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 Prophet part 4
Antobam woke up with a terrible headache. He checked the time on his mobile phone, 2:30 am. “What! Where is the money?” He asked aloud. “Where are those girls? Why did I drink so much of that whisky? What were those two girls up to?” He sat up on the bed and noticed a bulge close to the pillow.
He lifted the mattress and picked up the newspaper wrappers with the neatly arranged notes. He saw the neatly written record of the value of the notes. No, those girls are not thieves.
“It was my mistake. If I hadn’t drank myself to sleep they would be here in bed with me, giving me the time of my life. Pretty girls, those two. And so loyal and honest. Tomorrow will be different.”
“I will not drink any whisky, and I will show them that I am a real man. Just then he heard the whispers. Very soon it will be time, they seemed to be saying. This is an important day.”
The gold dealer will bring lots of money. Give him some of the liquid to drink, and we will prepare him. He will do very big business, and he will give you anything you ask for. There will be more miracles and testimonies today.
Antobam smiled to himself. “I am going to be a very rich man in only a few days man. Money, power, and women. Wow! Antobam got to the grounds at 5, but there were quite a number of people waiting.
Mr Kwame Dofu was among them. He greeted them all, and they came around to shake his hand. “My brothers and sisters, I assure you that whatever your problem is, you will not go home without a solution.” Shouts of “Amen” “thank” you Osofo and “you are a true man of God” responded.
“Please take your seats, and start talking to the great one about whatever bothers you. Before the service is over, there will be a solution.” He waved Mr Dofu over, and went with him to the wooden structure that serves as a temporary office.
“My brother, I have done quite a lot of work on the issue you came to see me about. I have prepared a special, powerful package for you. Take this, drink it, and go back to your business. I want to see you in two weeks.”
Beaming with smiles, Mr Dofu drank the foul smelling liquid in two gulps, said a big thank you to Antobam and took his leave. “I believe you, Papa Osofo. And I assure you that I will reward you, big time.”
Just when Osofo Antubam finished with Mr Dofu, Mary and Suzzie went over to him. “Good Morning ladies. I am very sorry about yesterday. I drank too much of the stuff you gave me. Today will be different, I assure you.”
“Don’t worry, Osofo. Since you are now setting things up, our main concern now is to help you to put things in place, and to make you comfortable. We are always there to serve you. This morning, Osofo, we want to go and clean up your place, and prepare something nice for you when you close.
And before coming to church, we will pass by the bank and collect the forms. After you have signed them, the account will be open. You can check the payments anytime and, of course, issue cheques whenever you need money.”
“Suzzie and Mary, I am happy I picked the two of you from the very start. Listen, I will take good care of you, okay? Here is some money. Buy whatever you need for the errands you have mentioned.
And here is the key. Please come back as early as you can. You know I need you here.” The service was very lively. The lively singing of praise songs was followed by one and a half hours of testimonies.
Most of them related to money – big sales, new jobs and overdue debts paid. But there were also testimonies about healing. Barren women had taken seed, and, of course, several men who had lost their bedroom authority had regained them, to the delight of their partners.
As he had promised, Antobam preached for only 30 minutes, exhorting the congregation to attend church regularly, pay their tithes and offerings, and strictly follow his ‘directions’ for securing solutions to their problems.
After another round of praises during which the congregation danced to the floor to drop their offering, he closed the service, grabbed the big bowl which was full to the brim with money, and moved to his desk. A long queue was quickly formed at the desk.
Meanwhile, Mary and Suzzie had gone to give Antobam’s place quite a decent look. A new bedsheet and pillows, a secondhand carpet and four plastic chairs placed in the verandah had done the trick.
They also prepared two fish and chicken stews. After all these, they rushed to the National Savings Bank and collected application forms for opening current and savings accounts.
