President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference, Most Rev Philip Naameh, said a decision has been agreed in a meeting between the clergy and the government that churches that run commercial activities should pay tax, as the law demands in the country.
He said the paying of tax is a civic responsibility of every Ghanaian for the development of the country, and the church, as an entity, should live up to in their core mandatory and responsible duty to pay tax on their commercial activities they engaged in.
Most Rev. Naameh, who is the Archbishop of Tamale Archdiocese in the Northern region, said in an interview on Otec FM’s morning show, ‘Nyansapo’, hosted by Captain Koda, on Thursday, August 30, 2018.
He said the decision was agreed at the Jubilee House, the seat of government, in Accra, when the clergy had an encounter with President Nana Addo on Wednesday, August 29, 2018, to have discussion that bothers on national issues.
The paying of taxes by churches has been a controversial issue and received a serious opposition by churches following the announcement by the Deputy Attorney-General, Godfred Yeboah Dame, who said the legal regime now provides for the taxation of activities of churches which essentially bother on business.
“The paying of tax is an ordinary civic responsibility of every Ghanaian, and they are not going to tax like that. They will come up with a bill or law on charity, they will take into consideration the charity work which the government have been doing and what the churches are doing. But if the church is doing business, there is no reason why it cannot be taxed, that’s what we all agreed on this when we met,” he echoed.
Source: Ghana/otecfmghana.com/Francis Appiah
