CHURCHES AND MOSQUES SHOULD PAY TAX

[SatoPrincess]

OP, your post would be easier to read if you spilt them into three paragraphs. This is the second thread you created that I have read today, and imo both threads should be in the local board. I won’t be surprised if this one gets locked as well.

[Teddy_Smoke]

This one will cause panic, but it is the truth, we have been running from this topic for the longest, Every Sunday one big church in my country collects about five million naira offering, in a month, we are talking about 20 million chilling in the church account. And no one is saying anything about tax? How long are we going to continue like this? Which business makes that much and doesn't pay tax? Have we forgotten that our tax also helps to develop the country and boost the economy? On my street, we have about ten different big churches, if not more than, but there are no clinics, no manufacturing factory.  These churches collect money from citizens without adding any value to the country or the economy. This is not a direct attack on this body of Christ, churches or pastors, but I can't stop wondering why a pastor that could afford a private jets and drive expensive cars can't pay tax from where he makes most of his money from. The members that pays tithe and sufferings can't even afford a car, they trek to church daily. This is business not religion, if churches and mosques pay 10 percent tax, government can use it to build schools, fix the church roads that has been ignored by the pastors, and build a well infrastructure hospitals. Right now pastors are the richest landlords in Africa, if you make money like business, you should pay tax like business, God isn't against paying tax. Since you have been paying your tithe and offering, what else has your pastor give you in return except prayers that doesn't work without hard work? Some of us don't even have the privilege of even meeting them one on one. They always set a high standard, so we can't reach them.

I've seen this kind of talks before but honestly I really don't like where this is actually going. People keep pointing at the big offerings some churches collect every sunday and saying it should be taxed like a business. Five million here and there and suddenly everyone is calculating what the government could do with yhe money. But church is not a supermarket or a factory. People give willingly. Nobody is forcing them to drop money in the basket. That money is between them and their faith, not something the tax officer should automatically reach for.  Yes, some pastors actually do live large. Having all sorts of luxury and private jets, big cars and houses. If government starts treating a place of worships and some business, it opens a very hard door that's impossible to close today can be 10% tomorrow can be something entirely different. 

We all are aware that government doesn't actually use the tax money for what it's intended for, bad roads, bad hospitals with less equipments. I'm not saying pastors should be above question, If someone is living far above the people they lead, it's fair to talk about it. But turning it into a tax campaign again churches and mosques is not something I can support. Faith spaces are not the same as commercial business.

[iDEEMEE]

Churches and Mosques are not businesses, there may be some people who are into it for their bellies.
But churches and mosques are not supposed to pay taxes as they are not business ventures.

When you talk about pastors and other religious leaders owning jets or living luxurious life, most of them have businesses, investments and properties that the government tax already.

[Karl_3000]

OP, your post would be easier to read if you spilt them into three paragraphs. This is the second thread you created that I have read today, and imo both threads should be in the local board. I won’t be surprised if this one gets locked as well.

This topic is good, it does not need to be locked. It is just an observation and he will learn from what people have posted. Another thing is that this topic can be on politics and society and that is where the topic is. What I just think is that he is reading what people are posting because I have read what some people posted which are reasons churches do not need to lay tax.

Government is the biggest church (religion). Let them pay taxes to the people.

That means you want to wreck the government. Tax is good but it should not be too much like what the government of many countries in the world have turned to. I do not think tax supposed to be more than 1 to 5% including all other taxes the government are collecting. Also there are hidden taxes like the tariffs. Most people in the government today are only after the money.

[Jerrycrypto2024]

I guess to understand better because payment of tax by church is not a new thing, if will check, all over the world some countries collect tax, while some don't it's a matter of policy making, but truth remain that making those policy work it will be hard in some countries because the development of Churches making money now is recently before now it's hard to get or expect much as financial growths of the church, it's even the reason most countries never place much value of taxing the church, if country having different religions is taxing one particular religion it will create a whole of issues like Africa has traditional religion it can only work if all the religion is tax but it's also hard to know the money or income that comes into most of those religion as some are not presented like the church where their own is made public because most religion still take their tithes through donations and other means to which they deem necessary to get money from their worshipers.

