, the Pope entered into contracts which gave protection to his vassals in return for military services o money payments. By the beginning of the 13th Century, the Pope became the largest feudal lord in Europe: Sicily, Sweden, Denmark, Arragon, Poland, England and Ireland were parts of his feudal empire.

Papal impositions

Over centuries, papal attitudes like everything else had been subject to the law of change. But as an overall picture of their monetary measures, it is correct to say that their exactions were far more severe than their royal competitors. When Henry II of England heard a complaint against the malpractices of the Archdeacon of York, he said sorrowfully that archdeacons and rural deans extorted a lot more money every year from his subjects than what he himself received in revenue. A reference to the Avignon Popes gives an idea of the papal rapacity. Each time a bishop or abbot was inaugurated, he had to remit an inaugural fee to the Curia. This sum was colossal because it amounted to one third of his estimated income for the year, besides, he had to pay considerable sums of money as gratuities to those who had acted as his intermediaries in recommending his nomination. Though elevation to the dignity of an archbishop carried a mark of blessing, it also proved an ambassador of financial blight because he had to pay heavily for the archiepiscopal palluium which constituted the insignia of his office. What a price for a circular band of white wool it was! Clergies at all levels prayed for the long life of the pontiff, but not out of love or sincerity but because his death hit them financially: the election of the new pope involved every ecclesiastical benefice in the payment of a holy tax more suited to the infidels: it was called annates and equalled the full revenue for one year though thereafter it dropped to a tenth of the annual income. However, in an emergency, such payments became automatically payable, and were frequent because political activities of popes had given emergency the status of normality. Death duty seems a papal invention because at the death of an ecclesiastical dignitary such as an abbot, bishop, archbishop or cardinal, all his property reverted to the Church. During the vacancy of such posts all revenues went to the pope who deliberately prolonged the interval for gaining the maximum financial benefit. Worse still, the new appointee was held responsible for all the financial dues that might not have been paid by his predecessors Papal justice was a specimen of holy extortion: people had to employ lawyers to plead for them and they demanded heavy remuneration because pleading in the papal court involved hefty licence fees. Every judgement carried a hidden charge by way of gratification because the winner had to grease the palm of the Curia officers for admitting and directing his case. It cost money even for obtaining permission to be ordained.

The Christian monarchs whose own salvation depended upon the favourable attitude of the Pope, wondered at his salutary ways and practiced them with impunity. The Christendom breathed in a sinister environment: the pope could not admonish them but could pardon them for a gift of money. This was the major cause of the feudal tax rapacity and low morality.

Papal extravagance

The lifestyle of these holy men was surprising and sordid. For example, Pope Clement VI had a retinue of some four hundred persons whose deportment was the envy of the royal households; they all were laden with diamonds, rubies and furs, and acted as knights, squires, chaplains, chamberlains, musicians, poets, chefs etc. Though their salaries were very high, yet they were low compared to their extremely exaggerated tastes which, in addition to pretty nuns, secretaries and maids, required an establishment of jesters, falcons and dogs. Cardinals, who happened to be the princes of the Church, vied with one another in displaying their splendour whose kink was killed by a kaleidoscopic hypocrisy.

Papal character

Pope was the spiritual master of the Christendom, and the spiritual piety required a sense of humility, crowned with frugality, sincerity and probity. Of course, these are the virtues of devoutness but there is a contradiction between piety and mastery. Masters cannot be humble because they belong to the gubernatorial class, and therefore, they must be assertive and dominant. Thus, Pope was a secular ruler who suffered as much from the urge of dominance as any mundane suzerain and wanted to extend his domain of influence. As taxation Is the tool of dominance, popes needed a pretext to impose and collect taxes. So, they thought of crusades, the holy war against the Moslems which raged for centuries. It is amazing how every Christian became a beast of tax-burden and lived and died for paying the holy impositions to eradicate the infidels for securing a seat m the Heavens! I have given the details of these taxes and methods of Collection in "Taxation and Liberty,,. Here, it should suffice to highlight the character of a few popes though some of them were really fine men.

Pope Sixtus IV

Status IV (1471-84) was very fond of Pietro and Girolamo. He called them his hoes. But it was also believed that they were his lovers, and rightly or wrongly, e was reputed to be a sodomite.

