HEAVENS INCOME TAX
By George Clarence Hoskin
rid WE ESE are days of taxes, with
more coming, they tell us. Governments
are supported by funds collected from the
governed, who are the subjects, or citizens,
of the commonwealth, or nation. The
source of its operating income and capital 1s
in taxes and duties levied for that purpose.
Its rights and privileges for such levies are
granted. Without this income it could not
function. The extent of the taxes is con-
trolled by the needs.
It can issue or coin certain tokens under
its authority to be used mn barter and trade
as legal tender, the worth of such tokens to
be guaranteed and made of secure valua-
tion by collateral of equal worth in the form
of certain raw materials. The citizens of a
country possess various amounts of these
tokens. They receive them in the form of
coins and paper certificates for services ren-
dered, for the sale of produce, and in varied
and numerous transactions. This repre-
sents income, and the income or profit of
the individual or firm determines the
amount of taxes he or it should pay to their
government,
In determining income taxes, there are
many things to be considered. Income
represents items of many sources, outgo
lists many more. Exemptions, bad debts,
contributions, interest, rents, rovalties,
dividends, repairs, all add up to either re-
ceipts or disbursements and are to be in-
cluded until! the net profit or loss 1s deter-
mined, and the amount of the net tax is
arrived at.
Affidavits are required, place of payment
and to whom to be paid are provided, final
pr
delinquent date 1s stated, and penalties are
stipulated. Payments and amounts are on
a percentage basis of income or profit.
Exceptional individuals are required in our
day to determine and assess, with all the
raried costs and expenses, and the neces-
sary revisions and additions are made In
appalling frequency and staggering
amounts.
Taxation is not a new or even modern
method of securing funds for government
maintenance. The method or practice was
established, recognized, and obeyed long
before our own United States became a
nation. It dates back beyond the rise of the
English and German nations; back, back
beyond the beginnings of China and Japan;
back of the times when Egypt, Greece, and
Babylon were in their ascendancy.
As civil governments are maintained by
taxation, so also God has ordained that the
work of the gospel should be supported by
the payment of definite sums. God's plan
requires the payment of one tenth of the
income for the support of the ministry.
The system must have been well established
and operating long before the days of Abra-
ham. It has been in satisfactory operation
to the present time, without the necessity
of revision or additions. The percentage of
income which God asks us to pay is the
same today as it was five thousand or more
years ago.
To the Most High we attribute this wise
and good plan. He terms it a tithe, or
tenth, and it 1s recognized as a fair and just
proportion of one’s income to be set aside
and used mn gospel work. Other offerings or
VIPS
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ANN
¥ These Blue Star Mothers, of Flint, Michigan, who have sons vn the armed forces, have agreed to
bake one home-made pie each week to send to a member of the Army, Navy, or Marines. What we
give is of great tmporlance to our country tn war time. No less tmportant ts that which we con-
tribute for the saving of men’s lives through the work of the gospel. Let Mr. Hoskin tell you about at.
NEWS PHOTO,
contributions are of a freewill nature and
express gratitude for favors, and are a rec-
ognition of the needs of the work of carry-
ing the gospel and maintaining its func-
tions.
The first reference to tithe paying to be
found in the Scriptures 1s that recorded in
Genesis 14:18-20, which is an account of the
time when Abraham organized his armies
and rallied to the support of his nephew Lot,
in the year 1917 B. ¢. It reads: ‘“ Melchize-
dek king of Salem brought forth bread and
wine: and he was the priest of the Most
High God. And he blessed him, and said,
Blessed by Abram of the Most High God,
possessor of heaven and earth: and blessed
be the Most High God, which hath de-
livered thine enemies into thy hand. And
he gave him tithes of all.”
Another mention 1s made more than a
hundred years later, when an episode in the
life of Jacob led him to vow: “If God will be
with me, and will keep me in this way that
I go, and will give me bread to eat, and rai-
ment to put on, so that I come again to my
father's house in peace; then shall the Lord
be my God: and this stone, which I have
set for a pillar, shall be God's house: and of
all that Thou shalt give me I will surely
give the tenth unto Thee.” Genesis 28:
20-22.
Definite instructions were given to the
chosen people of Jehovah at the time of
their deliverance from Egyptian bondage,
concerning the reckoning and payment of
their financial obligations to Him. The
record says: ‘“All the tithe of the land,
whether of the seed of the land, or of the
fruit of the tree, is the Lord’s: it is holy
unto the Lord. . . . And concerning the
tithe of the herd, or of the flock, even of
whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth
shall be holy unto the Lord.” Leviticus
27:30, 32.
Later, when the tribe of Levi was desig-
nated of God to officiate as pastors and
priests in Israel, He said: “I am thy part
and thine inheritance among the children
of Israel. And, behold, I have given the
children of Levi all the tenth in Israel for
an inheritance, for their service which they
serve, even the service of the tabernacle of
the congregation.” Numbers 18: 20, 21.
In later years when discussing the matter
with the scribes and Pharisees, Christ said:
“Ye pay tithe of mint and anise and
cummin, and have omitted the weightier
matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and
faith: these ought ye to have done, and not
to leave the other undone.” Matthew 23:
23. He does not herein condemn them for
being particular, but does inform them that
the practice of tithe-paying is of some con-
sequence. They were exact in tithing the
insignificant herbs, while they neglected the
weightier, or more important, justice,
mercy, and faith. And Christ told them
that they should be just, merciful, and
faithful, and also not neglect the tithing.
The tithe is neither an entrance fee nor a
tribute. It is a recognition on the part of
the payer of the supreme rights of the
(Continued on page 19)
The WATCHMAN MAGAZINE