"Render Unto Caesar"

[Conservative]

The idea for this thread came from the tithing thread question. I know that Our Lord told us to, ‘Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s. Render unto God that which is God’s.’

In discussing tithing with a friend of mine years ago, I mentioned that I felt cheesy using my Church contributions as a way to get an added deduction by filing my donations at end of tax year. But my friend pointed out not only Our Lord’s instruction but that the Church has to declare all of its donation income, as well, so we might just as well claim the donations.

Any thoughts on this? Has anyone felt the same as me? (Don’t ya’ just hate taxes / filing season? )

 

[drafdog]

When you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do, that they may be praised by men. Amen, I say to you, they have had their reward.
When giving alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.

So don’t sound the trumpet in your tax return in order to be rewarded by the government for your almsgiving.

Matthew

 

[puzzleannie]

it is a personal choice, there is not matter of doctrine or morality on whether to fill out your tax forms and claim the legitimate charitable deduction. Nobody but the IRS computer knows so you are not “trumpeting” anything to anybody. perhaps Faith and Finances would be a more productive setting for this discussion since had has absolutely zilch to do with TC

 

[EasterJoy]

When you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do, that they may be praised by men. Amen, I say to you, they have had their reward.
When giving alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.

So don’t sound the trumpet in your tax return in order to be rewarded by the government for your almsgiving.

Matthew

There is this one, too: Let you light shine before men, that they may give glory to your Father in heaven. The two taken together–for both are from the Sermon on the Mount, so surely they should be taken together–just mean that we do things for the glory of God, and not to make ourselves look good.

Tax deductions are something else entirely. The government is not “rewarding” you with anything. It’s your money. They (we, really, it is representative government) have recognized that it is not fair that citizens should be taxed on money they have already freely given up for the greater good. In other words, the deduction is a fair part of our societal agreement concerning how to govern ourselves. There is nothing wrong with taking it.

While it is not a sin per se to pay the government more than you owe, you have to ask yourself if it is prudent to blithely assume that the money you send to the government couldn’t be used better. If you aren’t claiming all your deductions, that is money you could have given to a good cause. Will the government do better with it than you would? Perhaps you think that making the national debt that much lower is that important. Perhaps you know you’ll just spend it on trivial self-indulgences. I’m not answering the question, just saying it is worth thinking about.