Pope Innocent VIII

Innocent VIII (1484-92) had at least one son and one daughter though the real number of his children was thought to be considerably more than this. Of course, the Romans were broad-minded enough to tolerate weaknesses of the human flesh despite the Christian doctrine of celebacy. However, the whispers turned into a roaring laughter when the marriages of his children and grandchildren were celebrated in the Vatican.

The Pope's son, Franceschetto Cibo, was a well-known scoundrel. Using his father's authority, which always came to his rescue, he made it a habit to force his way into private homes for deflowering virgins; ecclesiastical courts deliberately imposed big fines so that he could have the lion's share. He was a compulsive gambler, one night he lost 14,000 ducats or nearly $250,000 to Cardinal Raffaelle Riario and complained to the Pope that the Cardinal had cheated him. The Pope intervened but to no avail because the Cardinal had already spent the money on his palace.

Pope Julius II

Guiliano delta Rovere secured papacy as Julius 11(1503-13) through conspiracy and bribes on 31st October, 1503, but his coronation was postponed until November 26 on the advice of astrologers who predicted a propitious junction of stars for that day.

Julius II had three illegitimate daughters. He was a stern man and felt happier during war than in peace. Though a sexagenarian, he was a warrior; he was usually clad in a military uniform and it was rare to see him dressed up in papal robes. A man of tremendous courage and physical strength, he was immune to the rigours of fatigue. Even during illness, he mounted campaigns to the utter surprise of his enemies. He loved to erect camps, besiege towns, and train guns at his opponents. This apostle of Christian love was the most foul-mouthed person of his age because his tongue knew no bounds of rudeness. One wonders at this divine emblem of mercy because he rode in front of his troops fully dressed as a warrior, with a sword dangling at his side. He found the art of mixing divinity with a military necessity: before encountering the enemy, he would issue a bull of excommunication against them and offer a plenary indulgence to any man who should kill any of them!

Election of Pope Alexander VI

One of the most difficult tasks for any person who claims to be a human Is to surpass Rodrigo Borgia in perversion, indignity and inhumanity. Known as Alexander VI, he was the most interesting pope of the Renaissance period. Having become a cardinal at 25 and head of the entire Curia as the Vice-chancellor at 26, he became the richest cardinal by the time of his coronation in 1492. The force of wealth removed all the hurdles from his way to the pontificate. Many God-fearing cardinals who specialised in preaching grace, were quite happy to have their palms greased by Rodrigo. After all, if God's grace is good enough for other Christians the grace of a future Pope, who is God's lieutenant on earth,

should be equally good for the cardinals, faced with the most difficult task of providing the Lord with a deputy to guide His Church. All the riches and the promises of high offices that Rodrigo showered on the cardinals to steady their wandering and unstable minds for securing their votes, should not count as bribes but grace, because they resulted in a holiness as great as the pontificate.

Caesar Borgia

The Holy Father had not only several mistresses but also practiced incestuous relationship with his pretty daughter Lucrezia, who was also entangled in a love triangle with her two brothers. His son Caesar Borgia was so wicked, unprincipled, sly, dishonest and ruthless, that he deserved to become the hero of Machiavelli's "Prince", the most corrupting and debasing treatise on political morality of rulers.

There is a strange but true anecdote connected with the birth of Caesar. Sixtus IV in a bull of August 16, 1482, declared Caesar as the son of Rodrigo (Alexander VI, the then bishop and vice-chancellor). Alexander wanted to make him a cardinal but as bastards were excluded from cardinalate by the canon law, he (Alexander) issued the bull of September 19th, 1493, declaring Caesar the legitimate child of Vanozza and L'Arignano!

It is amazing how Sixtus IV allowed Rodrigo to retain his high ecclesiastical office despite his nerve-raking immorality and how Alexander could tell such a daring lie in a papal bull. Not only that, Alexander VI was equally involved in all the evil activities of Caesar, his beloved son, who was the Devil-incarnate.

