In the name of the Church: Should Churches be taxed?

This article is not to tackle or take sides with any religion. This article is for the open minded

The topic was not my idea, rather the issue was being discussed on radio and I joined the program when one of the participants was saying “ when members donate money based on charity and that money is used ( in this case by the church) to create or build a profit- generating venture like Schools, Consulting firms etc.

That act should be considered fraudulent according to the participant.

This comment got me interested, and then another participant who was obviously pro-church was asked the question if church should be taxed and he came up with a not-so-convincing argument that they( churches) did some things which were of benefit to the poor and the masses but he had no solid proof to back up his argument.

However, it was obvious from the argument of the other participants that they were anti-church on the issues of taxes and the way the churches generated revenue.

Unlike, the pro-church guy, one of his opposition gave some solid back up to his argument as to why churches should be taxed.

He said “ a person had once told him that a church in Nigeria actually made over 10 billion in December alone , while a church in Surulere area of Lagos in South West Nigeria made about a billion Naira every month.

As the guy said, this is a “colossal amount” and indeed it is , even some professional players don’t generate that kind of cash and they still get taxed , so why shouldn’t the churches who make this kind of money be taxed ?Even, when all that money generated from the members does not have any effect on the well being of their members.

Some members practically “squeeze out their offering money or tithes”

The question you would ask is, what do they(churches) use the money for?

As it was stated in the program , the money made by these churches are used to build business whose signatories surprisingly are members of the family of the pastor or someone who has personal links with the head of the church i.e the head o f the church inner circle.

In Nigeria, churches have built schools, universities, and business entities

One point worthy of note is the fact, the schools built by these churches are among the most expensive universities/ higher institutions in the country that the fees are not affordable for the members who contributed to the establishment of the institution.

This is a very popular fact, and the pro-church participant on this point, stated that the church was giving back to Nigerians by providing “qualitative education” which the government could not provide.

A point most of the other participants said was debatable and it is, because some of the “ public university” result are regarded as reputable in the country and overseas than the private universities who get “ patronizing results” i.e based on the amount they pay, they get “better results” which cannot be compared with some “ public results”

As the program advanced, and as an opposition to the point made by the pro-church guy, another participant gave the scenario of the School established by Opera Winfrey in Gauteng, South Africa for girls; the idea to establish the school was borne out o f the lack of women in Leadership and the need to improve girl education.

According to the participant, to gain entry into the school, all you need to do is write the exam and pass the exams. After passing the exam, everything you need down to your “underwear” the participant said will be provided by the School and yet the school pays taxes to the South Africa Government.

The question then is why can’t the church who builds schools that the children of members of the church cannot afford to attend, be taxed?

Then, the same participant made another example of Steve Irwin, who built a reserve for endangered species that he loved.

Also, there was a point made by another participant who said the Overseer of Covenant Church, Bishop Oyedepo, was interviewed on Forbes and he was asked that despite the economic situation in Nigeria, compared with the money his church makes, does he not think the church should pay tax?

The participant said “ Oyedepo arrogantly answered “ For what! He said I provide the light I use, I provide the water I use, and I provide the food I eat, so why should I pay taxes?

Then the same participant then answered this question with these set of reasonable arguments.

Does Bishop Oyedepo not use Nigerian Airports?

Does he not use Roads created and built by the Nigerian governments?

In essence, the churches have failed in “giving back” and helping society as the missionary and first generation churches did rather they have “improved the methods of exploitation”

During the debate, somebody called in weighing on the issue and shared his personal experience.

The caller narrated that at a Redeem Church in Surulere , they were asked to donate for some spiritual reason a sum starting from #5,000 to #50,000.

According to the caller, this system was used to know the financial capability of the members and while some people went to donate the money, he sat in his chair, and waited till the service finished and went home.

Meanwhile on his way home, he met a beggar who he gave the little that was with him.

The question I would like to ask is, the caller who gave the beggar or the people who dropped the #50,000 in church, is there a guarantee that any of their prayers will be answered based on the amount that they gave out or donated?

Then during the course of the program, the issue of theology emerged and the question at this junction was, Are Nigerian Pastors anointed? If they are anointed, how do we know? Anointed by whom?

According to one of the participants, there were 9 signs which he stated, made people know Jesus was specially picked for God’s work, which of the pastors in Nigeria has any of the signs?

Is it a sign of being anointed when a pastor has a ministry in a kiosk or an arena?

Or is it a sign of anointing when you possess the ability of charisma and oratory like Cicero, to move the spirit of people?

Even today in Nigerian the wives of pastors are by virtue of being pastors wives anointed

The argument I just narrated here is the debate of why Churches should be taxed as discussed by a group of Nigerians on a Nigerian based radio station, Nigeria Info and all of the participants were Christians.

The most popular among the participants was “Freeze of Cool Fm”

At the end of the program, the result of a poll which was conducted over the issue had the majority supporting the idea of businesses of churches being taxed, while the second majority wanted the churches itself taxed, while the minority did not want them taxed at all.

Also some of the participant recommended that the EFCC needs to look into the Nigerian Churches and at their account books.

These churches make colossal amounts of money on a Sunday which are sometimes larger than the budget of some countries and these monies are generated from the purses of poor and rich Nigerians respectively who give the church the money freely due to the religious reasons.

These churches in turn use this money to build establishments and business ventures whose services are not free but are costly and unaffordable to the core contributors of the respective establishments.

The Churches business ventures bear the name of the church to prevent taxation and as a result, the top founders of the church who constitute the board of the directors of these companies are able to reap full profit from the businesses built from the donations of members who won’t even reap a dime for what they contributed for.

The question is where then is the compassion preached by these “stupendously rich “pastors or are they oblivious of the poverty that surround them in their immediate environment which these churches are located?

If they aren’t, then this act of not giving( am not talking about sharing Food packs or bags of staples) is heartless and inhumane and not only should the churches be taxed but law enforcement agencies should look into the question of using money given as charity in the name of God to build profit making businesses for personal gains and not for member gains.

• Some might say the argument is biased , but answer the following question honestly;
• Should the church use money given of free will by members to build profit- making businesses that the members themselves cannot benefit from?
• How has the church given back to you and the country?
• What makes you different from your pastor in terms of anointing?
• What are the characteristics of an anointed person?
• Is it right for a church to look mega and the pastors looking well fed while the church members usually at the back role feel intimidated?
• Money or Spirtual healing, which should be the upmost in the church?

On a final note, one of the participants narrated the story of a pastor who got donation from a member of his church who happened to be a corrupt government official who stole tax payers’ money and was later caught, but he had already donated part of the ill-gotten money to church.

The question is, why didn’t the pastor’s anointing tell him the money was stolen or the man was a thief?