Fetish priests and Mallams should also pay tax - Odefo Acquah

Europa

November 24, 2017 9:50 AM

The government had said that all commercial activities of churches will soon be taxed, but Odeyifoò Acquah who is also the Leader and Founder of Church of Bethesda at Anyaa in Accra believes that fetish priests and Muslim clerics should not be left out as they make more money than most churches.

The President of the Spiritual Churches of Ghana, Odeyifoò Philip K. Acquah has asked the government to tax fetish priests and Mallams in the country, as they also engage in businesses that make profit similar to the churches.

The Deputy Attorney-General Godfred Yeboah Dame on Thursday said that all commercial activities of churches will soon be taxed.

At a roundtable organised by the Kingdom Equip Network, Mr Dame told Accra-based Starr FM: “…The legal regime now provides for the taxation of activities of churches which essentially bother on business.”

“It is only in respect of activities which are charitable that churches are exempted from taxation,” he said.

He said that “…even the current law in the country…warrants that we tax them [churches] for activities which are commercial or bother on trading or business.”

Commenting on this on Accra-based Adom FM, Odeyifoò Acquah said he is not against the call made by the Deputy Attorney-General, as religious bodies are not exempted from paying tax.

He quoted Roman’s Chapter 13 to back his statement, adding that “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority that God has not established. The authorities that exist have been established by God”.

But Odeyifoò Acquah who is also the Leader and Founder of Church of Bethesda at Anyaa in Accra was quick to add that fetish priests and Muslim clerics should not be left out as they make more money than most churches.

“Mallams and fetish priest make a lot of money so government must also tax them. If they concentrate on us selling GHc20.00 oil, they won’t get anything” he said.

Europa