Giving Maaser | Imamother

amother

Tue, Nov 21 2006, 10:05 am

I never knew u only have 2 give maeser on what u take home as a large percentage of my paycheck goes to childcare, maybe I only have 2 pay maeser on whats left? I guess its a question for the Rav. Especially when my toddler starts pre-school the cost will be even more - it will take HALF my weekly wage.

I lent my cell phone 2 s/1 while I was away and told them how many free minutes I have. well, I just got my bill - and its ALOT of money, way way over my minutes limit but I know the family I lent it to doesnt have any money to pay me back so I dont think I should even mention it to them cos they wil just feel bad.
do u think maaser can be used for this? (I dont really want to - I prefer to send it to my mom 4 my sis' education but I dont see a different option)

rise above

Tue, Nov 21 2006, 10:06 am

oh man, I never heard or thought about paying Maaser from my "before taxes. deductions" salary... I take 10% of whatever hits my bank account.

Has anyone ever posed this question to a Rav?
I would really like to know as maaser is a serious issue and I wouldn't want to be negligent.

Marion

Tue, Nov 21 2006, 4:27 pm

No, I'm in Israel, not Canada. And I'm not talking about private supplemental insurance (although we pay for that too, and it doesn't cover much, but I can't convince DH to drop it). I'm talking about plain old regular health fund, similar to the American idea of an HMO (I'd say the kupat cholim is a cross between universal health care and an HMO). We do pay the kupah supplemental fees as well to get a discount (not much) on dental care and some medications that are not in the general health basket. All I'm saying is that I pay ma'aser on what actually hits my bank account. And from the sounds of it, I'm not the only one.

JRKmommy

Tue, Nov 21 2006, 4:53 pm

Marion - sorry for any confusion.

For everyone else: Does anyone have the basic halachic guidelines, in English, that they can post?

My simple questions would be:

- what percentage? (10% as standard, or does it vary?)
- before or after taxes?
- do you deduct child care or other costs of working (ie. transportation)?
- do shul dues count as maaser?
- can some or all of tuition count as maaser, esp. if the school uses tuition money to give generous subsidies to those that need?
- if you get a tax deduction for donations, does the total amount of the donation or just the after-tax cost count as maaser?
- can money spent visiting Israel be used toward maaser? (we're considering spending Pesach there and found an Orthodox tour company that goes to kibbutzim in the Galil, and we'd be willing to spend a bit more than a regular vacation to do that to give them parnessa after what they went through last summer)

BrachaVHatzlocha

Tue, Nov 21 2006, 10:05 pm

I think I read you take off 10% of your net income, not gross income. Then, in the future, if you get social security benefits, you would give maaser off that if you are able to.
Also, as mentioned above,some say you give maaser after deducting work expenses.
also, if you are really low on money, speak to a rov if you should be giving maaser altogether.

Marion

Wed, Nov 22 2006, 3:07 am

BrachaVHatzlocha wrote:

See, that's just it. We give 10% of our take home pay (salary minus statutory deductions), then we give 10% of any tax refund we get because of the donations, and 10% of any social benefits (like we treated my maternity leave pay as a regular salary and gave 10% of that).

What about other income, like wedding/baby cash? What about things that aren't "income" but save you money (like all the baby clothes people gave us, or the wedding gifts)?

sarahd

Wed, Nov 22 2006, 6:46 am

mummyof6 wrote:

Marion wrote:

I usually ma'aser our take home pay. In other words, what actually goes into my bank account after statutory deductions, not what my contract says I get. (Aren't social benefit taxes a form of ma'aser anyway? Since those who really need them aren't usually contributing?)

Bituach Leumi (National insurance) and Bituach Refui (state health insurance) are for your benefit. Ask a rav.

Yes, but when one gets to the stage of receiving BL, he will pay maaser on that. Besides, BL is not for your benefit, it's for the benefit of those currently receiving it (unless BL is completely different than Social Security.)

sarahd

Wed, Nov 22 2006, 6:50 am

amother wrote:

I was told by my Rov that I can deduct babysitting from my income provided that I use the childcare only because I'm working. You would want to ask your own Rov, of course.