They joined the service a few minutes before the main session closed. Antobam looked round and saw, to his relief, Mary and Suzzie moving towards him. “Hello ladies. What have you been up to?” “Quite a bit, Osofo. We’ve just collected your drink. Here you are. We’ve made a few changes at your place. I think you will like it. You will also have something nice to eat. Now, here are the forms for the savings and current accounts.
If you will sign them, the bank will open the account. From today, we can pay all monies direct into the account.” ‘How can I thank you, ladies?” “You don’t need to thank us,” Suzzie said. “It is our duty to help a man of God succeed.” “Okay, my ladies, please take the offerings and count them as you did yesterday.
You can add the payments made after the consultations. Will it be possible to pay them into the account today?” “Yes,” Mary said. “The bank closes at four. If we leave here at three, we would be there just in time.”
The two friends started counting, as Osofo Antobam gave his clients his directions for solving their problems. On quite a few occasions he closed his eyes as if he was receiving direction from above on what to do.
But as the fetish priest at the Nana Kofi Broni shrine and the dwarfs had assured him, the solutions would certainly be provided. Having heard the huge testimonies earlier in the day, the clients parted with substantial sums of money in expectation.
By Ekow de Heer
Features
The issue of spiritual father in our churches
A student was supposed to go to school as the natural cause of events should be when universities or schools in general opens but this was not the case in a certain young man’s life.
He decided to postpone his trip because apparently he could not get to meet his pastor, his spiritual father. The question is, should this spiritual father die, will the young man’s life come to an end?
Does it mean in such an instance, he is going to curtail his education? This is a worrying trend in a lot of churches where the pastors use this notion of spiritual father to manipulate members especially the youth.
Some unscrupulous pastors utilise this spiritual father concept to have affairs with gullible young ladies in their churches.
Now with homosexuality gradually making inroads into some of the churches, young men are becoming vulnerable to pastors who have hidden homosexual inclinations.
This spiritual father concept is a Biblical concept that runs through both the Old Testament as well as the New Testament. We see it in 2 Kings 4:12 where Gehazi is serving Elisha and also in the New Testament we see Paul relating to Timothy in 1 Timothy 1:2 as a Spiritual Father.
In fact, the concept of spiritual father is a good thing if executed according to the word of God since it helps in guiding the younger ones. However, it becomes problematic when it is being executed by unscrupulous wolves in sheepskins as described by Jesus in Mathew 7:15.
I see it as a way that these unscrupulous so-called men of God maintain their hold on the congregants so they do not question their unchristian actions.
One of the things I have observed since I got born again many years ago is that, any pastor who often insists that members recognise that he is their spiritual father is a warning sign that he is doing some wrong things or is about to indulge in some wrong things.
A parent complained about how his daughter was being influenced by a pastor of the church she attends and how worried he was. I am sure there are many parents out there with stories to tell about how their wards are being made to see their pastors almost like their Jesus.
These pastors have managed to make their congregants so loyal to them and to believe in them so much that it is terrifying, as a parent.
The way things are going, an immediate intervention is required otherwise I am not a prophet of doom but I forsee unfortunate instances where parents burst into church auditoriums and star shooting some Pastors out of frustration and anger.
We cannot look on unconcerned as a society and allow unscrupulous fraudsters using the name of God to create problems for families. My recommendation is for a certain amount of regulation in order to bring some sanity in religious practices.
I agree that ordinarily regulating religious practices makes it a bit restrictive in terms of freedom of worship as enshrined in our constitution but given the way things are going, a bit of regulation will not be out of place.
Disgusting stuff are being attributed to some men of God. There are cases of manipulation of young ladies and sometimes married women by so called men of God and it is bringing Christianity and therefore the name of the Lord into disrepute.
Christianity is gradually losing its attractiveness as a result of the negative reportage resulting from disgusting stuff happening in Christian circles. The way some pastors have been manipulating congregants to take money from them leaves much to be desired to the point where they are convincing some of the youth to give out their phones. May God help us.
By Laud Kissi-Mensah