Alexander VI and tax-gathering

He invented novel schemes for collecting taxes; he appropriated the estates of the dead cardinals. When sufficient number of pilgrims failed to turn up for the jubilee of 1500, he issued a bull on March 4 of that year announcing what payments the faithful ought to make for securing papal blessings without coming to Rome; giving dispensations from certain Christian obligations and allowing divorces, became a part of the invisible papal taxation; even people indulging in incestuous relationships, and the clergy practicing simony could have their sins pardoned for suitable sums of money. Alexander started forging extra high offices for selling them to the highest bidders without any reference to their eligibility: on September 28, 1500, he created twelve new cardinals and exacted the sum of 120,000 ducats from them; he also named additional nine cardinals and extorted even greater amounts from them; this year also witnessed the burgeoning of extorted nihilo eighty new offices in the Curia, each yielding 760 ducats. Yet another stratagem for widening the tax net consisted of arresting the wealthy ecclesiasts such as bishops, archbishops and cardinals on trumped up charges; they had to pay high fines for avoiding the disgrace of going to prison and losing their lucrative offices Jews who believed that they had the divine right to hoodwink the Gentile for depriving them of their worldly possessions, were in turn given a holy dose of the papal medicine which charged them with heresy. It was a serious offence; Jews were frequently arrested on this charge and were required to prove their orthodoxy by making heavy payments to the papal treasury.

Taxation by poisoning

Cardinals were wealthy, for sucking blood of the faithful and were healthy for eating juicy steaks of the animals they hunted with Satanic fervour. During the last years of Alexander VI's reign, the cardinals lost their appetite for wealth and even pretty damsels whom they regularly seduced as a prevention against the pains of celebacy. They thought that the good Lord approved of their doings because He was dependent upon them for preaching, and keeping His name alive. They might have been correct in this assumption but the good Lord could not afford to sadden His Chief Vicar, the Pope, to gladden these second-rate creatures. He sided with the Pontiff and approved of the unusual papal scheme which can only be described as "taxation by poisoning". He made use of a slow-acting poison known as Cantarella; it was based on arsenic, and as a powder could be dropped into a drink or food to engineer precocious and leisurely death which escaped the highest skills of human detection. Many a cardinal had got used to the uncivil habit of keeping the good Lord waiting for too long through a plan of longevity requiring extensive use of wines and brandy, puddings and roast meat and the choicest sex, preferably the defloration of beautiful virgins. These holy men despite enjoying life-spans of eighty and ninety still refused to seek a rendezvous with their creator. Alexander started inviting them to banquets and administering the Cantarella which favoured both the good Lord and Alexander because the former was able to enforce a rendezvous on them and the latter took over all their possessions, according to the canon law which clearly stated that the property of the deceased ecclesiast would revert to the Church unless the Pontiff decided otherwise. Some of them, having become wary of the papal conduct, resorted to the subtlety of securing dispensation by making large gifts of money to the Pope!

Pope John XXIII

John XXIII was yet another star in the firmament of inglory; he seduced over two hundred nuns, virgins and secretaries. Even young widows were not Immune from his sexual tyranny. His tax rapacity became proverbial: he taxed usury, gambling and prostitution!

It is amazing how the organised priesthood of Christendom defied its own canons of taxation. But why? It is because popes also being secular princes, were perpetually engaged in wars for maintaining and enhancing their dominance. The need for money was further multiplied by their lifestyle which was extremely sumptuous though sordid in essence. It was only the abject taxation which could facilitate such colossal sums. People paid less for fear of physical torture and more for fear of eternal hell whose leaping flames could be kept at bay by the divine powers of the pope! One wonders about the potency of faith and its lethal effects on human character and dignity.

Papal hold over Christian monarchs

Man is an engine operated by faith. It is not that the Christian faithful were unaware of the papal character. The Holy Father had become so holy that even the gross misconduct formed an integral part of his holiness. The Christian monarchs whom popes fought openly or through intrigue, despite knowing the truth about the Pontiff, kissed his feet through the force of faith and for political Convenience because they could not rule their truly Christian subjects without showing reverence to their Holy Father. It is not surprising that the Emperor Charles IV in 1368, came to Rome in a humble manner for leading the Pope's horse from Sant' Angelo to St. Peter's and served him at Mass. Charles VIII of France who intended to depose Alexander VI and went a long way to execute his plan of deposition, ended up offering three genuflections to the Pope who graciously stopped him from kissing the papal feet. Henry 11 of England, had to do penance at Canterbury for the murder of Archbishop Becket: the English king humbly submitted himself to the lashings that the sturdy monks inflicted upon him as a part of the divine forgiveness. Henry IV of Germany incurred excommunication, and as a price of apostolic mercy, he had to strip off all his regalia, wear woollen clothes and stand bare-footed for three days before the gate of the castle at Canossa in 1077. It was then and only then that the burning humility of his sighs and tears broke through the frigid barrier of papal compassion which took him back into communion and restored his kingdom. Fredrick Barbarossa, the Holy Roman Emperor was required to kiss publicly the feet of Pope Alexander 111 for the sin of not acknowledging him as Christs' vicar: just kneeling was not sufficient to secure papal forgiveness. What a fine example of the dominance-urge it is!

