Despite the fact that the Catholic Church has unequivocally
condemned socialism, the idea that the State is the real owner of everything
and can tax and redistribute for social purposes at will has pervaded Catholic
social teaching since at least the mid-1880s.
This was when the agrarian socialist Henry George and Archbishop Michael
A. Corrigan of New York went at it hammer and tongs.
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| Henry George |
There is evidence suggesting that Rerum Novarum was, in fact, issued in part to refute the claims of
George, which the non-Catholic George insisted were authentic Catholic
teaching. This was in spite of the fact
that George was carefully instructed regarding the truth about Catholic social
teaching and why his theories — particularly the idea that the State has the
right to tax for social purposes, taking all rents and profits from land
ownership as a 100% “single tax” — are in error. As Leo XIII explained,
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| Leo XIII |
“The
right to possess private property is derived from nature, not from man; and the
State has the right to control its use in the interests of the public good
alone, but by no means to absorb it altogether. The State would therefore be
unjust and cruel if under the name of taxation it were to deprive the private
owner of more than is fair.” (Rerum Novarum, § 47.)
And what is “fair”?
Enough to offset the legitimate cost of government — but no more. (Cf. John Locke, Second Treatise on Government, § 140.) The State’s job is to care
for the common good, not every individual’s personal good. As Leo XIII explained,
“[M]an
not only should possess the fruits of the earth, but also the very soil,
inasmuch as from the produce of the earth he has to lay by provision for the
future. Man's needs do not die out, but forever recur; although satisfied
today, they demand fresh supplies for tomorrow. Nature accordingly must have
given to man a source that is stable and remaining always with him, from which
he might look to draw continual supplies. And this stable condition of things
he finds solely in the earth and its fruits. There is no need to bring in the
State. Man precedes the State, and possesses, prior to the formation of any
State, the right of providing for the substance of his body.” (Ibid., § 7.)
True, we are required to care for the poor and give them
alms (charity) when they are in need.
This, however, is not the job of the State, except in extreme
circumstances as a temporary expedient.
As the pope explained,
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| Hobbes's "Mortall God": the State. |
“[I]f
the question be asked: How must one's possessions be used? — the Church replies
without hesitation in the words of the same holy Doctor: ‘Man should not
consider his material possessions as his own, but as common to all, so as to
share them without hesitation when others are in need. Whence the Apostle with,
‘Command the rich of this world . . . to offer with no stint, to apportion
largely.’ True, no one is commanded to distribute to others that which is
required for his own needs and those of his household; nor even to give away
what is reasonably required to keep up becomingly his condition in life, ‘for
no one ought to live other than becomingly.’ But, when what necessity demands
has been supplied, and one's standing fairly taken thought for, it becomes a
duty to give to the indigent out of what remains over. ‘Of that which
remaineth, give alms.’ It is a duty, not of justice (save in extreme cases),
but of Christian charity — a duty not enforced by human law.” (Ibid.,
§ 22.)
Obviously, then, taxation “for social purposes” must be
considered contrary to Catholic social teaching, as well as to the natural law
on which Catholic social teaching is based.
