Taxes are compulsory; they help the government in providing basic amenities to communities. Tithes, religiously, are mandated, and they are used to provide welfare for members and pastors in need. This means giving, whatever sort, solves a need, no matter how small it is.
In a society, we have the rich, average, and poor. Sometimes the poor people rely on the average and rich to make a living. But when it comes to charity—it comes from the heart—people don't give because they have; they give because they have empathy and love in them.
Charity, which is love, doesn't compel one to give out of one's will. Charity comes as a free donation in love; outside of it, it isn't charity but a tax or donation. On that regard, I don't support the move that charity should be made compulsory. Blessings for charity come when the donation is free and not pressured.
I have seen some needy share their meal with another. I have also seen some rich men who do not believe in giving. We all have our perspective when it comes to giving, and one's socioeconomic status has little to nothing to do with charity. Instead of making it compulsory, religious institutions can teach their members the importance of giving and why it's virtuous to spread love to one another.
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Why Charity Shouldn't Be Made Compulsory
Whenever money is involved, grudges sneak their way through. The blessings of giving don't come to one who didn't give it willingly. The Bible has teachings on giving, and the idea it portrays is of free donation. The idea of charity isn't centered on money alone, but on the ultimate knowledge of love—and we can't learn that love if people are cajoled into giving.
Secondly, making giving a compulsory act is putting pressure on people, and when people give because they are forced to give, it no longer becomes charity or feels like love; it becomes a duty with no appreciation from the receiver. This act may make people lazy to work and pursue their own dreams too, believing there is a system that provides for them.
Charity is love, and love does not force. If religious institutions could preach about love and the need for charity often, people on their own may develop the interest to help the needy without being cajoled. Giving from the heart oftentimes is joyful and comes with more blessings than giving from a system that forces people into giving.
