Gov’t won’t tax churches,but Charity Commission to check church funds is coming – Kofi Dzamesi

Ministry of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs has stated categorically that government will not tax churches.

Rather, a Charity Commission will be set up to ensure churches make good use of funds collected from their members.

The Charity Commission will see to the work of the churches and see how they have used their monies to the betterment of the people.

This, comes on the back of calls for churches involved in money-making ventures to start paying taxes to government.

There were a lot of controversies when the issue popped up in Parliament and traversed the media in 2018.

The former President of Ghana’s Catholic Bishops’ conference, Bishop Joseph Osei-Bonsu of the Diocese of Konongo-Mampong, in a radio interview said it is normal to tax church activities that generate income, but tithing must not fall into that category.

The Bishop advised that the government  take a look into the activities of various churches to ensure that only “what constitutes business” is taxed.

But responding to a question posed during the Ministry of Information’s midweek briefs on Wednesday, the Minister for Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Samuel Kofi Ahiave Dzamesi noted the importance of having a commission that will help keep churches in check.

“Government has not come out clearly to say they are taxing churches but what the ministry intends to do with the Charity Commission, which will be set up soon, to monitor the money that comes into the individual church coffers, ” he explained.