Features
The controversy rages on: Churches’ statutory tax obligation to the state …to pay or not to pay?
In this beautiful country called Ghana, Churches are not required to pay taxes on their properties to the state because they are considered rendering services to God. They are not required to also disclose their finances in whatever form to government. They are, therefore, exempt from payment of income tax even though they receive other favourable treatment under the law.
This practice has existed for many years during which the country had a limited number of churches which concentrated on the word of God and did not make profit margin their primary objective. Churches generate their income through offering, pledges, sponsorships, memorials, capital campaigns as a normal practice.
PROLIFERATION OF CHURCHES AND NON-PAYMENT OF TAXES
With the emergence and proliferation of thousands of churches across the country, some of which even do not have auditoriums or places of worship but use classrooms and rented accommodation for their worshipping and other day to day activities, thus generating a lot of revenue and income from their operations, it has now become imperative to revisit the law that exempts churches from the payment of taxes to the state and decide otherwise. It appears that the commercial aspect of most of these churches has overridden the main objective of rendering services to God and the cardinal objective has been to amass wealth at the expense of the State. Even the big time orthodox or traditional churches which in the past were not used to this practice, have also joined the bandwagon of commercialising their operations to raise funds for their upkeep. Some of them have established a well-furnished auditoriums and theatres with recreational facilities, where funerals, weddings, parties, private meetings, seminars and conferences among others, are held regularly and fees are charged for the use of the facilities.
PROFIT-ORIENTED PRIVATE AND ONE-MAN CHURCHES
As for the private and one-man churches, the least said about them the better. Some of them have instituted consultation fees for members who are interested in seeing their pastors, evangelists and so-called men of God for special healings and deliverances. Some of these men of God have used their intelligence to come out with special water and anointing oil which they sell at a fee to their members or congregation. Consultation fees, attract various sums of money from gullible and interested members who want to see their pastors for problems solving. Let us also don’t forget that some of these churches have established and running their own television and radio stations. These are some of the avenues being adopted to raise funds for their churches and the pastors. I was told of a particular one-man church where the pastor imposed a levy on members just to purchase a car for himself.You cannot rule out some of these so-called pastors and men of God asking their members to fill their wardrobes with clothes and other items for them and their wives.
PUBLIC ARGUMENT ABOUT CHURCHES PAYING TAX TO THE STATE
Some of these negative behaviours from leaders of some religious organisations across the country have necessitated the recent argument from the public as to whether churches should pay taxes on their incomes since they have commercialised their operations in various ways. It is recalled that in August last year, this particular issue of churches paying tax to the state came up at a forum in Accra. At that forum, the Commissioner General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), made it emphatic that his outfit would conduct investigations into the activities of all churches in the country with the view to tax them based on their level of business transactions. Whether what he said a year ago has been carried out is something we need to know as Ghanaians. It appears that at times, people placed in positions of authority made profound policy statements but failed to act on them and that has been the bane in our dear country.
PASTORS’ ARGUMENT ON PAYMENT OF TAX BY THE CHURCH
Currently, some of our well established and profound pastors in the country have joined the fray in this particular argument as to whether the church should pay tax to the state. For instance, Dr. Lawrence Tetteh, the leader of the Worldwide Miracle Outreach was reported to have taken a swipe at people who were demanding the taxation of churches by the state. He said in a speech recently that, “Today, very ignorant people wake up and say the church should be taxed. That is an insult from the economic point of view; that is double taxation.” He went further, “Remember in the history of the Bible, we had ungodly people who asked the church to be taxed. What people lose sight of is that, the people you think are very rich, you can count them; you live in Ghana, how many pastors use Land Cruisers? If you take the few of us (pastors) that seem to be doing well, we are not more than ten”. According to him if you look at Ghana, but for the church, the nation would have been as illiterate as some nations of the sub-region. We should applaud the church, he said. He asked; When you tax the church what do you gain?
DR LAWRENCE TETTEH’S VIEWPOINT ON THE CHURCH
Honestly, my good friend Dr. Lawrence Tetteh has admitted that only few pastors including him, which I can confidently agree, are doing well. Dr. Tetteh is my greatest pal and I know his commitment to his pastoral duties and not like other profit making pastors, but I shudder to disagree with him about his views on pastors not to pay tax, even though they have commercialised their activities to make money. Yes, some of these churches have complemented the efforts of government by providing mission schools to train our youth in addition to supporting community activities and these are quite commendable. However, in a situation in which the chunk of these small churches continues to hide behind the pulpits to amass wealth without paying a dime as taxation to the state is to me not relevant and should not be entertained whatsoever.
