Tithing: pre-tax or post-tax

[Levin]

Do you pay tithing on your pre- or post-tax income?

I've always paid on post-tax income b/c taxes are just ripped out before anything is dumped into my bank account and the only increase I see is what I see show up. But someone recently told me I should be paying on pre-tax income, and my justification seems pretty superficial.

What do you do and why?

If I've been sinning, it's been totally ignorant and I'll chalk it up to being similar to the times I swore like a sailor as a five-year old without knowing those words were naughty.

Please advise.

Oh, and I of course pay tithing on my tax return -- that's definite increase. But I assume those of you who pay pre-tax wouldn't pay tithing on your tax return as well. The Church would be double-dipping there.

[SoonerCoug]

I pay 10% tithing on 25% of my post-tax income. I'll pay more when BYU starts winning some football games.

[creekster]

Do you pay tithing on your pre- or post-tax income?

I've always paid on post-tax income b/c taxes are just ripped out before anything is dumped into my bank account and the only increase I see is what I see show up. But someone recently told me I should be paying on pre-tax income, and my justification seems pretty superficial.

What do you do and why?

If I've been sinning, it's been totally ignorant and I'll chalk it up to being similar to the times I swore like a sailor as a five-year old without knowing those words were naughty.

Please advise.

Oh, and I of course pay tithing on my tax return -- that's definite increase. But I assume those of you who pay pre-tax wouldn't pay tithing on your tax return as well. The Church would be double-dipping there.

If you had to pay on your tax filing would you then request a refund from the church?

[wally]

My wife worked with a person whose in-laws in wealthy California somewhere, had a SP who challenged the whole stake to pay 20% tithing so that they could build a temple in the stake. Apparently it got busted up by a GA at some point.

[TripletDaddy]

If you had to pay on your tax filing would you then request a refund from the church?

I accrue my tithing for this very reason. At the end of the year, I simply make an M1 adjustment on my tithing slip.

[BigFatMeanie]

I pay on gross income, minus what I contribute to 401k funds. I will pay tithing on those funds when I withdraw them someday. To try and figure out what the "increase" is on a retirement account that is constantly going up and down in value and also has a constant stream of contributions going into it is a huge accounting nightmare.

Why do I pay on gross income? Because that's what my dad always did growing up and that's what he taught me to do.

[wally]

I pay on gross income, minus what I contribute to 401k funds. I will pay tithing on those funds when I withdraw them someday. To try and figure out what the "increase" is on a retirement account that is constantly going up and down in value and also has a constant stream of contributions going into it is a huge accounting nightmare.

Why do I pay on gross income? Because that's what my dad always did growing up and that's what he taught me to do.

You are denying the Lord the opportunity to more lucratively invest your 401k tithing… FOR SHAME!!

[BigFatMeanie]

You are denying the Lord the opportunity to more lucratively invest your 401k tithing… FOR SHAME!!

Guilty as charged.

[wally]

Guilty as charged.

Now kindly email me your recommend barcode so that I can see that it gets flagged.

[CardiacCoug]

Probably the right way to do it is to decide what proportion of your tax dollars go toward your personal "increase."

If your kids attend public schools, you use public roads, you benefit from the police and military, etc. then the proportion of your taxes that go to these endeavors are probably part of your "increase."

On the other hand, the proportion of your taxes that go to entitlements to others could probably be considered to not be part of your "increase" and you could leave that out.

[Pheidippides]

Whatever hits my bank account (which is post tax I guess). I hardly think we need a masters in accounting to figure put what to pay and I got tired of running through 70 different calculations. 401k was easy. When you started looking at health insurance premiums and trying to figure out what the value of various perks were it got stupid.

[Surfah]

I pay on gross. It allows me to hold my nose above the rest of you short changers.

[marsupial]

I pay on gross income, minus what I contribute to 401k funds. I will pay tithing on those funds when I withdraw them someday. To try and figure out what the "increase" is on a retirement account that is constantly going up and down in value and also has a constant stream of contributions going into it is a huge accounting nightmare.

Why do I pay on gross income? Because that's what my dad always did growing up and that's what he taught me to do.

I don't remember ever being instructed on the specifics other than a penny on a dime, a dime on a dollar. I always paid on the net because when I was a teen and I got my first paycheck, that's all I saw. I have no clue how my parents pay it. It wasn't until college that I started hearing about people paying on the gross. I decided to just keep doing what I was doing, because as Nikuman has me saying, "---- it, I am a good person."

And actually, now that I am self-employed, I pay on the gross because it's just easier that way.

[RC Vikings]

It's threads like this that make me think that modern day Mormons are much like the Pharisees of Christ time. I'm afraid he would come down and box us up side the head and for not understanding his message.

[marsupial]

It's threads like this that make me think that modern day Mormons are much like the Pharisees of Christ time. I'm afraid he would come down and box us up side the head and for not understanding his message.

So you pay on the net too, I take it.