Islamic taxation

Contrary to the Judaic and Christian traditions, Islam does not have an organised priesthood. Instead, its appeal is in promising freedom from fear of death, economic misery and sex starvation. The solution to these three solicitudes is sought through the doctrine of taxation which is based on a Divine political philosophy:

Islam divides mankind into two nations: those who believe in Allah and the prophethood of Muhammad, and those who do not. The former, i.e. the Moslems are Allah's friends and the loved ones, but the latter or non-Moslems are Allah's enemies and the most despicable beings. Just confession of faith is not enough to be a Moslem. He must live as a Mujahid i.e. the divine crusader whose only purpose of life is to smash non-Moslems by converting them into tributaries:

"Fight those who do not believe in God and the Last Day . . . until they pay tribute out of hand and have been vanquished". (Repentance: 25).

Islamic taxation and division of mankind

These verses clearly divide mankind into two permanent groups - Moslems as the tax-gatherers and non-Moslems as the tributaries. This barrier is fundamental:

'Muhammad is Codes Messenger, and those who are with him are hard against the unbelievers, merciful, one to another . . ." (Victory: 25).

A Moslem cannot be ruled by a non-Moslem

One basic characteristic of a true Moslem is that he does not submit to the tu e of a non-Moslem because this is sure to reverse their roles in the field of

"O Prophet, fear God, and obey not the unbelievers and the hypocrites" (The Confederates: 5).

Divine promise of spoils

The Moslems themselves are required to bear the least burden of taxation. Their obligations for contributing to the welfare of fellow citizens are moral and their legal obligation is restricted to the Tithe. Some Moslem scholars believe that the tithe is also a moral tax. It is the non-Moslems who must pay taxes and their tax obligations are unlimited: the Mujahedeen (the Moslem crusaders) are entitled to have the conquered as slaves and their wives, sisters and daughters as their concubines. It is for this reason that Allah promises:

"With God are spoils plentiful" (Women: 95).

Ability to extract tribute from non-Moslems is the proof of Islamic faith.

However, Allah is not prepared to fight their battles. A Moslem has to be a. least twice as good as a non-Moslem. Otherwise, how is he going to exact tribute from the infidels?

"O Prophet, persuade the believers to fight . . . if there be a hundred of you, patient men, they will overcome two hundred: if there be of you a thousand, they will overcome two thousand by the will of God; God is with the patient" (The Spoils: 65).

Since nobody likes to part with his possessions, Allah lays it down:

"It is not for any prophet to take prisoners until he carries out vast slaughter in the land" (The Spoils: 65).

Legality of loot and murder

It is to persuade the believer that they need not have any conscience about the carnage of the non-Moslems. To make sure that human thoughts of compassion and mercy for one's fellow-beings do not hinder the faithful to pursue their struggle for spoils, Allah declares:

"Eat of what you have taken as booty, such as is lawful and good;"

This legalises acts of loot and murder. Yet Allah claims to be compassionate and the Creator of all beings despite commanding His followers to plunder and kill those who do not believe in Him! To encourage them still further, the Koran says:

"God has promised you many spoils to take;" (Victory: 20).

Laws of distributing the loot

Possession and distribution of spoils is subject to some basic rules:

1. "The spoils belong to God and Messenger" (The Spoils: 1).

2. "Know that, whatever booty you take, the fifth of it is Gods, and the Messenger's" (The Spoils: 40).

(Of course, "Messenger's" does not imply the personal property of the Prophet but his share of the loot as the state for spending it on the needy, orphans, those vho lost their loved ones in the battle, wayfarers etc.).

To make tax-gathering the basic way of life for every Moslem, the Koran declares:

"Laid down for you is fighting, though you may hate it.

Yet it may happen that you will hate a thing which is better for you; and it is possible that you will love a thing which is worse for you; God knows, and you know not" (The Law: 210).

To enhance the fondness for war, the Koran decrees that the believer who is killed in a battle against the non-Moslems, dies not:

"And say not of those slain in God's way, 'They are dead', rather they are living, but you know not" (The Cow: 145).

Taxation as panacea

Islam relieves the three solicitudes of death, economic misery and sex starvation through Jehad or holy war, that is, turning the non-Moslems into tributaries through determined fighting. How?

