In response to my post yesterday on what we can agree on about the poor, Fr. Greg made a further point about giving to the poor which I found most interesting. He said in part:
This properly Christian response is not only undertaken in order to “help the poor”. It is a spiritual discipline – almsgiving- and is done, along with prayer and fasting, so as to advance the sanctification and salvation of those who engage in it. In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ assumes that his followers will practice these disciplines and gives guidelines for how they are to be done in a spiritually profitable manner.
It is worth being reminded that almsgiving is a spiritual discipline not simply a duty. It is a way to teach ourselves to love as God loved and to deliberately train ourselves that earthly possessions are nothing in comparison to the Kingdom of God. But then he went on to say something which I found most interesting in its implications:
… that one can charitably donate, and therefore deduct from taxation, a substantial portion of one’s income; I believe it is up to one-half.
This is a wonderful way to direct any income tax money you might have paid to the government. You can direct it to organizations whose mission you can fully support in good conscience. For those who have deep philosophical (and religious) objections to their money being used for Federal programs, some of which they fear may fund abortion, this is an excellent way to avoid that problem. Mind you, remember that you ought to tithe to your church first and then give offerings as you are able.
With the tax deductions you can receive, you can ensure that you pay no income taxes to the Federal government. On top of that you would be helping those organizations which need your help so much in order to be able to do the work to which the Lord has called them. But, please, do not do it out of tax rebellion per se. Consider this an opportunity that this country has given you to engage in the discipline of almsgiving rather than paying income taxes to the Federal government.
This is a win-win situation for you. You can both out of conscience concerns abstain from supporting the Federal government (and many State governments) through your income taxes and be forced to think through what your priorities are for charitable giving, who should receive your charitable giving, and which organizations are doing the best job of actually carrying out the Lord’s mandates. Many of you already support charitable para-church organizations or your church’s organizations. That is good. Now, do the financial calculations to see what level of giving you would need to reach in order to zero out your income taxes. Then follow through and commit to do it after a season of prayer. Turn this into an opportunity to discipline yourself and grow in almsgiving.
Remember, you are giving as unto the Lord, not as unto man. So, give in prayer to him and see how he will answer you.
Something of a caveat:
I’m not a tax advisor (and no, I am not given to staying at Holiday Inn Express). However, I’m pretty sure that while one can drastically reduce one’s tax bill by making such substantial donations to one’s Church and other worthy non-profit charitable organizations, it may not be possible to completely eliminate one’s tax debt in this way, depending on one’s specific circumstances.
It would perhaps be more possible to do so if we were talking about tax CREDITS for donations instead of deductions.
In any event, with that in mind, I do think the fact that one can deduct such a substantial amount of one’s income helps us to evaluate for ourselves whether a concern about paying taxes is in fact more a matter of principle or more about something else.