[JeromeTash]

Religion turned into a huge business a long while back, and it attracted all sorts of thugs and criminals pretending to be religious leaders. I wouldn't mind if churches and mosques gave back to the most vulnerable in the community that very money they collect, but all you get in return are just "prayers" lol.

Treating religion as a business and taxing it just like the rest should be the right thing to do. Also there have to be very strict rules regarding someone becoming a religious leader, so it's not for every tom, dick and harry.

[Somto9Light]

The church and the mosque holds large numbers of worshippers and they are religious grounds and not a profit organisation even though most pastors and now using it as a business but it is not supposed to be so. However, the place of worship for believers should not be taxed, it doesn't make any senses to me. The government itself will be afraid of doing such a thing because they will attract many enemies to themselves. Any money that the church generates always goes into running the affairs of the church.

[Ab de villiers]

I sometimes thinking that which department is now left from the hand of government to impose taxes on. Or you reminded us that mosque or churches are left, now i wonder if this is going to be happened i don't think public will support it. Because these are the places that are deeply connected with their faith, or faith should not be used to get financial benefits. As these organizations are totally depending upon the donations of public. They do not  have direct or fixed source of earnings. How they pay the taxes when they have no decided income per month. What criteria they would use to  collect the money.

However we cannot ignore the fact that these organizations usually collected huge of amounts of money in the name of charity. But there is no idea where and how this money is used, there is no system of accountability. Rather imposing taxes on th it is compulsory to build a system by that public can get notifications about their charity amount. They should maintain written records of every spendings, transparency is more important rather than imposing taxes.

[Cleanshit]

Religion turned into a huge business a long while back, and it attracted all sorts of thugs and criminals pretending to be religious leaders. I wouldn't mind if churches and mosques gave back to the most vulnerable in the community that very money they collect, but all you get in return are just "prayers" lol.

Treating religion as a business and taxing it just like the rest should be the right thing to do. Also there have to be very strict rules regarding someone becoming a religious leader, so it's not for every tom, dick and harry.

Honestly I really see this topic today as a very sensitive topic but the honest truth is that in this part of my world here you found that religion is not just a business here but a big industry around the country…

Just as you have stated most pastor today not that they heard that call but it was because they saw bigger well of cashflow, eating thanksgiving, collect Sunday offerings, some pastor has done a lot of evil things…it just dumping on us that no audit, no tax, no accountability. Just to collect say God will bless you, and go home with millions every Sunday and Friday how funny this even sounds to me….

[hafiztalha]

Well, even though some church of these days have now because a house of business instead of being just a house of religious practices alone, they are excepted from paying income tax because the government doesn't see churches and mosque as a business group but rather a place of religious activities and practices. There's a very important distinction, although I don't know about other countries but if it's particularly here in my country, churches or mosques are exempted from paying income tax on money that was raised through religion activities such as tithes, offerings, donations for religion works, however the other activities that they can be taxed for is when the church have some commercial business such as hotel, hospital, school,  pastor's salary and salaries paid to other employees of the church.

It is true that in today time some churches are behaving like a business establishment rather than being more of religious worship places but there is still quite a distinction in how they are treated under the tax laws. So every country has their own laws. In our country, mosques and churches are mostly exempted from income tax received through religious activities because they are organised as religious institutions rather than just commercial businesses.

Exemption is not on every activity that they are engaged in; when they operate any commercial venture like hospital school or other source, then they are subject to taxation. She is not saying that religious institutions do not pay taxes but it is about to have clear difference between money received for the purpose of religion and also money that they have generated through any commercial activity.

[JeromeTash]

Just as you have stated most pastor today not that they heard that call but it was because they saw bigger well of cashflow, eating thanksgiving, collect Sunday offerings, some pastor has done a lot of evil things…it just dumping on us that no audit, no tax, no accountability. Just to collect say God will bless you, and go home with millions every Sunday and Friday how funny this even sounds to me….