REV ODONKOR’S ASSERTION ON THE CHURCH BEING TAXED
The Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana (PCG), Rev. Dr. Gordon Nii Noi Odonkor, also in an address, admitted that it was just and fair for the government to tax churches on business they do. To him, churches are not island in the running of the State and once they engaged in a profit-making venture, they needed to be taxed on those activities. However, he said, offertory and tithes, especially where they were used for social work, could not be described as business for them to attract tax. He said in an interview with the press that “if churches collect offering and use the offering for charity work, it will be unfair to tax them. But where we do business and especially where these businesses are for individual pastors and these monies go into individual pockets, I think it is Christian, it is fair and it is just to tax them like all other businesses”.
I believe most Ghanaians including me, appreciate the thought and viewpoint of Rev. Odonkor on this particular issue and will suggest that the law that exempts churches from paying tax to the State should be re-examined and amended so that churches operating on commercial lines should be roped in the tax net to generate enough revenue to carry out developmental agenda of government. So many avenues to generate revenue for the state, remain untapped while the people are being constantly burdened with all kinds of taxations that are making life unbearable for Ghanaians.
The Ghana Revenue Authority must initiate moves to ensure that individual churches that are scattered across the country and are making profits at the expense of the State are duly registered and taxed for the betterment of our dear country.
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By Charles Neequaye
Features
The Cop, press and lost fingers
The job of a policeman, whether he is short or tall, is not a cheap one. He is supposed to keep the peace, protect society and monitor the activities of local magicians and money doublers who are specialists in making civil servants lose their pay within seconds.
By far the most difficult job of the policeman is when he is expected to arrest a murderer who is not only armed but also has a record of appearing and disappearing at will. Even if the tough cop is in the company of other policemen all armed to the teeth, his stomach will turn to water when the criminal suddenly appears.
He is terrified not because the criminal is a better marksman, but because nobody dies twice. The problem also is that a criminal might be prepared to die in a bid to shoot his way to freedom. But is the police-man prepared to risk death in the course of duty when he has a family to rear.
If he had just acquired a new girlfriend with whom he is enjoying life, should he not run away with his tail between his legs and tell his boss that the criminal is uncatchable?
Before some policemen go on patrol duties, they actually pray solemnly. “God send me into the wilderness and bring me back safely with my nose intact because I’m worth more than a common rat. I also do not want to die like a stray dog. If a bullet is targeted at my forehead, Holy Spirit please let it go over the bar, because six children is not a small palaver. If I die, who will look after them? Lord keep me safe day by day. Amen!”
The Sikaman policeman’s job is a risky one because he is not properly equipped with even a trained dog to help track down criminals easily. So he has to use his own nose judiciously in sniffing out suspects while making sure a bullet doesn’t catch him square on the jaw.
My friend Sir Kofi Owuo, a.k.a. Death-By-Poverty was telling me journalists are in an even riskier profession. Apparently, he had been reading about the palaver of journalists in places like Algeria and Columbia. Algeria, even women journalists are not spared assassin’s bullet. You’d see them lying in front of their homes with their heads full of bullet holes.
In Columbia, no journalist is safe. When a journalist is leaving home, he has to tell his wife. “Darling, when I don’t come back by 7 p.m. check the mortuary
The drug trade in Columbia has made journalism a profession not worth practising. If you write on cocaine and the harm it is inflicting on society, you’ll certainly receive a phone call.
“Hello, Mr Journalist, your article yesterday was great. Congratulations! We never knew you were such brilliant writer, championing the cause of society. Again we say congrats! But you know something, by your article, you want to take the bread out of my and that of my family. You don’t want us to beak. We are aggrieved beyond measure”
“Oh, I was just… “You’d try to say something
“You don’t have to explain. The harm has already been done by your award-winning masterpiece. We have an appointment with you. You’ll hear from us.
Rest In Peace!” After such a phone call, you just have to pray to your soul, sing a hymn or two and get prepared fort appointment with death. For, death will surely come
I think pressmen in Sikaman would also have start informing their families appropriately before leaving for work now. “If I don’t come back early, I’m probably at the Ear, Nose and Throat Department of Korle- Bu checking a leakage in my left ear due to a gendarme slap from an AMA official. If you don’t see me there, track me down to the emergency ward. If you see a newly-made cripple, I’m the one”
What about referees? These days they are guarded during football matches so that the risk they bear in terms of lost teeth is minimal. Formerly, it used to be a job full of woes and tribulations.
