Zakat - question 2

[mAd_ScIeNtIsT]

@NeSCio

So I’ve been wondering in what sense does Zakat differ from several taxes we (at least in Holland) pay over our salaries and assets.

There are several taxes we pay over our income (these together can count upto 6% of your income):

• social tax which is then distributed via the government to people who don’t have any work (long term, e.g. due to illness, widow(er)s, orphans)
• pension tax which is then distributed via the government to people who are currently over the age of 65
• medical insurance tax which is then distributed via the government to people who don’t have medical insurance but are in need of (costly) treatment

taxes over assets (1.2%):

• when your combined assets exceed a certain limit, you start paying tax over the excess amount

Apart from these you can (voluntarily - but most ppl do it) pay a social tax which is distributed among people who have lost their job.

So the issue is that usually people say you have to pay 2.5% zakaat over your income/assets, which is then given to the needy etc.

My question is that given the above, can we count our ‘tax’ as zakaat? After all, 1400 years ago there were not these many taxes and zakaat could in a way be considered the social tax of that time.

The flaw is that you can’t be sure if the money you are paying as tax is actually ending up with the poor.

Social welfare payments are not always means tested. A middle-class person living comfortably off savings can claim social welfare payments after being unemployed for long enough in a social welfare state. - So you can’t be sure that the portion of your taxes being spent on social welfare are actiually going to the deprived

Pension tax is similarly paid to all, irrespective of whether they are poor or not. When I retire, I fully intend to benefit both from my private pension (which should inshallah be cozy by that time) as well as taking pension paid for by the taxpayers. I will inshallah not qualify for zakaat but will claim tax-funded pension, so again you can’t be sure that the portion of your taxes being spent on pensions for the elderly are actually going to the deprived

In most social welfare states, the right to claim medical aid is not completely means-tested either. A wealthy person can choose to receive your money if they don’t want to use their private insurance. So again - you can’t be sure that your tax is only paying for medical care for the poor. As a child from what was alhumdulillah a well-off family, I had all my dental work paid for by the taxpayers anyway. People just like you who paid for it could under no way qualify it as zakaat.