It's a very sensitive topic, but we have to call out on all those false religious leaders who have exploited the society for their personal gains. For example, you will find that there are religious leaders who live a very pompous lifestyle, all from the collections of the followers of the religion or the church or the mosque, while the followers are living in abject poverty, and this trend has been worsening every passing year. So something has to be done to stop it.

Gone are the days when religious leaders used to preach morals to the community and teach people how to live a rightful life. Lately it's all about conniving with the politicians and all other sorts of cartels, which they can use to wield unnecessary power. I actually believe some of the places of worship are used to launder money.

[Justbillywitt]

You should learn how to paragraph, especially for a long post like this. It will make your work look more neat, and also help your audience not to strain their eyes while reading your work. I tried reading your post but it was disturbing my eyes. But from the topic I agree with you that churches and mosques should pay taxes. They are in business so they should pay taxes. But the problem with paying of taxes in this part of the world is that, you are taking the money from people legally and giving it to criminals that will divert it to their personal pockets, without using it to benefit the people.

[Zaka1221]

I completely agree that religious institutions are accountable but there should be a difference between a business and religious organisations. Churches , mosque they use the donation given to them by the people to support to run schools, provide food and shelter to the homeless people and also help the people who are in difficult situation and in need. If the government is going to tax every donation without any proper checking, their activities are going to affect the people who are dependent on the assistance. Yes, the religious leaders who are using this money for their personal benefits should be questioned and they should be asked why they are using it for their personal use. Their personal records should be checked and they should be clean and transparent. It is the responsibility of the government to introduce fair taxation on all the commercial activities and also the personal income without taxing other donation because religion should not be used as an excuse to hide the wealth of a person or to avoid any responsibility.

[Franklyn-wood]

Churches and mosques are now used as a money generating office instead for transfer of religious information that will be beneficial to all which is completely a very irritating practice to mention for now.  The idea of taxing Churches and mosque would have been beneficial if after taking those tax the problem of the world is been solved through it, but now even after it problems still continues so its of no importance getting involved in life threatening activities.
If the money generated from different sector cannot provide a balanced economy for the country so its of know importance requesting to take from Churches and mosque to avoid enquiring causes that may hunt one forever because till now the mystery behind this said religions have not been experienced.

It has been a while I heard about this that government are trying to Implement a law that mosques and church should pay taxes to the government, while all the taxes the government has been taking from the citizens as not been used to meet the needs of the people rather politicians keep this money to themselves. Churches and mosques don't need to pay taxes before the government would do the needful. There should be other way from which the government should help control the bad attitudes of some of this clerics for decency and good conducts among citizens.

[Taricoins]

It's like telling someone to pay tax for a money that was gifted to him, doesn't sound well, that money or income from the original person has already been taxed, the rest are just offerings, by the way with all the money they have gotten thus far from taxes, what have they done ? It doesn't make sense and no one will actually implement the bill. We have alot of humanitarian services that are being provided by the church I'm helping the community

[Ishicryptic]

The problem with that is that it doesn't just happen in your country. Religious institutions enjoy very broad tax exemptions all over the world. The thing is, many other non-religious organizations—such as other nonprofit entities—also enjoy these exemptions, and if you tax the religious ones, you'll have to tax the rest as well.

It’s a complicated issue, and I don’t think there will be any major changes in the future because any politician who dares to change that is going to lose a lot of votes.

Religion and politics are like 5 and 6, some people will say that it is in religion that you will see a lot of politicking for hierarchical positions and also corruption just like in government politics, religious matters are untouchable in many societies. If a politician gains the trust and collaboration of religious leaders they will gain the trust of the common people because a lot of them are very religious and that is why politicians likes to woo religious leaders.

As for taxation I doubt that any government would want to seriously tax religious bodies, they will rather want to be friendly with them because of benefits including money laundering through corrupt religious leaders because religious monies are seen as donations so nobody cares to probe how religious bodies gets so much money.