Two constants - Death and Taxes

"There are two constants in this world: Death, and Taxes. Taxes are worse, Death only happens once."

Quibblers would say that to some people Death can happen a few times, if a person is revived. That is beside the point of my thought.

To wit: A reading of the Judea-Christian Scriptures tells us that Death is a programmed part of God's plan for us.

Were it otherwise the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, as celebrated at Easter, was not necessary. The Death of Christ was part of the Atonement he wrought for us: without it he could not Resurrect and open that gate for the rest of us. Without resurrection, man could not be glorified and return to live in the presence of God, and fulfill the command 'be ye therefore perfect' as the end of the sermon on the mount.

Taxes, on the other hand, are at best a necessary tool of the governments that God allows man to set up: render to Caesar what is Caesar's, and so forth.

At worst, Taxes are an instrument of that rebellious one who seeks to use the treasures of the earth to reign with blood and horror for as long as he can.
By taxes he seeks to take from the prosperous and industrious and thereby dispirit them from producing more and increasing value.
He gives from the taxes to some so as to engender ill-placed gratitude and ultimately dependence and slavery.
He uses taxes as war plunder, to inflict punishment upon the looser of conflict, engendering further strife.
He uses taxes as a score card to judge who has the most value, engendering envy, covetousness and worse.

In the United States, it could be said that he has whispered to those in power to create a holiday for the collection of taxes, and place it on a fixed day in proximity to the day we celebrate the triumph of our Savior, is as much as a personal 'take that' and for any other rational reason that could be conjured.

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As an aside, I see the rise in vampire and lycanthrope and similar fiction as a reaction to misunderstandings of the reason and nature of death, and the nature and destiny of the soul of man.

Those who seek to avoid death beyond the natural bounds God has set, by some accounts doing so by the selfish consumption of the life of others, as vampires do, or by other accounts to surrender their humanity and reduce themselves to the level of the beasts, effectively commit evil by feeding on the life of their fellows, or by willfully rejecting the status and stewardship God gave man in being a benevolent ruler over the whole of the earth. God made man to be better than that, and in so doing, death is part of the plan: put it off until your assigned tasks are done, and embrace it in due time when it justly comes.

I make no comment here about death by conflict, beyond that generally it is not part of God's plans.

Zombie fiction is also an outgrowth of this misunderstanding.
 As is the misuse of the word "resurrect" and its derivatives when the word "revive" and its derivatives should be used.
Resurrect - a permanent change of state, from death to immortality, as Jesus on the third day (Matt 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, John 20) and 'many bodies of the saints' after the resurrection (Matt 27:52-53), and all in either the first or second resurrection.
Revive - a temporary change of state, from death to mortality, as Lazarus (John 11), the son of the woman of Nain (Luke 7:11-17), and the daughter of Jarius (Matt 9:23-2, etc.). Or all those who have had and reported 'near-death experiences.'

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Summary: Death is better than Taxes.
Death is part of God's plan for His children - Man.

Taxes are a tool often misused by the enemies of god to subjugate men.