Is the Inheritance Tax Biblical?
Introduction
Recently the CEO of United Airlines, Scott Kirby, shared some hot economic opinions, calling for a national inheritance tax approaching 100%. Here is what he said, “Wealth inequality has become a danger to our society, and we need to address that. We should have a national wealth tax. It won't work by state because people will just move. And I think we should have inheritance taxes that get close to 100% at some level. I would pay them.”
What should the Christian’s immediate attitude be toward such a proposal? To help sort this out, let’s consider four questions. First, what is an inheritance tax? Second, what are the economics of the inheritance tax? Third, what does Scripture say about the inheritance tax? Fourth, what are the presuppositions behind the inheritance tax?
First, what is an inheritance tax?
An inheritance tax is paid by the beneficiary on the value of the assets he inherits from someone who has died. A tax rate of 100 percent, as Kirby recommends, means that whoever inherits $20,000 pays $20,000 in tax. Whoever inherits property valued at $300,000 owes $300,000. Unless they have that much cash lying around, they would have to sell the property to pay the bill. What looks like a tax to make the rich “pay their fair share,” is in fact a forced sale imposed on the grieving.
Second, what are the economics of the inheritance tax?
An economist will tell you that taxes, like prices, change people’s behavior. This change is called elasticity. The more people wish to avoid a tax, the more elastic their response. A 100 percent inheritance tax assumes people will sit still while their property is taken. The question isn’t if people will change their behavior, but how will they change? Wealthy families will hire lawyers and accountants to set up trusts, they will give assets to their children while still alive, they will buy life insurance, or move money abroad, or spend more and save less.
Each of these choices cuts the amount of money that can be redistributed. The result is not a real raise in revenue and, therefore, not reliable. The elasticity principle reveals that the levelers don’t know how to level. The people best able to escape the tax are the rich folks. Then there is the lower or middle-class person who inherits the family property or business. They are the most penalized because they don’t have the dollars in reserve to cover the tax bill. So, from an economic perspective, if the point of the inheritance tax is to break up the concentrated wealth of the rich or increase revenue to the government, then it should be cancelled before it begins.
Third, what does Scripture say about the inheritance tax?
There is no inheritance tax in the Mosaic Law. On the contrary, the Law goes out of its way to protect family inheritance. That’s because Scripture wasn’t written by Leninists.* In the Bible, inheritance doesn’t signal the unjust wealth of exploitation. Inheritance is not something to be resented or destroyed. Inheritance is a goal, and as a goal, it is to be preserved.
First Kings 21 provides insight into God’s view of the inheritance tax. King Ahab offers to buy Naboth’s land at market value (1 Kgs 21:2). Naboth refuses. Why? Because the land is the inheritance of his fathers. The Lord forbids him to sell it (1 Kings 21:3). Ahab’s assumption was faulty. He thought the government had the right to private family land. Jezebel schemed so Ahab could acquire the land. If Ahab wouldn’t sell it, then they would take it. She arranged for Naboth to be cursed and killed (1 Kgs 21:6-14) so King Ahab could take the land (1 Kgs 21:15f). What was God’s response to the government taking Naboth’s inheritance? He declared Ahab’s action “evil” (1 Kgs 21:20) and judgment came (1 Kgs 21:21-24).
Other passages reveal that the possessions of the deceased belong to the heirs. In Ezekiel 46:16-18, the prince is not permitted to take the people’s inheritance for himself or his sons. This is why the Lord warns against the abuse of a king who takes from the people, including the abuse of taking land. Royal tyranny is when the king—the government—takes more than a tenth (1 Sam. 8:10-18). During the Jubilee year, each person returns to their family property and reacquires the land (Lev. 25:13-17) according to the rules of justice established by God (Lev. 25:23-34). Why does it work this way? The Lord says, “For the land is mine” (Lev. 25:23) given to Israel “for an inheritance” (Dt. 26:1).
In the New Covenant, Jubilee is fulfilled in Christ (Luke 4:16-19). A new Jubilee community is formed around Christ the Savior (Lk. 4:20-30). The possessed are made clean (Lk. 4:32-37). The sick are healed (Lk. 4:38-41). The new community gathers around Christ and receives his teaching in faith (Lk. 4:42-44). They voluntarily use their property to care for the needs of the community (Acts 4:32-37). The state’s job in this is not to break up the “unjust” concentration of wealth. The state should not see death as an occasion to take from the family.
The job of the government is to not interfere. A father needs to be free to obey God and fulfill his role of passing down property. Proverbs 13:22, “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the sinner’s wealth is laid up for the righteous.” Paul draws from the Old Testament teaching and says “For the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children” (2 Cor. 12:14). Those who receive the inheritance should remember that the truest legacy is when character is passed down through the generations (Prov. 11:29; 20:7).
Fourth, what are the presuppositions behind the inheritance tax?
Kirby seems to begin from the standpoint of, “What can we do, here and now, against the passing on of an inheritance from one generation to the next?” Christians, with the above biblical theology in tow, begin from the standpoint of, “What can we do, here and now, to encourage households in the work of passing on a heritage spiritually and materially?”
