 |
|
Nov. 24, 2009
JWisdom.com: You are a Philanthropist
with Aliza Bulow (5 minutes)
Nov. 23, 2009
JWisdom.com: Actually, it really is all about you with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff
Nov. 20, 2009
Nov. 19, 2009
Jonathan Tobin: ADL Crosses the Line with Report Bashing Obama Critics
Nov. 18, 2009
JWisdom.com: The (Jewish) Dating Game
with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (8 minutes)
Nov. 17, 2009
Steven Emerson: How Does the 4th Amendment Impact Terror Finance Investigations?
JWisdom.com: If Frank Sinatra married Edith Piaf
with Rabbi Y.Y. Rubinstein (2 minutes) Life lessons from what would be regarded as the most inappropriate lyrics ever sung
Nov. 16, 2009
JWisdom.com: Deconstructing faith
with Rabbi Warren Goldstein (9 minutes)
Nov. 13, 2009
JWisdom.com Sarah's subjective reality
with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 6 minutes)
Nov. 12, 2009
JWisdom.com Does God get tired?
with Rabbi Harvey Belovski ( 5 minutes)
Nov. 11, 2009
JWisdom.com Marriages are not made in Heaven
with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (VERY fast 15 minutes)
Nov. 10, 2009
Michael Doyle: Author of book exposing CAIR ordered to remove supporting documents from Web
JWisdom.com If the creation so loudly shouts the existence of the Creator, why aren't more people believers? with Rabbi Naftali Brawer (9 minutes)
Nov. 9, 2009
Mark Steyn: Shooter exposes hole
in U.S. terror strategy
JWisdom.com It's never too late to
have a happy childhood with Sarah Chana Radcliffe (5 minutes)
Nov. 6, 2009
JWisdom.com Zero to 1/60th: How
to Empower An Hour with Gavriel Aryeh Sande (7 minutes)
Nov. 5, 2009
JWisdom.com Hidden Hints: Unlocking
Faith & Prayer with Rabbi Jay Yaacov Schwartz (10 minutes)
Nov. 4, 2009
JWisdom.com When God played peacemaker
With Rabbi Sroy Levitansky (5 minutes)
Nov. 3, 2009
JWisdom.com Are you are closet idolater?
With Sara Yoheved Rigler (10 minutes)
Nov. 2, 2009
JWisdom.com Abraham's Strange Change
With Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer (5 minutes)
|
| |
Jewish World Review
Oct. 27, 2008
/ 28 Tishrei 5769
Tax Deductions for Charitable Donations
By
Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir
| 
|
|
|
|
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Q: When you give a charitable donation, you get a benefit in the form of a tax deduction. Doesn't this take away the ethical aspect of the donation?
A: First of all let's make a technical clarification to clear up on occasional misconception: a tax deduction only saves an amount of taxes equal to a fraction of the donation. In the US this is equal to your tax bracket, since the donation is deducted from your income; in Israel it is a fixed credit equal to a little over a third. So it definitely costs you money to give charity. One way of looking at this is that the government is your partner in charity; for every two dollars (or shekels) you donate, the government gives one.
This alone would be a praiseworthy act in Jewish tradition, as the Talmud teaches:
Rebbe Elazar stated, "One who causes others to give is greater than one who gives himself, as it is written (Isaiah 32?), 'And the act of charity is peace, and the labor of charity tranquility and security forever'". (1) The inference is the unusual use of the word "act of charity", which can also be read as "the instigator of charity". (Though it may be open to question if channeling government funds in this way is relevant to this passage, because all government funds are in any case directed to public needs.)
What we see from this is that Jewish tradition is very generous when it comes to giving credit for generosity. In the case of Rabbi Elazar, one person gives charity, but two people get credit — the giver, and the instigator. And it's not a fixed sum game; the giver doesn't get less credit because the instigator gets more.
We can bring other examples of this generosity. For example, many people feel that giving is only truly generous if it is anonymous. But this is not the position of the Jewish sages. While anonymous giving is particularly praiseworthy in the case when it shields the recipient from a feeling of shame before the giver (2), in general it is appropriate and even desirable to publicize the donor. (3)
Finally, Jewish tradition doesn't see anything wrong with giving charity in order that the merit should bring a reward, even an earthly one. "It is taught: one who says, this coin is going to charity in order that my children should thrive, and in order that I may merit the World to Come, he is considered perfectly righteous". (4)
Immediately afterward the Talmud explains that this applies only to someone who understands that he is only expressing a prayer to G-d, not someone with an immature conception of G-d who believes he is making a deal — someone who will feel that G-d has "reneged" if he is found unworthy of the blessing he seeks.
The connection between giving charity and attaining personal success is so tight in Jewish tradition that it almost goes beyond a religious principle into an ordinary rule of nature. The consciousness of the benefit of charity is so ingrained that the Talmud tells us that even simple people were careful to separate their tithes as they were convinced this led to prosperity. (5)
So we should be happy for the tax deduction, and grateful when the countries we live in try to encourage the socially productive of charitable giving by providing one. In this way, whenever we give charity we involve all our fellow citizens likewise in our good deed.
SOURCES: (1) Babylonian Talmud, Bava Basra 9a (2) Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh Deah 249:7 (3) Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh Deah 249:13 (4) Babylonian Talmud, Bava Basra 10b (5) Babylonian Talmud, Taanis 9a .
ARCHIVES
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes inspiring articles. Sign up for our daily update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir, formerly of the Council of Economic Advisers in the Reagan
administration, is Research Director of the Business Ethics Center of Jerusalem, Jerusalem College of Technology.
To comment or pose a question, please click here.
THE JEWISH ETHICIST, NOW IN BOOK FORM
You've enjoyed his columns on JWR for years. Now the Jewish Ethicist has culled his most intriguing — and controversial — offerings in book form.
HARDCOVER
PAPERBACK
Sales help fund JWR.
|
© 2008, The Jewish Ethicist is produced by the JCT Center for Business Ethics
|
