Islam and taxes

[sovietchild]

Is paying taxes a good thing in Islam or bad?

If bad, then how can the government maintain the postal service, education system, roads, and public utilities like water, sewer, and electricity; regulate the safety of food and medicine; protect the environment; and issue money without collecting taxes to help fund all of these responsibilities?

[99sobi]

If taxes are made obligatory by the government of the country you reside in, then you must obey the law of the land.

Sayyiduna Abd Allah ibn Umar (Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) said: “It is necessary upon a Muslim to listen to and obey the ruler, as long as one is not ordered to carry out a sin. If he is commanded to commit a sin, then there is no adherence and obedience.”

If the taxes are going to good causes such as improving hospitals, and schools, and other such things, that is even more of a reason to be paying them and to withhold from paying them would not only go against the law (and the command from the Prophet), but also seem very arrogant and ungrateful for the public services we are entitled to.