1. If a Mujahid, i.e. the Moslem fighter, is killed in the battlefield, he goes straight into the paradise where no fewer than seventy two houries, the most delicate women with wide eyes and swelling breasts, await him. In addition, there are pearl-like youths and an abundance of choice food, wines and fruits. He is destined to live forever in the surroundings which defy the imagination of any poet or artist.

2. If he lives, he gets an abundant share in the spoils which remove his fear of economic misery. As women of the conquered people become his property, he can have as many of them as concubines as he likes. Having sex with them is neither a sin nor a crime. He cannot be sex-starved.

Plunder, the fountain of Islamic glory

Now let us look at history to see how the political aspect of taxation contributed towards the spread of Islam.

The Prophet and predatory raids

There was an old Arab tradition of plundering caravans pursuing their legitimate commercial interests. It was called Ghazwa - pi. ghazwat, and has been translated into English as razzia meaning a plundering raid. The Prophet Muhammad authorised the continuance of this tradition. In fact, he himself led three such raffias during 623. Owing to the betrayal by hypocrites, they all failed but eventually in January 624, the Moslems successfully attacked a caravan near Mecca, coming from Yemen.

Battle of Badr

In March 624, the Prophet marched at the head of 315 men to waylay a rich Meccan caravan returning from Syria. It was led by Abu Sufyan, the head of the Ummayah Clan, and because of its financial significance, was supported by a force of 800 men commanded by Abu Jahl,the chief of the Makhzum Clan. Though Abu Sufyan thought it prudent to escape the Prophet through a devious route, Abu Jahl decided to teach him a lesson. The opponents, on March 15, 624, had a head-on collision near a place called Badr. Compared to the 14 Moslems who went to paradise, 45 Meccans ended up in hell, and another 70 were taken as prisoners.

The loot was divided according to the Koranic law, that is four-fifths went to the raiders (or in Islamic language, the Mujahedeen who fight for the glory of Allah) and one fifth to the Prophet to discharge his public duties. The share of the martyrs went to their dependents, and the martyrs themselves entered an eternal life to enjoy the company of houries attended by youths.

Development of doctrine of plunder

Now, robbing the caravans was moulded into a basic doctrine of Islam which was at once both religious and political. Its religious connotations assured martyrdom and paradise, and successful depredation led to riches and political dominance. Taxation, as already stated, is a form of robbery. The rapine guaranteed comfort and suzeranity in this life, and death in search of rapine promised even greater advantages of paradise.

Battle of Uhud

The Prophet led larger forces to plunder hostile nomadic tribes. He was also aware of the fact that the the Meccans would want not only to avenge their defeat at Badr but also take necessary steps to stop him pillaging their lawful caravans. He was right. He met a much greater Meccan force of 3000 by the hill of Uhud. This was an indecisive battle though the Meccans held the upper hand. However the military leadership of the Prophet was impeccable. The Moslems suffered because they disobeyed the Prophet's instructions not to abandon their positions. As different tribes of Arabia started embracing Islam one after another, the Prophet sincerely enforced the Koranic law which states that Moslems are kind and brotherly to one another but harsh and hostile to the non-Moslems. It was impossible for Moslems to plunder Moslems. Therefore, he directed their holy zeal of tax-gathering against infidels. His greatest razzia occurred at the end of 630 when he took 30,000 of his followers to the Syrian border. It was a month's journey. Without doubt, this military excursion had a doctrinal and instructive value aiming at teaching faithfuls the benefits of disciplined tax-gathering and political manoeuvering. During this razzia he made agreements which became models for his followers in dealing with the vanquished people. The precedent of plundering the non-Moslems was seriously taken up by his followers when they invaded Syria after his death.

Plunder as piety

All conquerors have been motivated by their tax-gathering zeal but it was never based on a sense of piety: its fountain was always dominance but in the case of Islam depriving the non-Moslems of their possessions, converting their women into concubines and reducing them to the status of tributaries, was an act of righteousness adored by Allah. Women were a special attraction to the Arabs whose female population was not large enough owing to an evil custom which required a father to kill his daughter if he wanted to avoid the stigma of being a father-in-law. When the prophet raided Khaiber to plunder the Jews, he beheaded their chieftain Kinana and took over his seventeen year old fiancee Safiya for a wife.

