Mormon Tax Ethics
Sunday February 5, 2006
I asked Rachel Woods, the About.com Guide to Latter-Day Saints, about the Mormon perspective on taxes.
Ms. Woods explained that one of the Mormon Articles of Faith is obeying the law. Ms. Woods said, "The 12th Article of Faith is, 'We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.' Which means we obey the law and paying an honest tax is part of obeying the law. We also pay a 10% tithing which is based on Gross Income and can be used as a charitable donation when filing taxes."
Mormons can ethically lower their taxes by taking a tax deduction for their tithes and other charitable contributions.
Actually, Rachel is not correct.
Tithing is based on ‘increase’ which has been clarified to mean ‘income’.
No-one has ever authoritatively said that it should be calculated on gross rather than net money. Indeed the First Presidency has specifically said that no-one would be justified in going further than the statement in my second sentence.