Good Christians All
I was out and about most of the day and happened upon an actual paper copy of the Local Puppy Trainer. I immediately turned to the Letters because it is always entertaining to read the rants of the locals verbally beating people to a pulp with Bible verses. These people believe that if you can find a quote that can be construed as supporting your point of view, you have won the argument, which is usually about something that has nothing to do with desert nomadic tribes, as there is a dearth of both deserts and nomadic tribes in this area.
Apparently last week someone made the outrageous claim that the Bible supports helping the poor and it is a good thing that tax dollars are used in this way.
Obviously that couldn’t be allowed to stand, so this guy claims that since you aren’t directly helping the poor, you derive no benefit from this act of “Christian charity”. As this individual went on to list all of his personal charitable donations, I got the feeling that he believes that “Judgment Day” is like an IRS audit, and you get no credit unless you have your receipts.
I realize that I am probably the member of an extreme minority, but I have never taken a receipt for anything I have given, and have never taken a tax deduction for it. I have always felt that doing that devalued the spirit of giving. I have had to explain this a couple of times when there were questions as to where money went during the years when I was making good money and it drove my tax guy crazy, but that’s the way I interpreted what I was taught.
I think Mr. “You Need A Receipt” may be in for a surprise on the “Final Exam”.
2 comments
Bryan, I think that for one rare time I disagree with you… not on the bragging Christians who parade about waving all their charitable donations in your face (I think somewhere in scripture there’s an injunction against that), but about tax-deducting your charitable contributions, quietly and privately, between you and the IRS. Do I do it? No. But that’s because a) most of the org’s I give to don’t qualify because they have some political advocacy component*, and b) you don’t save very much by deducting a $30 or $50 donation, which is about my speed in these parlous times. IOW, it isn’t worth the bother.
* Many of those in turn are split into an activist org and (separately) a foundation; the latter can accept tax-deductible contributions for, e.g., educational purposes. Sierra Club is structured that way. BTW, I’m no expert; none of this is to be construed as tax advice.
In general I use the standard deduction because the itemized version is a royal PITA and I would rather do other things with my time, but even if I was itemizing, I was taught that the truly anonymous gift is the best kind of gift, and telling the IRS destroys the anonymity. Different traditions, not better or worse, just different, and one of the reasons I find the “Pharisees” so offensive.
I don’t write about it much, because there are a number of “traditions” that I was taught that I now view as rather nasty relics of earlier religious wars. Bottom line is that your personal reason for giving is more important than how much you give, i.e. did you really want to do it because it was right?