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system, o n the ot her han d ,
doesn't have these destructive
effects. By itse lf it allows busi–
nessmen to make the best eco–
nomic decisions they can. They
don' t have lo be constantly look–
ing over their shoulder al compli–
cated tax laws. From a purely
economic point of view, God 's
system makes so much better
sense than man's.
Tlthl ng: A Cap i t a l Idea
The progressive system also com–
plicates life in other ways. Say
you buy a piece of property, wait
ten years, and sell it. On selfing it,
you' ll probably make a large prof–
it over what you paid for it.
If
you
were taxed on
ten years worth of
profit
all in one year, it would not
be fair- you'd probably have to
pay a
higher rate
than you bad
been able to receive in your profit
in ten equal parts.
So, in response, man's system –
at least in the United States -
creates something called "capital
gains." It is incredibly complicated.
In a nutshell, though, all it means is
that your profi t on certain kinds of
property is taxed at a lower rate
than the rest of your income.
Taxpayers go through tremen–
dous exer tions to have their profits
classi fi ed as "capital gains" instead
of j ust "ordinary" income.
God's tithing system el iminates
all this bother . The t ithe is the
same rate whenever your profit is
high or low, or your profits taken
in one year or every year. Again,
God's system is so much sim–
pler-so much more uncompli–
cated! Mathematicians would call
God 's system more "elegant. "
Man 's Marrlage Tax
Today, in the United States, for
example, the tax structure ' penal–
izes marriage when husband and
wife both work.
But if lhey just lived together,
without being married, and fi led
single returns, the
sum total
of
thei r separate taxes would be sig–
nificantly less! In other words,
the government penalizes such
couples just for gett ing married.
T hus man's tax laws (along with
8
general moral permissiveness)
encourages a great amount of sex–
ual immorality.
God's financia! system is d if–
ferent. Jt doesn't encourage
young working si ngles to live
together. Ten percent is ten per–
cent. God's system does not dis–
criminate either in favor of or
against people based on their
marital status.
Man's system fu r ther encour–
ages a borrow- to-get-it-now att i–
tude. American tax laws, f.or
example, allow you to deduct
i n terest from the income on
which you pay tax.
T his, plus the progressive rates,
means that a high income person
is almost forced to go out and
bor row as much as he can just to
keep out of the jaws of his high
bracket.
God's system is so much saner!
The decision to borrow money is
made on its own merits. Because
of the fiat rate, the tithing system
doesn't affect it one way or anoth–
er. And certainly it doesn't give
someone an incentive to buy
something on credit
just to be
buying it
as man's system does.
Similari t les
Of course, there are sorne similari–
ties between God's tithing system
and man's tax system. Both taxes
and tithes
take precedence over
other debts.
In Amer ican law, for
example, the tax collector gets
his
money
first- even before God!–
and certainly before any of your
other creditors get theirs if you
can't pay all your debts.
According to biblical law,
the
tithe is the debt you owe God.
Being in debt is no excuse not to
tithe-God's debt comes first.
Importantly, God, unl ike gov–
ernment tax departments, prom–
ises to specially bless those who
pay their debt to him first!
" Prove
me now herewith," declares the
Eterna)God, "if
1
wi ll not open you
the windows of heaven, and pour
out a blessing that there shall not
be room enough to receive it"
(Malachi 3:1 0).
An interesting similarity is that
the
spirit,
not the letter, of the
law governs in both tax law and
tithing. This may come as a sur–
prise, but human tax courts will
strike down elaborate schemes to
minimize taxes-even
if thejl
conform to the strict wording of
the laws!
A business transaction,
for example, whicb
has no other
purpose
than minimizing taxes
will usually be struck down.
God' s tithing system employs
the rule of "substance over form."
That means obedience to the
spirit
of the law, whicb means you tithe
on an honest , good faith calcula–
tion of your income. You don't
engage in all sorts of sneaky she–
nanigans to artificially reduce it.
lncome and lnc rease
In God's tithing system, you tithe
on the " increase." (See Deuteron–
omy 14:22 and 28.) Increase is
your adjusted gross income. And
what is you r adjusted gross
income? The tax people have grap–
pled with this concept for years
now. The principies they have
developed for determining what is
"income" are generally good for
determining what is your "in–
crease" for tithing purposes. Basi–
cally, it ' s any
increase
in your
wealth from your own efforts.
Accordingly, a good rule is that if
the tax people would make you
include something in your taxable
income you should also calculate
God's tithe on it.
You do tithe on profit from the
sale of stock or your gross wages,
justas you pay tax on them. But you
would not tithe on inheritances (but
the producer of a monetary inheri–
tance should have paid t ithes and
would have paid tax on it) .
In the World Tomorrow, the
t ithing system will completely
replace men' s tax systems. T here
will be no more complicated rules
on capital gains, no more desperate
attempts to be taxed ata lower rate.
If you want to know more
about God's t ithing laws, we have
a booklet that explains them in
mucb more detail. It is called
Ending Your Financia/ Worries.
1t
reveals the incredible blessings
that God holds in store for those
who obey bis laws.
o
The
PLAIN TRUTH