It’s that time of year when I realise that I need to set some time aside in my diary to submit my tax return. One of the oddities of being a Parish Priest is the unnecessary complexity of the tax arrangements. I’m not sure I really understand it all as well as I should, and my ignorance is probably not doing me any financial favours. Some of my colleagues pay tax advisors to sort everything out for them, but I’ve always felt that seemed a bit like throwing money away – it’s fiddly, but arguably not that complicated. But maybe I’m a fool, and their tax advisors ultimately save them money in the long run… Who knows?
However, this year, I am a little anxious about submitting my tax return. My concerns have arisen against a backdrop where a hugely successful businessman made a careless mistake which meant he managed to fail to pay several million pounds of tax that he was obliged to pay. If a competent executive can mess up, it stands to reason that a humble parish priest might easily and unwittingly make a similar error (albeit on a smaller scale, I would add!).
We're not all villains, but we're not angels, either. We need help. Click To TweetUnderstandably, the story of the missing taxes has raised eyebrows and hackles because the businessman in question is a senior government politician, who, along with school governors and anyone who works as a public officeholder, is required to conduct himself and his affairs according to the seven Nolan Principles: selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership. It is expected that charity trustees adopt these Principles, too. Those who work for the government are held to account for the efficient and responsible use of taxpayers’ money, and those who are engaged by charities, whether volunteers or employees (or officeholders like me), are accountable to the Charity Commission to make the best use of the donors’ money.
In reality, of course, the Nolan Principles are good values for life generally. Let’s face it; who wants a world in which people behave selfishly and capriciously with self-serving bias and a refusal to be accountable, hiding secrets or lying to advance their own cause and being too cowardly to blow the whistle on colleagues or friends whose behaviour is damaging to others? This is the world in which we do live, of course, but who, in their right mind, would want to live in such a world, given the choice?
The Bible says we are not in our right mind. Accordingly, we don’t find the brokenness of our world as offensive as we should, and, worse still, we are prone to overlook our own contribution to its brokenness. We are keen that cheats, liars and bullies face justice, but at the same time, we cross our fingers that our own misdemeanours won’t be found out and neglect those we have impoverished or bruised in the course of our acquisition of wealth or power, intensifying the world’s troubles. We’re not all villains, but we’re not angels either. We need help. Happily, God has provided it. In early February, the church celebrates the observation made by aged Simeon in the temple in Jerusalem upon seeing the 40-day-old Jesus, that Jesus was the salvation of the world. May we, like Simeon, recognise that there is hope of a new life in Jesus and so come to him for forgiveness for past mistakes (whether careless or deliberate) and the gift of the Holy Spirit who alone can re-align our minds.