Tithing: Is it before OR after taxes
Gross Income vs Net Income
A highly asked, and often debated, question: how do you repay God back in the form of a tithe? Do you pay Him the amount in boldfaced lettering at the bottom of the crisp hard-earned check when your employer hands it over(we’ll add ACH deposits as most wages are distributed this way) after taxes OR is it based off the total gross amount that you actually accumulated for the duration of the work week(s) before taxes?
There’s a handful of camps. One would say it’s after they take out the taxes owed, essentially your net pay. Others like Dave Ramsey, the Christian Jim Cramer(minus the ties and red buttons), tithe “off the top”, which is the total gross amount(pre-taxes). Both of these logic have merit, but more essential to Christian life is the upholding what the Word of the God says. After all, if we profess to be believers yet don’t follow the doctrine of instructions given to us, we’re merely hypocrites who use scripture like a buffet table.
“Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
2 Corinthians 9:7 NIV https://bible.com/bible/111/2co.9.7.NIV
I personally have prayed and agonized on this very subject early on in my journey. As one of many self-employed proprietors, our income processes are little different, especially at the origin stage. Customers could pay you in various ways, those mentioned already, as well as direct cash(not particularly advisable), installments, or other creative payout methods. In any event, you’re usually left with a lump sum of money that is “pre” anything before the calculations commence and the various allocations begin leaving you left with your net amount. Thus, you have to honestly, and legally, issue payments to the IRS and state & local tax agencies before you see the true fruits of your labor.
So now that the sorting is done, then do you pay God? The answer is yes, and no. If you want to repay God after all the dust clears, that’s fine. If your conscience says otherwise, as in maybe we should be like Ramsey and return from a full(er) basket, kudos to you. But no shame either way.
I believe there’s no right or wrong answer but scripture says this “Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”(2 Corinthians 9:7 NIV). The issue implied here isn’t how much to give, but if you do at all…
God doesn’t need your money as much as he longs for your heart, one that is not fueled by greed, lust or envy. May I redirect your mind to a more harrowing thought, illuminated to me by the late Dr. Miles Munroe: the money you have is God’s, for He owns everything. “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it;” Psalms 24:1 NIV). And He merely allows you to partake in His riches as a humble, obedient servant, a holy money manager of His supreme wealth. And how you handle your finances, is directly tied to how you deal with His. Needless to say, the better the manager, the more the opportunities(please do not confuse this as any semblance of the prosperity gospel, it is not) might become available, or not. A good steward need not incentives to continue their work.
This is not a prompt to push you in either way, it’s to expand your awareness of what is the reality of the situation. I personally subscribe to Dave’s method, but if you’re compelled otherwise, may it be from a sincere, contrite heart with the Holy Spirit’s calling upon your soul to move in that direction.
God doesn’t need your money as much as he longs for your heart, one that is not fueled by greed, lust or envy.
Jesus said “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” How do you define what is God’s and what is Caesar’s? Let’s wrap it up here. Swapping Caesar as the proxy for our current tax system(IRS, state, etc.) and we’ll use an arbitrary amount of $10,000(as an amount of wages received) for our example.
If the prevailing tax rate is 10%, you would owe the gov’t $1,000. Minus the taxes, the net would be $9,000 and 10% tithe of this amount would be $900. Here’s a dilemma, if the percentages(tax and tithe) have non-discretionary applications, meaning irrespective of who gets paid out first, wouldn’t it make sense to calculate the tax AND tithe off the same basis amount? Why is one subordinate to the other? As in our example, the tithe would be also $1,000 if calculated off the top. The extra $100 is not making God any richer as it is rather strengthening your habits of consistency in funding the church, the workers, missionaries and all the other linked channels that are solely dependent on donations/tithes.
In all things pray and ask God. He will lead you and don’t worry if you can’t tithe right now at all. You’re still loved and your spot hasn’t been taken. But the moment you start, you won’t even believe how much you have leftover even after you thought you wouldn’t have enough. For the God you serve is the same God who owns cattle on a thousand hills. Trust me on this, I know… So does Dave.