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Joseph collected food freely from the land of Egypt by taxes (one fifth=20%) in the 7 good years, then distributed it by price in the 7 bad years (as he took Egyptians money, livestock, land, and the people themselves). Is this unfair?

Joseph was a very wise and chaste man. He exercised discretion in order to accomplish an economic strategic investment for the benefit of all. In essence, it is like Social Security and Medicare Taxes or Disability and Life insurance which are to be paid now when one is less likely to need them but to be used later when one's economic situation deteriorates due to age, individual's with special needs, death of a spouse, and/or severe health impairment resulting in the individual's inability to have the appropriate resources to support a decent quality of life. Actually, Joseph's plan was better than all of these because everyone benefited and were able to survive the hardships of the famine.