Can You Afford to Tithe Right Now?
This starts where your money actually starts: your income after tax, the costs you cannot skip, and what is left. It shows what your household can give this month, what each level costs after the donation credit, and one number you can start on. No guilt, no pressure, and no assumption that ten percent is the only faithful answer.
Your Month
Use your last three months of statements and put in the real averages. Nothing is stored anywhere, and nothing here is a test you can fail.
What Your Budget Carries
What Each Level Looks Like
Every rung is a real monthly amount, what it leaves in the month, and what it costs you after the donation credit comes back at tax time. The highlighted row is the one your budget carries today.
| Giving level | A month | Left in the month | Real cost after the credit | Fit |
|---|
Where the Month Goes
Your take-home pay, drawn to scale, with giving at the level highlighted above.
Your One Next Step
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I afford to tithe on a tight budget?
That depends on what the month actually costs, which is what this page works out. It takes your income through 2026 tax, CPP and EI, subtracts your essential costs and your saving, and shows what is left for giving. Sometimes the honest answer is that ten percent does not fit this month and $50 does. A number you can hold for a year does more than one you abandon in March.
Should I give while I am paying off debt?
Many Christians do both, and the tool shows you what each level leaves once the debt payments are in the budget. High-interest debt is worth attacking hard, and giving a smaller percentage while you do that is a decision a lot of people make on purpose. What matters is that giving is decided rather than forgotten.
Is the tithe ten percent of gross or net income?
Scripture does not settle it, so it is a matter of conviction. This page works from take-home, because that is the money the month is actually built from, and it also shows each level as a share of your gross income. The tithe calculator shows both bases side by side if you want to compare them.
What does giving actually cost after the tax credit?
Less than the amount you give. For 2026 the federal credit is 14% on the first $200 of gifts in the year and 29% above that, rising to 33% on the part matched by taxable income over $258,482, and your province adds its own credit. The ladder above shows the after-credit cost at your income and province. The credit arrives at tax time, so the month still feels the full amount.
What if the month does not balance at all?
Then the page says so, and that is useful information rather than a judgment. The costs come first, the gap gets named, and the work is on the budget before it is on the giving. Pick the smallest amount you can hold anyway, even $10 a month, so the habit exists while the rest gets sorted out.
Does this replace talking to my church about money?
No. It gives you a number to bring into that conversation, and into the one with your wife. Church giving is usually the first destination, and the tool does not ask where the money goes, because that decision belongs to you.