Readers say religious bodies that run other business ventures should be taxed

isaac

September 10, 2015 10:24 AM

80% of Pulse Nigeria Poll voters are in agreement that business ventures run by religious bodies should be taxed.

A church in Nigeria

The Chief Executive Officer of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN), Jim Obazee, stirred the hornet's nest when he opined that business ventures run by religious bodies in the country should be taxed because they are separate entities from the church or mosques which are non-profit organisations.

He cited instances where such bodies operate several money making businesses where they make money but hide under the auspices of being charity bodies to avoid being taxed on these businesses.

Hear him:

“They are registered with CAC under part C as non- profit organisation and they refuse to be accountable, because when they do their registration, they put within the registration documents they gave to CAC that they will be holding Annual General Meeting and presenting to their members audited financial statements.

We are wondering why people who ordinarily talk about giving your account, teaching you how to account to God, how you run your life, are refusing to account to stakeholders on how they manage funds that are received from people who believe in the objectives that they are pursuing.

Government business is to protect its citizens and citizens are the ones putting its money in all these not for profit. So we want to know; how accountable are they? and if they pursue non-charitable activities like running schools, hospitals, airlines and all of that, we want them to account for those ones separately as profit-making entities."

In the light of this, Pulse Nigeria Poll had this poser for a vote:

Should religious organizations be taxed on their business ventures?

How Nigeria voted:

80 % - Yes, as long as they are making money from the business

20% - No, they are doing charitable work

How would you vote?

isaac