Redistribution takes it as a national and inevitable operation that the money of the rich comes only by swallowing the pennies of the poor. Now, certainly, individual wealthy people and their institutions can devour the less fortunate. It is sinful when an individual or a corporation “devours widows houses” (Mk. 12:38-40). And historically, the prime example of devouring is the dragon—the Leviathan—taking what it likes from the little fish because it is the largest creature in the sea. Modern people are so firmly resolved to accept the predatory ways of government that they settle for a 40% inheritance tax on those who die with $15 million of assets, like in the “Big Beautiful Bill.” It is Leviathan—the government—that is trampling on the tradition of inheritance, which is ultimately the doom of dismembering generational household inheritance.
Conclusion
The inheritance tax has consequences for a society, including what it trains in a people. First, it trains the people about the household. Scripture teaches that people need to be able to support their families and build their oikonomia apart from the welfare state (1 Tim. 5:4, 8, 16). Inheritance is part of how families build stability through the generations. When a family’s inheritance evanesces into the maw of the state, it trains people in something false, that the state is the natural heir of every household. Second, taxes aimed at enervating the rich train the poor to envy and the rich to evade. The human heart, sinful as it is, will resentfully follow the mad stampede towards the revolution that takes from those who have an inheritance to give to those who don’t. This is spiritual loss, not gain (Lev. 19:15; Prov. 14:30; Mt. 20:15).
Inheritance is a biblical good with a rich theological meaning. No king or government has the right to family property. Romans 13:6 permits the state to tax, but they should not tax at a level that makes them a rival to God (Dt. 17:14-20). The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil (1 Tim. 6:10). That is true for individuals who let greed dominate their heart. It is true for households that hoard rather than give. And, it is true for governments that take beyond what God has allowed.
* The Bolshevik government issued a decree officially stating that “inheritance, testate and intestate, is abolished,” and a deceased person’s property became state property. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-and-comparative-law-quarterly/article/abs/law-of-inheritance-in-the-new-russian-civil-code-of-1964/0502EFE3072FDAFD8F6F118598EFC516
Jason Cherry is an elder at Trinity Reformed Church in Huntsville, Alabama, a teacher and lecturer of literature, history, and economics at Providence Classical School in Huntsville, and Chairman of the Board at New Trinity Foundation. He graduated from Reformed Theological Seminary with an MA in Religion and is the author of The Culture of Conversionism and the History of the Altar Call and The Making of Evangelical Spirituality.
Recently the CEO of United Airlines, Scott Kirby, shared some hot economic opinions, calling for a national inheritance tax approaching 100%. Here is what he said, “Wealth inequality has become a danger to our society, and we need to address that. We should have a national wealth tax. It won't work by state because people will just move. And I think we should have inheritance taxes that get close to 100% at some level. I would pay them.”
What should the Christian’s immediate attitude be toward such a proposal? To help sort this out, let’s consider four questions. First, what is an inheritance tax? Second, what are the economics of the inheritance tax? Third, what does Scripture say about the inheritance tax? Fourth, what are the presuppositions behind the inheritance tax?
First, what is an inheritance tax?
An inheritance tax is paid by the beneficiary on the value of the assets he inherits from someone who has died. A tax rate of 100 percent, as Kirby recommends, means that whoever inherits $20,000 pays $20,000 in tax. Whoever inherits property valued at $300,000 owes $300,000. Unless they have that much cash lying around, they would have to sell the property to pay the bill. What looks like a tax to make the rich “pay their fair share,” is in fact a forced sale imposed on the grieving.
Second, what are the economics of the inheritance tax?
An economist will tell you that taxes, like prices, change people’s behavior. This change is called elasticity. The more people wish to avoid a tax, the more elastic their response. A 100 percent inheritance tax assumes people will sit still while their property is taken. The question isn’t if people will change their behavior, but how will they change? Wealthy families will hire lawyers and accountants to set up trusts, they will give assets to their children while still alive, they will buy life insurance, or move money abroad, or spend more and save less.
Each of these choices cuts the amount of money that can be redistributed. The result is not a real raise in revenue and, therefore, not reliable. The elasticity principle reveals that the levelers don’t know how to level. The people best able to escape the tax are the rich folks. Then there is the lower or middle-class person who inherits the family property or business. They are the most penalized because they don’t have the dollars in reserve to cover the tax bill. So, from an economic perspective, if the point of the inheritance tax is to break up the concentrated wealth of the rich or increase revenue to the government, then it should be cancelled before it begins.
Third, what does Scripture say about the inheritance tax?
There is no inheritance tax in the Mosaic Law. On the contrary, the Law goes out of its way to protect family inheritance. That’s because Scripture wasn’t written by Leninists.* In the Bible, inheritance doesn’t signal the unjust wealth of exploitation. Inheritance is not something to be resented or destroyed. Inheritance is a goal, and as a goal, it is to be preserved.