Taxation and spread of Islam

During his ten years in Medina, the Prophet had planned no fewer than sixty five campaigns and razzias to train his followers in the art of tax-gathering which he declared was sacred and pious. At the death of Muhammad, Arabia had acquired the status of a state and all Moslems were bound to it by the payment of a religious tax called Zuka or Tithe. Some Arab tribes which had embraced Islam only loosely, refused to pay this tax and thus became the subject of apostasy. In fact, it was an act of rebellion as deliberate non-payment of legitimate taxes will be in any state. When the Caliph, Abu Bakr, the successor of the Prophet, insisted on payment of the tax, they marched on Medina but were defeated by the Caliph's hastily-improvised army. Non-Moslem historians claim that it was an act of forcing Islam on people. No, it was an act of suppressing the rebellion. There is no evidence that the Prophet ever forced anyone to believe in his prophethood. He had laid down the law: "there is no compulsion in religion", and he observed it sincerely. It is equally unimaginable that his immediate successors, who believed in him with the utmost fervour, would compel people to become Moslems. The Islamic military excursions into foreign lands were not meant for converting people to the new faith. Their true purpose was to turn people into tributaries for directing the zealous energies of the faithful to a better use. This policy really worked. The Bedouins, who found it hard to put up with the pangs of hunger, readily accepted Islam to reap a rich harvest of taxation by carrying the flag of Islam in the name of Allah. It is not surprising that early in 633, Khalid, a formidable Arab general, was invited by a nomad frontier tribe to lead them in raiding a neighbouring community on the other side of the Iraqi frontier. Khalid accepted the invitation and with a total force of 3,000 men invaded the Persian soil. However, the real conquest of Persia started in 624 when Muthanna, the general, wrote to Omar the Great, the Second Caliph that Persia was engulfed by chaos and could be easily conquered. The final battle was fought at Kadisiya. The Persians fought with their usual velour. Their courage, tenacity and fearless spirit asserted itself with a vigour rare in history, yet the Arabs showed no sign of retreat, fatigue or despair. The piety of tax-gathering spurred them with greater enthusiasm the more resistance the Persians demonstrated. On the fourth day of this fierce battle, Allah decided to support the faithfuls for suppressing the Persian infidels. All of a sudden, there appeared the most vehement sandstorm in the direction of the Persian stalwarts blinding them with an unknown fury. The Arab warriors fulminated with their most sacred slogan ``AIIah O Akbar" (God is Great); the skies echoed with its roar and the Arab sword flashed mercilessly mowing down the Persian heads. Rustam, the proud Persian Commander was killed and his soldiers dispersed, enabling the conquerors to enter Ctesiphon which had allured the Arab tax-gatherers with its mighty arch, marble hall, jewelled throne and splendid carpets. It took the vast Arab force ten days to carry the loot. When Yezdegird gathered another army of 150,000 to avenge the Persian honour, be met a disaster at Nahavand which the Arabs call the "Victory of Victories": 100,000 Persian soldiers fell victim to the Arab sword, sealing the fate of the Persian glory forever.

What were the Arabs after? They were chasing the largest treasure on earth; even more luminous and more dazzling than the Byzantinian hoards of gold and diamonds. It consisted of nearly five hundred million dollars - a staggering sum at that time. Of even greater interest to the Arabs were the Persian women whose beauty had been the source of verve for poets, painters and sculptors. Their large, dark shooting eyes had never failed to pierce the most stubborn hearts. The Persian verse based on courtly love had raised to fictitious proportions the already-stunning facts about their delicacy, deportment and dalliance. The Arabs would rather have them than the houries. And so they did. They did not even bother to marry them. They were part of the booty which Islam had declared sacred and legitimate. Why waste time in conducting the un-Islamic rites? After all, the Persians were infidels and deserved no respect. On the contrary, Alexander the Great, was a pagan, yet he forbade seduction of the Persian women when he conquered this land of the gallants, centuries earlier. He arranged the greatest nuptial ceremony on earth by marrying 10,000 Greek soldiers to 10,000 Persian damsels. Alexander obviously believed that the Persian wealth formed legitimate possession of the conqueror but the Persian women did not. Alexander, despite being a pagan, knew the difference between human dignity and lustre of precious stones.

