Open Letter To The President On Intended Taxation Of Churches

Dear President, I humbly and respectfully write and extend my warm greetings hoping this missive find you in good health.

Not too long ago, your good self met with religious leaders to deliberate on the need for churches to pay tax. During the said meeting which was held at the Jubilee House in Accra on Wednesday August 29, 2018 behind closed doors, the Religious leaders including Muslims and Christians reached a consensus with the government on the need for churches and other religious bodies to pay taxes on their income-generating ventures.

The religious leaders, from the Catholic Bishops Conference, the Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council, the National Charismatic and Christian Churches, the Christian Council of Ghana, the Council of Independent Churches, a representative of the National Chief Imam and some Muslim leaders, had said after their interaction with the President that they had now understood the rationale behind the calls for religious organisations to pay taxes on their income-generating ventures.

According to the leaders, they believed that existing laws must be applied on taxation.

As far as I am concerned, the said meeting, with all intents and purposes, was to solicit expert advice from the ministers of the Gospel which never came. But I must say I am deeply troubled because the pastors you met failed to provide the needed advice you sought.

I am therefore compelled to write this open letter for your urgent consideration to guide you and for you to hasten slowly lest you be branded or labeled anti clergy.

While aspiring to become the president, you had twice in 2012 and 2016 rode on the back of the popular refrain that “ The battle is of the Lord” – 2 Chronicles 20: 1-29. You did commit the battle in the hands of the Lord and it went that way till God honoured you with that massive victory – 5,716,036 votes (53.85%) against President John Dramani Mahama's 4,713,277 (44.40%) to become the President.

Then come the desire to mobilize all the funds to finance government expenditure through tax and you think taxing churches would bail you out.

What I see, as an end time teacher and prophet, is that you are steadily succumbing to the influence of Satan evidenced in the avid desire to have churches taxed by all means. Obviously, Satan is inching on you by the fact that you now want to tax churches against God's will.

Much as I support the move by your government to raise adequate funds to finance government expenditure, the criteria for taxing churches must be meticulously chosen. The reason is that there are churches that are purely charitable organizations while others are doing business and making money.

Let me draw your attention to the fact that Priesthood is a divine institution that has been endowed with the authority to judge and reprimand people for wrong doing or encourage those who pursue a right course.

Therefore His Excellency ought to recognize the divine role of the clergy and that any attempt to fight it calls for the wrath of God and your blessings would be cursed as the priests who did not listen to the admonitions of God in Malachi Chapter 2.

As I have already stated above, some churches are purely charitable but genuinely raise monies for pastoral work and activities while others whose leaders making money for themselves and not the church and therefore justifiable to be taxed. No such church engrossed in business in that sense, can evade tax and that is for the government to find out which church is doing business and which is not.

The charitable ones depend on tithes and offerings for the purposes of paying their pastors and other expenses as in 1 Corinthians 16:1-10; Genesis 14;1-23; Malachi 3:6-14, Deuteronomy 18: 1-2; Leviticus 27:3; Numbers 18:22-28, 1 Timothy 5:17-18 and 1 Corinthians 9:1-24.

Also Exodus 30:11-30; Haggai 1; 1-8 and 2 Chronicles 24:4-14 explicitly instruct churches how to raise funds to build a church.

This is why I believe that churches that build schools, hospitals and provide infrastructural development in the communities should be exempted from paying tax in any form.

In any case, how would a pastor work as a salaried worker or engage in commercial activities and marry that with his pastoral duty. Matthew 6 – 24 says “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money”.

Therefore, as in Deuteronomy 18: 1-2 “the Lord is the inheritance” of Men of God and have no business engaging in secular work.

From the above, I wish that your Excellency should seek proper guidance and advice based on the word of God regarding the intent to tax religious bodies. In reference to 1 Kings 22 the religious leaders might not have advised you properly on the issue based on God's Word.

Respectfully, I urge you to consider these in your dealings with the priesthood while you serve as President of the Republic of Ghana.

With Sincere regards,
Signed …………….
Pastor Akwasi Agyeman Pambuo (0243236573)
Church of Christ Anointed Healing Ministry

1. O. Box 443

FNT-Kumasi.
20th September, 2018