Growing up, I was taught that tithing consisted of 10 percent of our increase.
In my parents' family, "increase" was defined as gross income,
including salary before taxes.
But
my dad and mom often made extra money, beyond salary or wages — my dad
from his sign painting and photography, my mom from typing
dissertations and other projects.
My
dad explained once that in defining the tithing on a one-shot,
part-time sign painting job, he really should deduct, as any other
business does, the cost of materials. "But that feels to me like
nickel-and-diming the Lord," he said, so he didn't bother making
deductions — he tithed on the whole amount he was paid. "Still,
wouldn't be wrong if somebody else chose to deduct those costs," he explained.
He told me that when he owned an actual sign-painting company, he based his tithing on the income after
deducting the costs of employees, equipment, and so on. "The company
didn't pay tithing on its gross receipts, I paid tithing on the portion
that was my increase."
That's what he believed was right, after prayer and consultation — with my mother first, and then, together, with the bishop.
As
I got older, I learned what tithing money was used for, and the many
spiritual and temporal reasons why it's essential to pay that 10 percent.
I also learned about
taxes. We as citizens might disagree about how our tax dollars should
be spent, but most of us agree that it's good to pool a portion of our
resources in order to accomplish tasks that could not be done as well
or as conveniently by private enterprise.
Both
tithing and taxes are based on a percentage of our income. We pay
tithing in obedience to the commandments of God; we pay taxes in
obedience to the commandments of men.
When
we account for our tithe-paying to the bishop each year, what we work
out with him, after his questions and suggestions, is our full tithing
obligation. It's not his job to demand our records or check with our
employer or the bank. Ultimately, it's between us and God.
When
we account for our taxes, we need to include proofs of income, and must
stand ready to be audited by someone with the authority to take from us
what he thinks we should have paid.
A
tax system that was handled the way we work with tithing would leave an
ever-shrinking number of honest taxpayers to provide government
services for the dishonest ones, which would soon leave the government
unable to perform its vital functions.
And
who would join a church that dealt with tithes the way the IRS (in
America) deals with taxes? Paying tithing would not count as
righteousness if it were compelled.
Here
is a good rule: Prepare your taxes so honorably you would not fear
laying your calculations before the Lord. And figure your tithing so
carefully you would not fear an audit from the IRS.
It's
quite possible that you'll find you can't use the IRS's definition of
"taxable income" as the exact basis for the "increase" you pay tithing
on.
For one thing, you probably
deduct your tithing donations from your taxable income — and it would
hardly do to subtract your tithing before calculating your tithing, for
then you'd end up paying only 9 percent!
The
government allows all kinds of exemptions and reductions in order to
encourage us to engage in certain activities. There's a deduction for
the interest we pay on a mortgage. Certain kinds of income are taxed at
a very different rate. There's a minimum income beneath which you pay
no taxes at all. None of these should reduce our tithing.
The Lord's system seems simpler, because it's a flat rate: 10 percent of your "increase" for the year, no exceptions.
But
it's more complicated than that. If you're taking every lawful
deduction that the government authorizes, you may end up with a much
lower number than the one you ought to base your tithing on.
You
are not cheating the government, as long as you follow the law; but the
government doesn't have the authority to decide what you can or can't
exempt from your tithable income.
Do
you count the portion of your health insurance your employer pays for?
When you go to the doctor and don't pay the full cost of the treatment,
aren't you receiving "increase"?
And
what do you do about a 401(k)? When your employer matches your savings
in such an account, isn't that income? Or do you wait to pay tithing on
the 401(k) until you withdraw from it after you retire, so you don't
tithe even the portion you contribute now?
What
about the money paid into Social Security? If we tithe that money now,
does that mean our Social Security benefits are already "pre-tithed"?
Or should we figure out how much our employer is paying into the
system, and count that as increase right now?
Or,
when we retire, do we add up our lifetime contributions to Social
Security, on which we already paid tithing, and don't pay tithing on it
until the benefits exceed what we paid in?
I
do not know the "right" answer to any of these questions, and the
official church response to questions like this is always the same:
Pray — and consult with your bishop.
The
last thing the church wants or needs is to develop a "tithing code"
like the government's hundreds-of-pages tax code! Besides, then we'd be
tempted to find loopholes.
Here's
what I think should be the "code" we follow in figuring our tithing:
If, after deciding on the "increase" you intend to tithe, you feel bad
or uncomfortable or can't stop wondering whether it's right, or if you
feel like you're getting away with something, then maybe you need to
pray awhile longer or talk to the bishop again and make a change or
two.
And even after an honest, full tithing, there's nothing stopping you from consecrating even more of your increase as fast offerings and other donations.