Should Churches pay tax?

Should Churches pay tax?

The extravagant lifestyle of religious leaders’ particularly Christian clerics has led opinion leaders to conclude that churches should pay taxes since they are making so much money from the people.  Only recently, delegates at the National Confab voted overwhelmingly that religious bodies should pay taxes. Senior Correspondent, Yemi Olakitan examines the issue through biblical texts and Christian views.

When the subject was raised at the ongoing National Conference delegates reportedly voted that religious bodies should pay tax to the government, although, this is can only become possible if the recommendation is passed into law by the National Assembly. The delegates said that religious leaders are super rich and that church founders owned private jets and universities.

A delegate representing the Nigeria Guild of Editors, Isaac Ighure, said pastors and heads of churches made too much money and should pay tax. He said, ‘clerics buy private jets when people in their churches are living in poverty,” When the matter was put to vote, the delegates overwhelmingly voted ‘yes’ in support of the motion that religious bodies should pay taxes.

Barrister Abayomi Oyebola, a lawyer and senior partner at S.A Oyebola chambers opined that churches should pay taxes because most of them are not registered as charities. ‘‘They make the mistake of merely incorporating the name of their churches so they can be taxed. Speaking further, he said, individuals who collects salaries or income from the church should pay taxes. If the churches engage in businesses that generates profits, these can also be legitimately taxed by the government. Taxes are very essential to the economic advancement of the nation,’’ he said.

A search through the scriptures revealed that our Lord Jesus Christ paid tax. He was recorded to have instructed Peter, one of his prominent disciples to pay taxes for both of them, Mathew 17, 27 the Bible says, ‘but so that we may not cause offense, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours."  In Mathew 22: 15: 22, 15 Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him with his words. ¹⁶ They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are. ¹⁷ Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?” ¹⁸ But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? ¹⁹ Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, ²⁰ and he asked them, “Whose image is this? and whose inscription?”²¹ “Caesar’s,” they replied. Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

According to the encyclopedia Britannica ‘‘taxes are the most important source of governmental revenue. Taxes are compulsory levies and are unrequited—i.e., they are generally not paid in exchange for some specific thing, such as a particular public service, the sale of public property, or the issuance of public debt. Taxes are collected for the welfare of taxpayers.’’ If taxes are used for the welfare of the people shouldn’t churches pay on the basis of what the taxes are to be used for?

Deaconess Shola Abimbola of Global Church of the Living God said no, although the Bible commands Christians to pay taxes as individuals. According to her, it is wrong to ask churches to pay taxes as a body because the church is not selling anything. ‘‘The monies that are generated by the churches are voluntary donations from members who have already paid income tax. Churches are meant to be charity organizations, it is not heard of anywhere in the world for a government to tax religious organizations so churches cannot pay taxes. It is unethical, mischievous and corrupt. If the government collects taxes from the church, that means that they have turned the church into a business entity so unscrupulous individuals can be justified if they turn the church into a money making venture.’’

In another chat with Emmanuel Onoja of Hope of Life Evangelical Church, he said, churches should not pay taxes because churches are not profit making entities. ‘‘What is the difference between the government and the churches? They both serve the people. What the church should do if they make more money is to serve the people more through charity work. They are spiritual organizations. Individuals in the church can pay taxes even Jesus paid tax according to the scriptures. If churches are taxed it is tantamount to double taxation because the monies that are collected are donations from members who are already been taxed. The church is not an organization that the ownership is been separated from the individuals. If the churches are making a lot of money they should be encouraged to carry out some social responsibilities such as road construction, provision of water, building of schools and so on in their various communities,’’ he said.

Speaking further, he said, ‘‘Men of God should not live like paupers because some people are poor in the church. If God blesses the pastor we cannot stop the pastor from enjoying the blessings. Take the Redeemed Christian Church of God, for example, members bought a private jet for the General overseer, Pastor Adeboye in order to ease his traveling schedules. If he has to visit five countries in a month, he can do so without having to queue at airports, he can do so with comfort and ease. This will help his work immensely. If the church has the money to buy a private jest that will help the work of God. It will be wrong to say they should not. Don’t forget that some of these churches have branches in nearly all the countries of the world,’’ he said.

Pastor Orjuma Daniel of the Redeemed Christian Church of God opined that the church must live up to its responsibility. ‘‘If the church is doing what it is told to do from the scriptures, no one will ask the church to pay taxes because churches are not supposed to pay taxes. Individual Christians should pay taxes because Jesus paid tax as an individual and not as a church so churches are not suppose to pay taxes because they are not a profit making organizations, they are not set up to make money. Churches are not business outfits, how can we tax them? It is wrong and inappropriate but the churches themselves should clean up their acts and rise up to their biblical responsibilities. The bible says, the church should take care of the poor, the widows, the orphans but we see today is the churches are building edifices and buying private jets. The Bible says that we will always have the poor among us, so if we have the poor amongst us, the church should help them.’’

Elder theophilus Ajibola of the United African Methodist Church, said, it is wrong to ask churches to pay tax.  ‘The church should not be asked to pay tax. If the state collect taxes from the church that means the church has become a beer seller or recharge card seller. The church role is to turn men to God and not to make money. If other non-profit organizations do not pay tax, how can the government ask the churches to pay taxes? It is wrong. However, If the government decides that the church must pay taxes, the Christian churches do not have any choice but to pay because the bible ask Christians to be obedient to constituted authorities.’’