Tax on Churches not Right – Christian Council

Chairman of the Christian Council of Ghana (CCG), Rt. Rev. Dr. Seth Senyo Agidi has explained that it will not make sense for government to tax churches.

The Chairman said it will be discriminatory for the government to tax churches and leave other organizations such as political parties that also raise funds to support their activities.

Rt. Rev. Dr. Agidi gave the explanation in an interview while comment on President Akufo-Addo’s backings to the call on churches in the country to pay tax.

President Akufo-Addo was reported to have backed calls for churches in the country to be taxed since churches have now moved into the realm of wealth creation and prosperity.

“The difficult truth is that once you get into the wealth and prosperity sphere, you necessarily slip into the tax and accounting line”, Nana Akufo-Addo said at the 2018 Synod of the Global Evangelical Church in Accra.

Reacting to the comment by the President, the Chairman said “it will be very discriminatory and it does not make sense because we have examples from other nations”

He added “you don’t tax churches because we contribute a lot in the areas of education, health, agriculture, among others”.

“The very thing the government wants to use the tax for is what we are doing. In places where the government is not going, that is where we are going…that is why I am saying they must define what they are saying”, he explained.

The Moderator of the General Assembly of the E. P. Church said if the government is going to tax churches, then political parties that raise funds to support their activities must also be taxed.

Rt. Rev. Dr. Agidi added that “he [government] must as well tax even political parties. It must be defined…what are you taxing?…is it the Sunday offering or the tithes? Churches are non-profit making organizations”.