On Tithing

What is tithing? Well, it is defined in Doctrine and Covenants as "one-tenth of all their interest annually," so this has come to mean to Latter-Day Saints as giving one tenth of their incomes to the Church, whether it come through paychecks or gifts. Non-members sometimes think we're a little crazy for giving that much. After all, if you make $30,000 a year, that equates to $3,000 of tithing! It's not a small portion. Nonetheless, it is incredibly important.
Tithing dates all the way back to the Old Testament, when the Israelites had to give the tenth part of everything (Leviticus 27:30, Numbers 18:26).
Some people say they don't have enough money to pay tithing, that they have too much other stuff they have to buy. A way to fix that is instead of looking at your paycheck as containing $500, look at it as containing $450 and budget accordingly. Then give the $50 tithe to the Church.
So what good is tithing? What does it go toward? Well, here's what President Hinckley told Mike Wallace on 60 Minutes and later told the Church at the October 1996 General Conference:

"Building chapels. About 375 a year. Think about that. New buildings each year to accomodate the needs of growing membership. It is used for education. We maintain the largest private, church-sponsored university in the world, Brigham Young University, with its 27,000 students on that campus, as well as other campuses. We maintain a tremendous institute of religion program, where we have off campus connections with [students in] the major universities of America. You will find institutes at UCLA, USC, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, th University of New York, the University of Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and so forth." - President Hinckley, "This Thing Was Not Done In A Corner," October 1996 General Conference, Priesthood Session.¹

Think about your church for a moment, if you're not a Latter-Day Saint. Since I can't read your mind, I'll use the Methodist church as an example. My dad is on the finance committee, and it seems like they're always searching for money. They hold a couple fundraisers each month, but that's always so uncertain. For instance, if it rains during the church garage sale, then not many people will come to it. If there's a blizzard that strands everyone at home on Halloween, no one will come to the Haloween breakfast. If they want something new, then they have to beg for donations. (Now, all you Methodists out there, please don't think I'm bashing your church. That's totally not it at all. I just need something to contrast the LDS Church with, and yours is the one I know best since my parents make me go there.)
Now, if a branch of the LDS Church needs to repair the roof, they just request a little money. All the building maintenance, teaching materials, sacrament materials, and so forth - everything to keep a ward (congregation) running smoothly - is paid for by the Church. As far as salaries go, tithing also goes to support the General Authorities. Others in Church callings, such as bishops, teachers, choir directors, and stake presidents, are not paid at all. All this is why you probably won't find a ward doing fundraising - they already have the money they need from the Church.
Like President Hinckley said, tithing also goes to support  the Church schools: Brigham Young University in Provo and Hawaii, Ricks College, and the Latter-Day Saint Business College. BYU in Provo, for instance, at a tuition of only $2,830 for Church members and $4,250 for non-Church members², is one of the best bargains in the country. They have all the facilities of a high-class private college, yet the tuition is more comparable to a meager state college. Why? Because the Church gives a great deal of money to supporting its schools. In addition to meeting the costs of tuition and running the schools, the Church also gives out a fair number of scholarships. In addition to the official schools, like President Hinckley stated, the Church covers the cost of the seminary and institute programs. Videos, notebooks, binders, buildings, etc. are paid for by the Church.
The Church also gives quite a bit of humanitarian aid. This is not paid by tithing, but by other giving: donations, fast offerings, and 10% of the profits of the Church's business investments³. However, tithing does cover the Church's welfare program, which covers the members. As of June 1998, the Church ran "100 storehouses, 80 canneries, 97 employment centers worldwide, 45 Deseret Industries stores, 63 LDS Social Services offices, 106 priesthood-managed production projects, and 1,049 welfare missionaries in 33 countries"⁴.
Tithing is important. If you ask anyone who pays a full tithe if they wish they hadn't paid their tithe, they will almost certainly say "Of course not!" Even if the Lord hadn't promised to bless us as the verse in Malachi says, giving is always wonderful. By tithing we help support the Lord's kingdom.
I've paid tithing several times before. Before I turned 18, it was a great struggle to find a way to pay it without going to sacrament meeting, but I finally managed it. I was so pleased to finally contribute something. Please pay your tithing too! If I can do it, so can you. I leave this with you in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Footnotes
1 Ensign, November 1996, p49.
2 BYU tuition
3 "Humanitarian Aid Funded by Business, Donations"
4 Ensign, June 1998,"Our Brothers' Keepers," p34.