Spend a little time in the New Testament and you'll quickly realize that tax collectors were a despised segment of society. Jesus was criticized for sitting to eat with them in Luke 15:2. And, one of his disciples, Matthew, was previously a tax collector before he left his old life behind to follow Jesus.
Yet, being a tax collector, in itself, was not a sin. We know this because when a group of tax collectors came to John the Baptist for his wisdom, he didn't tell them to quit their jobs. Instead, he instructed them in Luke 3:13 - "Don't collect any more than you are required to."
The problem tax collectors had was that they were seen as greedy. People believed they collected more in taxes than was required. It's possible they were overeager to please their Roman superiors by collecting the maximum tax liability they could from individuals. Or, it could be that they were pocketing some of what was collected. Regardless of the reason, that selfish and excessive desire for more than was reasonably needed - greed - was a sin that they needed to do away with in their lives.
It is very easy to fall into the trap of greed, the way the tax collectors did. And more so now when greed is celebrated. For business owners, they create their enterprise in an effort to earn profit. In order to achieve this, there can be a dogged focus on the bottom line that can easily morph into greed where services or products are sold for exorbitant prices.
We see this happen, to some extent, with large corporations which continue to push the boundaries on how high they can charge for their products or services. Nowadays, these companies blame inflation while cashing in on profits that make their stockholders and upper executives happy. Alas, the average customer can't always afford such prices, even for the necessities, while paychecks lose their value.
As business owners who have God as the CEO of their companies, it is imperative to not become greedy. Certainly, demand will impact the prices set for what we sell but we must keep John the Baptist's warning in mind - don't collect any more than you are required to. Therefore, we price our products to be competitive and to make a profit. We should even aim to give more in value for the cost. Yet, we must remember that we can not fleece our customers. Not if we want to avoid being greedy and becoming like the loathed tax collectors of Biblical fame. And if such were to happen, it wouldn't just be the customers with negative feelings toward us and our companies. Even God would not be pleased.