Dennis Prager suggests a hypothetical case:

Suppose two people who have the exact same earnings and expenses are approached by a poor man in desperate need of food and money for his family. The first person, after listening to the man’s horrible experiences, cries and then out of the goodness of his heart gives him five dollars. The second person, although concerned, does not cry, and in fact has to rush away. But because his religion commands him to give 10 percent of his income to charity, he gives the poor person a hundred dollars. Who did the better thing?

70%-90% of American teenagers Prager questioned asserted that the person who gave the five dollars from his heart did the better deed.

Prager asserts that this response suggests that in secular society, even charity is becoming a somewhat selfish act. Many people care less about the good their money is doing than about how they feel giving it. When we asked these same students who they would think had done the better deed if they were the ones who needed the money, many of them were brought up short.

Judaism would love you to give 10% of your income each year from your heart. It suspects, however, that in a large majority of cases, were we to wait for people’s hearts to prompt them to give a tenth of their money away, we would be waiting a very long time. Ergo, Judaism says, Give 10% and if your heart catches up, terrific. In the meantime, good has been done.”

Because Judaism sees tzedaka as a form of self­-taxation rather than as a voluntary donation, the Jewish community regards publicizing donors’ gifts in the same spirit as the American practice of asking political candidates to release their tax returns. In both cases, public scrutiny causes people to act more justly.