A tale of heads
The coin of the realm and its raison d'être
Image: a coin of Caesar’s realm.
Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s; and unto God what is God’s.
If you want the King James Version, here it is:
Gospel of St Luke, chapter 20, verses 20-25.
And they watched him and sent forth spies, which should feign themselves just men, that they might take hold of his words, that so they might deliver him unto the power and authority of the governor. And they asked him, saying, “Master, we know that thou sayest and teachest rightly, neither acceptest thou the person of any, but teachest the way of God truly: is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar, or no?”
But he perceived their craftiness, and said unto them, “Why tempt ye me? Shew me a penny. Whose image and superscription hath it?” They answered and said, “Caesar’s.”
And he said unto them, “Render therefore unto Caesar the things that be Caesar’s; and unto God the things that be God’s.”
[Translated:
They wanted to lure him into challenging the state, so it would do their dirty work for them, and sent undercover men to see what they could wring out of him. They asked, “If God’s so big like you say, why do we pay tax to Rome?”
But he saw what they were driving at and said, “Pull the other one. Show me a penny. Now, whose head’s on it?” They said, “The Emperor’s.”
And he told them, “Give the Emperor what’s his, and God what’s His. Next question?”]
This is basic numismatics: the person or entity whose effigy or symbol is embossed on a coin or printed on a banknote is not there out of some homage or honour. It is there to let it be known to all and sundry, to whom the coin or banknote is to be presented in payment of tax. You cannot present a coin bearing the image of King Charles III in payment of tax due to King Philippe of the Belgians, because Philippe will look at it and say, “C’est qui, ce mec? Wie is die gozer daar? Wer zum Teufel ist dieser Lump?” The fact the coin is used in mercantile exchanges is utterly and totally irrelevant to the purpose of the coin’s being minted at all.
The first coins were probably minted in the ancient worlds of Rome, Greece, Egypt and such like. Taxes existed there in those days as well, and elsewhere, and were usually paid as “tributes” to the lord and overmaster of the place you lived. “Tithe” is an old form of our word tenth, and tithes were annual payments in kind made by citizens to the church or the lord of the manor, usually around Michaelmas, after the harvest – 10% tax. Not a bad marginal rate, actually. A tithe barn was a large store for keeping the tributes thus rendered.
Jesus asks – rhetorically, of course – whose head is on the penny, or denarius. Caesar. I find it interesting that Jesus is quoted as saying Why do you tempt me? Because his answer is nothing more and nothing less than economic theory demands. The coin bears Caesar’s image; therefore, to Caesar must you pay your taxes.
The currency of God is not pennies, but love. So, render your love to God. And, whereas taxes get wasted, love is never wasted, so put it to work where it can do most good, by giving it to your fellow man. Has anyone ever calculated the ROI on doing that?
The linguists will note the use of the subjunctive: the things that be; nowadays, we’d use the indicative: such things as are, but not the things that are. What the subjunctive does is remove the statement from known fact and place it in hypothesis, and says nothing as to whether anything is even due to Caesar or, even, to God. But if it is, pay it.
This passage from the Bible is well known and frequently cited, sometimes out of context, sometimes in. But it says nothing beyond “pay your dues” and “pay tax to the government”. So, if you don’t owe anything to God, don’t pay it. Who do you think I am? Your bookkeeper?
Now, the point of why I’m writing this: someone has tabled a bill in parliament that is right and wholesome and proper and correct and entirely in line with Jesus, God, Adam Smith and the Bankruptcy Act: it wants the principle enshrined in Belgian law that you can pay your debts and your taxes with cash. It will fail, this I already know. And why will it fail? Ah, it will fail for the same reason that Caesar was ever represented on a penny.
The penny was invented to have a means to pay tax that didn’t need a tithe barn. And pennies are no longer in vogue because the day is fast approaching, not when they won’t be available but when they won’t be worth anything. When the next banking crisis comes, there will be a wailing and a gnashing of teeth and, who knows, maybe even a bank or two that is currently playing roulette with your and my pensions will go bankrupt. The days when a satchel full of doubloons or pieces of eight was a mark of government wealth are gone. So, the banks, to save labour and rack up profits, are in a sort of cahoots with government to abolish the coin. Coin of the realm. Abolish. And government won’t change, so the bill is destined for the bin. To join the growing piles of coins and banknotes that are in there already. Because you may very well say that a stook of wheat is a tenth of your harvest, but how does the taxman know what the harvest was? Because you tell him? No, no, no, no, no, my friend. You don’t tell me what you earned; I tell you.
Ergo, adieu coins and banknotes. If they be His, of course.
The bill is to be found here (in Dutch and French).
I was all geared up to press "like" on this one, as the start of the essay is, as always, entertaining, witty, and fun.
Then you went a bit astray.
As someone who is indeed involved in the introduction of the digital Euro, I can assure you that "the coin" is NOT going to be abolished. Cash will continue to exist, even after we introduce the digital Euro. The digital Euro will be exactly like what we use now, only without the tyrrany of Visa and Mastercard. It will be immune to "too big to fail" bank failures, because it will indeed be fiat, and not subject to Deutsche Bank money laundering scandals or the like.
It'll be online and off. The same rules regarding AML/CFT and KYC as exist now will be in force. We'll simply be safer. Privacy concerns are LESS than with commercial banks, because we CAN regulate what the Central Bank does with the information. In fact, we've put privacy as paramount into the legislation. The ECB will NOT know what we're spending on, because they won't be allowed to view that information.