The Clerk-elect of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana (PCG), Rev. Dr Godwin Nii Noi Odonkor, has said it is just and fair for the government to tax churches on the businesses they do.
Churches, he argued, were not islands in the running of the State and once they engaged in profit-making ventures, 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.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic in an exclusive interview in Accra last Friday, he said: “If churches collect offering and use the offering for charity or social 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, it is just to tax them like all other businesses.”
Ghana Revenue Authority
The question of whether churches should pay taxes on their income or not has attracted public discussion in recent times.
The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has already indicated that there are plans to tax churches.
Source: graphic.com.gh
