Just getting my "daily dose of Mormonism" via inbox from The Mormon News Report 3 hours ago at 7:01 a.m.
Yours truly was busy getting other posts up here on this site, but went back to scan the inbox to keep up-to-date on what's getting published online from Salt Lake City and learning more about that interesting religion.
Way-back-when, your MesaZona blogger and his brother were "altar boys" passing the basket to the congregation in a place of worship. Most people gave what they wanted or could afford to give. Having the pleasure to meet and talk with a few LDS members here, they all made a point to say they paid the 10% obligation to the Mormon Church. [A detail like that would never be asked by me since it's a matter of practicing one's faith].
Nonetheless, the mystery remains ... maybe it's like being required to pay dues if you belong to a union? Maybe it's some kind of income tax levying an exact percentage on what you earn? Are there credits and loop-holes and deductions? . . .
Today there was on Page Two a featured link
Letter to the Editor:
Utah’s flat tax rate like LDS tithe rate
The Salt Lake Tribune
First Published Jan 19 2016 06:42AM • Last Updated Jan 19 2016 06:42 am
In "The hypocrisy tax: Utah not shy about taxing the poor" (Jan. 15), the Tribune makes the case that Utah doesn't have a lottery as a means to fund schools and highways because the LDS Church holds that a lottery is too cruel for Utah to use to raise revenue because a lottery will come down hardest on those who can least afford it — the poor.
Yet Utah has hypocritically enacted essentially a regressively flat tax on income as well as relying on regressive sales taxes, both of which impose a disproportionate regressive burden on the poor who can least afford it — while favoring the tax status of the rich and super-rich
Utah's regressive state taxing system actually mirrors the LDS Church's tithing system. The 10 percent tithe on LDS members' income is essentially a regressive flat tax imposing a disproportionate tithing burden on those who can least afford it.
So if a lottery is bad, why aren't the regressive state taxing system and the regressive LDS tithing system held to be equally bad by church authorities?
Don L. Miller
St. George
There seem to be at least two views of the feudal-age practice for tithing - imposed
1. A tithe (/ˈtaɪð/; from Old English: teogoþa "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government.
Is it a contribution to a religious organization?
Is it a compulsory tax to government?
Maybe a religious organization wrongly thinks it is a government ?????
2. What is tithing? [following the law anciently?]
To tithe is to freely give one-tenth of one's income annually to the Lord through His Church. . . The Bible indicates that God’s people followed the law of tithing anciently; through modern prophets, God restored this law once again to bless His children. To fulfill this commandment, Church members give one-tenth of their income to the Lord through His Church.
“Tithing is the great equitable law, for no matter how rich or poor we are, all of us pay the same one-tenth of our increase annually (see D&C 119:4), and all of us receive blessings so great ‘that there shall not be room enough to receive [them]’ (Malachi 3:10).”
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