Giving pay to church no sacrifice for Hatch
This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
At first blush, Sen. Orrin Hatch's offer to give his pay to the LDS Church as an act of support for the nearly 1 million federal employees who are not being paid appears to be generous.
However, my understanding is that he is obligated to give the church five weeks of pay (10 percent of the year) anyway.
Plus, it is tax deductible! Quite smart for our senator: paying down his obligation, gaining a tax credit and scoring a PR coup.
Perhaps Sen. Mike Lee will consider giving his salary over to the Treasury to reduce our debt? Oh, wait, that's the same thing.
Dudley McIlhenny
Salt Lake City