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 Art
Buchwald, a newspaper humorist, wrote a classic prayer some
years ago concerning this time of the year when many endure
undue stress over ‘giving unto Caesar what is Caesar's.'
I share with you some excerpts from his prayer:
"The
Taxpayer's Prayer At Deadline"
Heavenly Father, we beseech you
to look down on your humble tax paying servants who have given
all we possess to the almighty Internal Revenue Service. Grant
us that we have completed our Form 1040 correctly so no power
will find fault with it. We pray that we have added lines
12, 13, 14 and 15 accurately and that we have subtracted line
17 from line 16 so our adjusted gross income is computed to
their divine satisfaction.
We ask you, O God, to protect our
exemptions and bless our deductions as outlined in Schedule
A. Have mercy on those of us who failed to estimate our payments
wisely during the year and must now borrow from Peter to pay
Paul. Please bless those who spent more than they earned and
contributed so much to the economy. Give us strength to find
losses to wipe out our net gains so that we may dwell in a
lower tax bracket forever!
Pray help us to find loopholes
and tax shelters so we are not deemed sinners, but honorable
citizens just taking full advantage of the law. (as outlined
in publication 17, revised edition, paragraphs 385.487) We
ask you Almighty, to protect us from auditing by government
servants who don't know the difference between a business
lunch and a family picnic. Dear God, make sure that which
is refunded by the federal government is not taken away from
us by the state; and that which is refunded by the state;
is not taken away from us by the county; and that which is
refunded by the county is not taken away by the town. We do
have to eat!
If
you have heard us so far, O God, you are probably wondering
why we don't address our prayers to Washington instead of
heaven. We have, O God but there is no one there to answer
them! Yea, as we walk through the valley of bankruptcy, (see
tax rate schedule X, Y, Z) there is no one to comfort us.
And finally if, as you have proclaimed, the meek shall inherit
the earth, all we humbly ask is that the IRS consider it a
capital gain instead of ordinary income. Amen and Amen. (see
Form 4797)
Thanks
to Art Buchwald for his tongue-in-cheek-prayer. Yes, we always
can count on death and taxes! I just pray that we spend as
much time preparing for the Lord's audit, as we do for the
IRS? Why not check out Matthew 25:14-30 ‘The Parable
of the Talents'?
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