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Lavish lifestyle of men of God behind call for church tax – President Akufo-Addo

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President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo says the seemingly  lavish lifestyle of some Men of God in the country has generated a rather controversial public discourse on the need to impose tax on Church income.

In the country’s quest to build a modern and prosperous nation, President Akufo-Addo said, it can not be lost on any one that there are increasing calls for Churches to be taxed, as it was not difficult to see what was driving these calls.

Speaking at the 2018 Synod of the Global Evangelical Church on Thursday at the University of Ghana, President Akufo-Addo said the church is an integral part of the wider society.

For years the Church had been seen to lead the drive for development — they build and run schools and hospitals, led the campaign for good sanitation, cleanliness was next to Godliness, they preached and practice —  the Priest led his live as the average Ghanaian could identify with.

Unfortunately, the public had looked on as the Priest displayed opulence —  compete to show who was most powerful and richer, while some members of the Church wallow in abject poverty. It is not surprising,  the President said, that there had been calls for taxes to impose on Church income.

“I am not getting into the merits and demerits of the prosperity gospel that appears to be the main theme for many of our present day preachers. The God Lard knows I preach prosperity myself and do not want people of this Country to be poor and I am very much for wealth creation”,  the President stated.

But the difficult truth, he noted, was that once a person entered into the wealthy and prosperity sphere, he or she necessarily slipped into the tax category. He said even though he believed in putting up dignified Church edifice — such as the National Cathedral built by Government —  it was imperative that the public, including the Church, engaged in intellectual and healthy discourse on whether the Church should pay tax or not.

President Akufo-Addo told the congregation that from the practical to the spiritual, the Church could not operate on a different play field of the society, saying “many of the people who today strive to build beautiful and magnificent Churches”, came to church from homes that were, unfortunately, very much impoverished. He said he was not against the building of magnificent Churches and Mosques, after all,  he was committed to building a national Cathedral — as he believed the towns and cities should have paved roads, good sanitation and beautiful houses for the people to live in when they go to worship.

He said the Bible had provided a moral anchor that has help Christians face trails and tribulations of life, saying, he believed it was equally important that, the Church promotes the study of subjects that would equipped the members, especially the  youth to acquire jobs to develop their capacity to compete in the modern world.

It was expedient, President Akufo-Addo noted,  to train the youth in pastoral work, but it was, also equally important that they were trained to become Scientists, Carpenters, Engineers, Mathematics teachers, dress makers and many more of the professions.

The President said, though he believed in miracles, the over concentration of it by some Pastors had made it difficult for government to convince the public, especially the youth to acquire skills and work hard to build up global businesses for the betterment of the nation.

According to President Akufo-Addo, the Country’s younger generation were no longer willing to wait for the long-promised improvements in their lives as they believed Government and the Church could work to raise the pace of development to meet their needs.

The Moderator of Global Evangelical Church, Rt. Rev. Dr. S.K Ofori commended Government for the introduction of educational reforms — the Free SHS and the Double Track System — but was quick to add that Government engaged fully all stakeholders in the introduction of the double track system.

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