PCG: Tithing Should be Used to Fund Government

The October 2007 edition of the PCG’s Philadelphia Trumpet has the following article by Robert Morley:

Many Western nations are burdened with effective tax rates in excess of 30 percent per year. In some countries, such as Sweden and Israel, the rate is closer to 60 percent.

But don’t governments need high taxes to operate? The answer, believe it or not, is no.

An entirely different system requires a simple 10 percent on your annual earnings, 10 percent saved for your family to spend at special celebrations, and then every third year an additional 10 percent to support widows and orphans. No other complex, confusing taxes. No fishing for loopholes. No 16,000-page irs tax code. Efficiency and simplicity!

Which sounds more ideal to you?

This contrasting system, used by the ancient nation of Israel, is called tithing. You can read about it in Leviticus 27:30-33 and Deuteronomy 14:22-29.

Actually, this system was in use long before Israel was founded. It was practiced by Abraham (Genesis 14:20) and Jacob (Genesis 28:20-22). Much later, the apostles and Jesus Christ Himself (Matthew 23:23) followed this system in addition to submitting to Roman taxes (Matthew 22:21).

The results of rejecting this system are clearly evident, historically and currently. The people of ancient Israel rejected God’s simple system of government. They demanded a king and an administrative system like other nations. Consequently, they and their descendants have paid the price ever since….

Both Republicans and Democrats have become parties of big government. The main difference is that some Republicans claim they are for small government, while Democrats are open about their support for increased government and entitlement spending—though even this difference is fast disappearing.

As Wall Street Journal editor Bret Stephens recently wrote, “[W]e have a 40-year history of Republican policy, which says, We’re in favor of what the Democrats are in favor of, only less so.”

The fruits prove this out. Not one administration since 1960 has balanced its budget, and government spending continues to grow unabated. The continually elevating federal debt ceiling, which has become a farce, is breached year after year. In July, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson warned Congress that unless the cap was raised again, the United States would be unable to pay its bills. The last breach came in March 2006, when Congress was forced to approve an additional $781 billion in federal debt.

Last year, federal, state and local governments spent a massive $4.6 trillion, according to Michael Hodges’s Grandfather Economic Report. The gross domestic product of the U.S. is only $13.1 trillion. That means 35 percent of the economy now depends on government spending.

Government employment has also bloomed, vastly outstripping population growth. Federal, state and local governments now employ one out of every seven workers in the country, according to the Daily Reckoning. That is more than any other sector of the national economy.

In 1946, there were 2.3 state and local government employees per 100 citizens. Today there are 6.4. If government today had the same proportion of employees with respect to its population as it did in 1946, there would be 12.2 million fewer government salaries that current taxpayers would have to pay (Grandfather Economic Report, March 2007).

And to support increased government spending and employment, citizens must work additional hours. This year, “Tax Freedom Day” fell on April 30, which means if you gave the government all your earnings beginning in January, and worked every day including weekends, you wouldn’t have been able to keep a dime until May. One third of the year (120 days) goes just to pay taxes—more than the days spent working for food, clothing and housing combined (105 days). In contrast, back in 1900 you only had to work 22 days to pay your yearly taxes.

If you live in the United Kingdom, or Canada, tax freedom arrived even later—June 1 and June 20, respectively.

Yet, even with all the taxes collected each year, the government continues to spend much more than it takes in, borrowing to make up the difference….

In the World Tomorrow, dealing with the government will be refreshing. Government will operate with a giving, service-oriented attitude. Christ said a leader should be the servant of all (Mark 9:34-35). Leaders will truly serve for the good of the governed and not determine policies based upon vote pandering.

Actually, the world’s whole economic system will be completely obliterated and replaced.

Burdensome taxes and the complex and inefficient tax code will be replaced with God’s simple system of tithing. No more Internal Revenue Service or audits.

Comments by COGwriter:

We in the COGs do not vote nor take political sides. However, we do believe that if the children of Israel (and everyone else for that matter) would have followed God’s laws, including tithing, that the fiscal, social, environmental, and other major problems facing humanity now could have been avoided.

Of course, God knew that humans would rebel, hence He has a plan of salvation that took that into account.

Five articles of related interest may be:

Tithing Questions and Some Answers Addresses some non-biblical arguments against tithing. Should people tithe?

Is Third Tithe Still Valid Today? Some in the COGs no longer teach payment of third tithe, is this biblically correct?

Should a Christian Vote? This article gives some of the Biblical rationale on this subject.

Hope of Salvation: How the COGs differ from most Protestants How the COGs differ from mainstream Protestants, is perhaps the question I am asked most by those without a COG background.

Universal Salvation? There Are Hundreds of Verses in the Bible Supporting the Doctrine of True Apocatastasis Do you believe what the Bible actually teaches on this? Does God’s plan of salvation take rebellion and spiritual blindness into account?