First Kings 21 provides insight into God’s view of the inheritance tax. King Ahab offers to buy Naboth’s land at market value (1 Kgs 21:2). Naboth refuses. Why? Because the land is the inheritance of his fathers. The Lord forbids him to sell it (1 Kings 21:3). Ahab’s assumption was faulty. He thought the government had the right to private family land. Jezebel schemed so Ahab could acquire the land. If Ahab wouldn’t sell it, then they would take it. She arranged for Naboth to be cursed and killed (1 Kgs 21:6-14) so King Ahab could take the land (1 Kgs 21:15f). What was God’s response to the government taking Naboth’s inheritance? He declared Ahab’s action “evil” (1 Kgs 21:20) and judgment came (1 Kgs 21:21-24).
Other passages reveal that the possessions of the deceased belong to the heirs. In Ezekiel 46:16-18, the prince is not permitted to take the people’s inheritance for himself or his sons. This is why the Lord warns against the abuse of a king who takes from the people, including the abuse of taking land. Royal tyranny is when the king—the government—takes more than a tenth (1 Sam. 8:10-18). During the Jubilee year, each person returns to their family property and reacquires the land (Lev. 25:13-17) according to the rules of justice established by God (Lev. 25:23-34). Why does it work this way? The Lord says, “For the land is mine” (Lev. 25:23) given to Israel “for an inheritance” (Dt. 26:1).
In the New Covenant, Jubilee is fulfilled in Christ (Luke 4:16-19). A new Jubilee community is formed around Christ the Savior (Lk. 4:20-30). The possessed are made clean (Lk. 4:32-37). The sick are healed (Lk. 4:38-41). The new community gathers around Christ and receives his teaching in faith (Lk. 4:42-44). They voluntarily use their property to care for the needs of the community (Acts 4:32-37). The state’s job in this is not to break up the “unjust” concentration of wealth. The state should not see death as an occasion to take from the family.
The job of the government is to not interfere. A father needs to be free to obey God and fulfill his role of passing down property. Proverbs 13:22, “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the sinner’s wealth is laid up for the righteous.” Paul draws from the Old Testament teaching and says “For the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children” (2 Cor. 12:14). Those who receive the inheritance should remember that the truest legacy is when character is passed down through the generations (Prov. 11:29; 20:7).
Fourth, what are the presuppositions behind the inheritance tax?
Kirby seems to begin from the standpoint of, “What can we do, here and now, against the passing on of an inheritance from one generation to the next?” Christians, with the above biblical theology in tow, begin from the standpoint of, “What can we do, here and now, to encourage households in the work of passing on a heritage spiritually and materially?”
Redistribution takes it as a national and inevitable operation that the money of the rich comes only by swallowing the pennies of the poor. Now, certainly, individual wealthy people and their institutions can devour the less fortunate. It is sinful when an individual or a corporation “devours widows houses” (Mk. 12:38-40). And historically, the prime example of devouring is the dragon—the Leviathan—taking what it likes from the little fish because it is the largest creature in the sea. Modern people are so firmly resolved to accept the predatory ways of government that they settle for a 40% inheritance tax on those who die with $15 million of assets, like in the “Big Beautiful Bill.” It is Leviathan—the government—that is trampling on the tradition of inheritance, which is ultimately the doom of dismembering generational household inheritance.
Conclusion
The inheritance tax has consequences for a society, including what it trains in a people. First, it trains the people about the household. Scripture teaches that people need to be able to support their families and build their oikonomia apart from the welfare state (1 Tim. 5:4, 8, 16). Inheritance is part of how families build stability through the generations. When a family’s inheritance evanesces into the maw of the state, it trains people in something false, that the state is the natural heir of every household. Second, taxes aimed at enervating the rich train the poor to envy and the rich to evade. The human heart, sinful as it is, will resentfully follow the mad stampede towards the revolution that takes from those who have an inheritance to give to those who don’t. This is spiritual loss, not gain (Lev. 19:15; Prov. 14:30; Mt. 20:15).
Inheritance is a biblical good with a rich theological meaning. No king or government has the right to family property. Romans 13:6 permits the state to tax, but they should not tax at a level that makes them a rival to God (Dt. 17:14-20). The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil (1 Tim. 6:10). That is true for individuals who let greed dominate their heart. It is true for households that hoard rather than give. And, it is true for governments that take beyond what God has allowed.
* The Bolshevik government issued a decree officially stating that “inheritance, testate and intestate, is abolished,” and a deceased person’s property became state property. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-and-comparative-law-quarterly/article/abs/law-of-inheritance-in-the-new-russian-civil-code-of-1964/0502EFE3072FDAFD8F6F118598EFC516
Jason Cherry is an elder at Trinity Reformed Church in Huntsville, Alabama, a teacher and lecturer of literature, history, and economics at Providence Classical School in Huntsville, and Chairman of the Board at New Trinity Foundation. He graduated from Reformed Theological Seminary with an MA in Religion and is the author of The Culture of Conversionism and the History of the Altar Call and The Making of Evangelical Spirituality.
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