The Prophet's ingenuity

Tax-gathering or booty as a symbol of righteousness and divine love, was the mark of the Prophet's ingenuity. Contrary to the opinion of the hostile historians, who say that the purpose of these wars was to spread Islam, there is sufficient evidence to show that the conquered people were discouraged from embracing the new faith to maximise collection of Jaziya, i.e. the Poll Tax. This doctrine served the Arabs very well for five hundred years but as other warrior races of Asia accepted Muhammadanism, they realised its dominance-value and showed an intense desire to practice it.

During the days of the Prophet, it was easy to direct the combative energies of the faithful against the infidels for enforcing the Koranic law:

"And whose slays a believer wilfully, his reward is Gehenna (hell). Therein living forever, and God will be wrath with him and will curse him, and prepare for him a mighty torture" (Women: 95).

Rebound of the booty doctrine

Pillage is not sacred but putrid. It involves violating human rights of possession, life and limb. As the number of Moslem nations multiplied over a period of time, the respect for booty soared but the reverence for the Koranic law slumped. However, insult to the Islamic principles was not direct or open. There grew the art of hypocrisy for proving the believer as the infidel, and vice versa, by

misinterpreting the Koran for twisting contemporary events to justify murder of fellow Moslems for the sheer joy of collecting booty. What had once served as the foundation of Arab glory, became their bane as the wheel of time gathered momentum.

God and taxation

As stated earlier, taxation is the tool of dominance. He who can establish the right to levy and collect taxes, acquires the right to dominate for exposing people to his commands, rational or irrational. Even God or Allah, as I have demonstrated, depends upon taxation to make humans carry the yoke of His authority. This is a form of Divine Taxation though wrapped in philosophical sophistication to give it supernatural credibility.

British taxation

When talking about taxation, one cannot ignore Britain which, once, gained saintly status by seeking to regulate taxation for the first time in history. The Magna Carta represents the English insight into this subject.

Taxation is despotic by its nature, and is especially so when a suzerain such as the state or a dictator lays taxes by command without giving any reason or promise of return performance for it. When the rate of taxation soars upward of, say 10% it begins to assume the character of pillage. The British Income Tax which rose to 98~o is not only an example of inhuman rapacity, but also of first degree treason against the nation because it destroys the moral fibre and the entrepreneurial spirit, thus precipitating an economic and moral crisis which leads to social and political fall. This fact is abundantly proven by the British decline. Having told this story in "Taxation and Liberty", I hardly need repeat it here.

There is no room for taxation, especially the abject taxation, in any civilised society. It is too big a source of evil to have any social validity. However, emergency may be an exception. Tax-gatherers are a shrewd, sly and sophisticated lot. They do not always use brute force for collecting taxes but employ such ruses that provoke people to get entangled in the lethal net of abject taxation as a piece of cheese coaxes a mouse to walk into the trap. Law is one of such ruses and thus serves as the tool of taxation; fear of chaos goads people to accept the authority of the law. Members of the gubernatorial class exploit this fear to spread their net of dominance around them. To express this fact, I included a long chapter in "Taxation and Liberty" and headed it "Gubernatorial Law" to expose the evils of convenient legality.

Law is a potent tool of dominance; it treats the taxpayer as a crook and thief, inclined to evade payment of taxes. Therefore, he is presumed to be guilty irrespective of his personal integrity and honesty. For making it easy to plunder him, he is denied civil rights as a taxpayer, but on the contrary, diabolical powers are given to the tax officials who begin to specialise in overassessing people for robbing them legally. As a consequence, this tax rapacity has given birth to what is called Back Duty. This phrase refers to the taxes which should have been paid in the past but have been evaded. In fact, it is indicative of the fact that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely because these "tax-evasions" represent the manufacturing skills of the tax inspectors who want to maximise tax collection for advancing their own careers. Over-assessment by a tax-inspector is an act of theft by the state, yet the law protects the state-thieves at the expense of the taxpayer who is usually "guilty of innocence". In Britain, during 1987 recovery of the "evaded taxes" amounted to £750 million but in 1989, the figure jumped to £2.4 billion! Possibly, the Back Duty is the only expanding industry left in this country. One ought to applaud the Devil for his ingenuity.

To avoid the rebellion that direct force is likely to provoke in tax collection the dominant usually use the indirect force of socio-economic doctrines which perpetrate harsh systems and make people carry the slavish burden of abject taxation of their own volition.

I shall discuss this topic in the next chapter under the heading of "Economics". Usually, taxation is considered a part of economics whereas the truth is the other way around: economics is a branch of taxation.
 

 

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