Vice president and flag bearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has stated that his statement that churches should be paid instead of taxed was taken out of context.
He said though Ghanaians think he meant to pay churches, it was rather to incentivize them to undertake more developmental projects.
In a meeting with the Clergy in the North East Region as part of his nationwide tour, the Vice President explained that he was only joking.
Dr. Bawumia explained that his comment meant what the churches have done for the country including the building of schools, hospitals and other essential facilities, they deserved to be helped to do more, not taxed.
“Look at the number of hospitals the churches have built. Look at the number of universities the churches have built and the faith-based organizations have built. Look at the number of people the churches and faith-based organizations take care of on a daily basis.
“Can you imagine? Just take a thought for a moment that you wake up tomorrow and all the schools, universities and hospitals the churches have built disappear. They just disappear. How would Ghana be like? Ghana will collapse. Isn’t it? We will not survive in this sort of situation because there will be chaos”.
Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia said it was a joke to mock those who believe churches should be taxed. He explained that he did not mean the country should add to its expenses by paying churches.
“So at that point, I was joking and I said, oh…people are talking about taxing churches. I don’t believe, and we will not tax churches. Because if you look at the work the churches have done, then I was joking then, maybe we should have actually paid them for what they did, not really trying to tax them.
“But I wasn’t really saying we should pay churches, no. I am saying that we should give incentives to churches to do more.”
According to Dr Bawumia, only those who don’t understand what the church is doing for the country would impose taxes on churches. He said the development projects by churches deserve incentivization, not taxation.
“Unless you don’t understand the work the church has done. If you are looking at the buildings, the way they keep the society together, the universities, the hospitals, the schools, it is massive. It is just massive. Many churches have hundreds of schools. So I don’t see and I will not have a situation where we are taxing churches”.
“We will rather want to give churches incentives to support what the government is doing. I want us to be partners in the way that the development partners are with us. You are our domestic development partners and we will give you incentives to do more,” he stated.