If tzedaka was a tax withheld would it work?

amother

Cyan

Sun, Mar 10 2019, 2:59 pm

Iymnok wrote:

Part....
According to the Rambam, the poor of your family come first, then your city, then yerushalayim. You get to make the decision what gets sent where. And how.

I doubt this committee will pay for therapy or anything related to mental health.

I agree! I also am proud of being part of sich a wonderfull Am Ysroel where were care for each other and help like no others.
And I agree 100 percent that mental health is shunned and thought of not important. Someone very close to me snapped and cost an astronomical 3200 dollars per month the first few months. Now its a year later and the patient still costs 2800 dollars a month but the results are BEAUTIFULL!!! And they see a bright future for the patient. Its been a very tough year and money is so tight there but BH. They see results.
So many hundreds if not thousands of people could have used the same help and just dont improve that much for lack of funds!!!! I dont have enough emoticons to put here for this.
Mad

A mental / emotional problem is exactly like cancer. The earlier you catch the better. Just one is parts of the body and one is parts of the brain, chemistry plus plus.

Mommyg8

Sun, Mar 10 2019, 4:57 pm

amother wrote:

Throughout Jewish history, there have been kehilla funds, where the whole community was taxed for communal needs. Generally these were pretty homogeneous communities, and people gave tzedaka above and beyond the tax. So it's hard to know how it would work in our world.

There are definitely times when priorities seem a bit mixed up. In my not so humble opinion, we need to spend a lot more on elementary schools, and a lot less on sustaining unsustainable norms. But of course, others disagree.

I do think that we need to have conversations about our priorities.

ITA.

amother

Pearl

Sun, Mar 10 2019, 5:38 pm

Absolutely not. I have a close friend who is disabled "slips through the cracks" of mainstream Tzedakos. She has no money for tuition and even with a HUGE tuition break she can't pay the barest minimum. B"H we are able to help her with half of her children's tuition. Most women work nowadays and on paper, her finances don't look any different from someone else.

Also another close friend of mine is working. Her dh is also working, yet she has no money for fertility treatments. She also "slips through the cracks" of mainstream Tzedakos. Bonei Olam can't give to everyone enough money for every treatment and gives childless couples first priority for funding. Bonei Olam is helping her get a big discount on her treatment. Yet, she can't afford the rest. B"H we are able to help her with the rest of the money.

chicco

Sun, Mar 10 2019, 7:28 pm

People were made with different circumstances and personalities on purpose. Imagine if everyone thought feet were gross- there would be no podiatrists. The things that make us different, davka means that we will have different sensitivities and hopefully, between all of us, cover the bases. People forget that this is true of their avodas Hashem too. Hashem created us with our unique kochos and perspectives to contribute to the world in our way. Mitzvos aren't check boxes, and there is no one in a better position than you to do mitzvos the way only you can and should. One huge struggle for Torah observant Jews is remembering that there is no cookie cutter way. It's not about checking the boxes and fitting in and getting things 'done.' There is a relationship here. Making rules takes that aspect away, which I believe defeats the entire purpose. We can see this with Kayin and Hevel. It is the sentiment behind the giving, not the giving itself, that makes the difference.

amother

Peach

Sun, Mar 10 2019, 7:32 pm

chicco what a thoughtful response

and here I am just thinking about how socialism seems to be gaining a toehold and those at the top want to start bossing everyone around like in a totalitarian society and taking away freedoms thinking they know better and they know whats best for everyone...time to go

I know that was not Op's intent and hers was well intentioned

then again I do not want to get on that road paved with good intentions...

amother

Cerise

Sun, Mar 10 2019, 8:02 pm

While there are endless worthy organizations doing amazing work, I'm grateful to have the ability to give where/ how I want - which is directly to a family in need. We are able to keep this family housed and clothed and fed with no middle-man administrators or overhead to eat up a percentage.

Also, although tzedaka is required, the fact that nobody is going around checking to make sure everyone has given his share, and yet we all give it anyhow, is really beautiful. I love that people give with an open heart. Not like taxes. I wouldn't want to mess with that.

amother

Powderblue

Sun, Mar 10 2019, 9:30 pm

No. As the daughter of a “highly respected@ individual (who doesn’t always act so respectable at home), I no longer trust the public’s perception of who is eligible to be a chashuv person. I’ll figure out my tzedaka obligations myself. Don’t foist your important people on me.

amother

Blonde

Sun, Mar 10 2019, 9:37 pm

What if HALF of everyone's maaser (I.e. 5%) was withheld as a tax to support the school systems and reduce reliance on tuition?

Everyone could then give the other half, and any amount above they wanted to to any other cause (remember you can "waste" up to 20% of your income on tzedakah, and Hashem promises ("Bechanuni Na Bezos - test Me with this") to repay it).

amother

Azure

Sun, Mar 10 2019, 9:42 pm

no. just because I send my kids to school doesn't mean that I think the school spends money wisely. If people would have to give a percentage to the school then I think it is right to say that the school needs to have an outsider looking over the books making sure they aren't wasting.

amother

Violet

Sun, Mar 10 2019, 10:13 pm

amother wrote:

What if HALF of everyone's maaser (I.e. 5%) was withheld as a tax to support the school systems and reduce reliance on tuition?

.

Based on past behaviors, this won't change the cost of tuition. The schools will just say that the ma'aser received covers the hole in the budget, and they still need the full tuition amount to cover the rest.

amother

Natural

Sun, Mar 10 2019, 10:56 pm

amother wrote:

Agree with this. In theory if rabbonim would be able to implement that everyone in a community gave half their maaser to schools, AND tuition prices would be drastically cut then I’d say it’s worth it. But very unrealistic.

As for a committee allocating the rest... don’t like the sound of that, and agree ppl should have free choice where to put their money, family first etc.

Last edited by amother on Wed, Mar 13 2019, 1:33 pm; edited 1 time in total

amother

Blonde

Sun, Mar 10 2019, 11:39 pm

Thanks, that's what I was thinking - a 5% tax is only useful in a case where we are able to enforce oversight of school finances, and control tuition prices.

All of those are covered by my comprehensive solution for the tuition crisis. One day!

ggdm

Fri, Mar 15 2019, 1:58 pm

I like the idea of saving resources on fundraising. Ideally it would also add a certain measure of responsibility of spending, if the charities have to convince the commitee that they are worth of being on their list of receiving organisations. You could also eliminate fraudulent charities and scammers that way. Ideally. In reality I agree with the above posters, that it would give too much power to people I don't trust enough. Also I like to decide myself what I do with my money.

So my proposal would be an internet platform where you set up a monthly amount that you give (which could be the 10%, but if you want to give some money elsewhere it may be less). Nobody checks and nobody knows how much. The platform has a list of charities and causes. You can decide every month how much of your money goes where. This way you keep the flexibility and individual choice, but you still save on fundraising.

ggdm

Sun, Mar 17 2019, 11:34 am

amother wrote:

how would that save on fundraising? each of those organizations are still vying for you r contributions. theres something called charity navigator that has a list of charities...

I that was a response to my post: If you have a platform where all your potential donors are on, you don't need to search for addresses, write letters, visit people, etc. True, you still need to write content, do optimization, and so on, but it's a smaller work. I'd imagine the platform would have some filtering capabilities or suggests new charities to users, so you widen your reach without extra work. If the platform does some vetting and people trust it, you save time to convince every potential donor that you are legitimate.