Nehemiah and the bedroom tax

Today’s the day. In the UK,

  • the new ‘bedroom tax’ is introduced, accentuating the poverty of thousands depending on benefits;
  • thousands lose access to legal aid, and
  • many low-income families will pay more in Council Tax.

Later this month,

  • Disability Living Allowance will be replaced by a new system, only available to fewer people
  • welfare benefits and tax credits will not rise in line with inflation, for the first time in British history
  • a new cap on welfare benefits will be introduced, and
  • the top rate of tax for high earners will be reduced.

Even without these changes, the rich were getting richer and the poor were getting poorer. These changes will accentuate the trend.

Does it matter? Supporters of the changes defend them on the basis of the exact details: how many are affected, which budget each pot of money comes from, etc. The politicians who oppose them play the same game, arguing about the details. When it comes to the big picture, about what kind of society we’re becoming, only the churches are kicking up a fuss. Why is this?

Because Christianity can produce a narrative about what the big picture should be like. To illustrate it, here’s why I am a fan of that biblical tyrant, Nehemiah. Admittedly he ended his term of office forbidding Jews to marry foreigners, but before that he did some good things.

Judea was a small enclave within the vast Persian Empire. The Persians sent him to Jerusalem with a military escort. First he restored the city walls. Since there had recently been raids on Jerusalem, this would have been a popular move.

He then set out to redistribute wealth and land to make it equal between the families, abolish interest on loans and cancel debts. Yes really. The Persians had given him the power to just decree all this, but he knew his reforms were more likely to survive if he made himself popular with the locals. All the leading figures were the landowners, who were bound to resist him, and the priests. So instead of holding a meeting with the political leaders, he announced an assembly of the entire population. That way the majority of the people, being debtors, would have supported him and the landowners would be intimidated. According to his own account, it worked brilliantly:

I brought charges against the nobles and the officials; I said to them, ‘You are all taking interest from your own people’. And I called a great assembly to deal with them, and said to them, ‘As far as we were able, we have bought back our Jewish kindred who had been sold to other nations; but now you are selling your own kin, who must then be bought back by us!’ They were silent, and could not find a word to say. So I said, ‘The thing that you are doing is not good. Should you not walk in the fear of our God, to prevent the taunts of the nations our enemies? Moreover, I and my brothers and my servants are lending them money and grain. Let us stop this taking of interest. Restore to them, this very day, their fields, their vineyards, their olive orchards, and their houses, and the interest on money, grain, wine, and oil that you have been exacting from them’. Then they said, ‘We will restore everything and demand nothing more from them. We will do as you say’. And I called the priests, and made them take an oath to do as they had promised. I also shook out the fold of my garment and said, ‘So may God shake out everyone from house and from property who does not perform this promise. Thus may they be shaken out and emptied’. And all the assembly said, ‘Amen’, and praised the Lord. And the people did as they had promised (Nehemiah 5:7-13).

Well, they might not all have praised the Lord. But it worked. How did he manage to drive through such massive changes?

Nehemiah belonged to the same political party as Deuteronomy and the prophets – the party whose writings are recorded in the Bible. They believed in an egalitarian society on the principle that God had given the land and its produce with the intention that it should meet everyone’s needs. From this point of view, accumulation of gold and silver, and big palaces, with all the bling that went with them, were unnecessary.

At the time, because of the nation’s past history, Deuteronomy was widely accepted as authoritative. I don’t want to exaggerate the amount of consensus there was at the time – scholars still debate it. However there was enough to make the plan work. Deuteronomy spelled out how God wanted society to operate, and thereby painted a picture of what a good society would be like. Nehemiah could appeal to its instructions; quite clearly, the landowners and creditors were disobeying them.

Compare this with today. What consensus do we have today about how society ought to operate? As far as I can see there is no such consensus. The closest we get is the noisy imperative to get back to economic growth. The cult of economic growth for its own sake is, of course, the modern equivalent of the gold, silver and palaces that Deuteronomy disapproved of. Recent history has made it quite clear that economic growth does not of itself provide for those in the greatest need, let alone reduce the gap between rich and poor.

Whether recession or growth, whether austerity or increased borrowing, what matters is not the economic technicalities but the moral choice. Do we want a society which pursues wealth for its own sake, or a society which makes sure everybody’s needs are met? I vote for the latter; and the UK already has far more than enough money to make it happen.

This entry was posted in Economics, Ethics, God, Society, Theology and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.