You were expected to oversee a match in such way that would favour a particular team. If that is not done, you’ll get back home and your wife will not recognise you. She’ll mistake you for Frank Bruno who had just lost a bout. When she finally recognises you, she’ll fix some hot water to massage your poor face.
I hear that these days, apart from the protection referees receive, some are well-armed with Damfo Dzai, a kind of jack-knife that can carve a rowdy supporters face in several designs.
My Press Secretary and part-time bodyguard Devine Ankamah, was telling me if he happens to be a referee, he’d surely carry a Kalashnikov AK 47 rifle with him, complete with loaded magazine, before officiating matches. According to him, that is the only way to do the job without fear or favour. Anyone dares will lose his jaw.
Anyway, risky jobs require good remuneration. As Kwame Korkorti once said, risky jobs require risky salary. A policeman would require a good pay so that when a criminal targets his left ear it would be worth the ‘amputation’. Same for journalists and cameramen.
But go round private workplaces and factories and you’d see really risky occupations where workers are receiving salaries they can’t see with the naked eye.
In fact, in some private workplaces, environmental safety is completely absent. Workers breathe in fumes, poisonous gases and risk lung and respiratory problems. Their employers do nothing about protecting them against these hazards. Check out their payer.
In other places, workers have their fingers chopped off on the job, some losing as many as four fingers in stretch. The compensation they get can best be described as “wicked”. Their employers live big, chop big, ride big but are not willing to pay more than ¢120,000 for lost fingers.
Actually the more fingers you lose, the more money you get. So if you intend losing your fingers on the job, it is advisable to lose as many as possible so that you can get more cash. Those who have lost one finger have not benefited much and are encouraged to lose more next time around.
Sikaman Palava is undertaking to investigate some of these cases of very risky jobs in private setups and companies where workers are being exploited to unnecessarily but not offered protection against health hazards, and not properly compensated when they sustain injuries.
This article was first published on Saturday, September 28, 1996
Features
Position yourself for God’s blessings
Motivated by the impending 40-day fasting and needless to add prayer programme, preceding the Greater Works Conference scheduled for August in Accra, I would like to draw attention to how believers can receive blessings from God.
There is a scripture in Hebrews 11:5 that “By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: and before his translation, he had this testimony that he pleased God”.
This clearly shows that in order to receive blessings from God, you must please God. How can one please God? You can only please God by obeying him and walking in line with God’s word. Just like how children who obey their parents, enjoy special treatment, so does God deal with his children who obey his word.
There are ways by which people receive blessings from God and holiness is an important criteria in the whole equation. Holiness is a process and not a one day event.
It is a mindset borne out of walking in obedience to God’s instructions i.e. his word. In order to have a mindset of living to please God, requires studying God’s word coupled with praying and fasting.
This helps us to develop trust in God by knowing his nature, what he likes and dislikes. This is what will enable us to live to please him and for our faith in him also to increase.
The Bible says in Hebrews 11:6 that “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him”
Fasting is one of the required criteria for blessings to be released and it goes with prayer because fasting without prayer is just a physical exercise. Fasting enables a person’s inner man to be in tune with the spirit of God and also becomes spiritually empowered to hear from God and also obey God.
Fasting enables a person’s spirit to feed on God’s word in a much more focused manner as compared to studying God’s word in normal times. As a result our spirit gains the upper hand to dominate the body and the soul, so that we are more conscious of the presence of God in our lives which causes us willingly the desire to live to obey God.
Holiness which is a prerequisite for pleasing God, can only manifest in our lives if we are able to overcome the desires of the flesh and this only happens when the flesh is subject to the spirit.
Apostle Paul said that “But l keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means when I have preached to others, I myself should not be castaway”, according to 1 Corinthians 9:27.
In order to bring the body or flesh into subjection so that believers will be able to live to please God, we have to study, God’s word in a certain state of mind which fasting and prayer appropriately provides.
Our minds are the battle grounds for decisions that either please God or the Devil. In order to please God so his blessings can be released upon our lives, we must continuously engage our minds with thoughts that is in line with God’s word.
Philippians 4:8 says that “Finally Brethren whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things”. May God help us to live to please him by meditating on things that please the Lord, so we shall be blessed in all aspects of our lives. God bless.
NB: ‘CHANGE KOTOKA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TO KOFI BAAKO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT’
By Laud Kissi-Mensah
