The Oyo state government on Sunday declared that places of worship located in the state are excluded from paying levies and taxes.
Rev. Idowu Ogedengbe, the Executive Assistant to the state governor, Seyi Makinde, announced this at the thanksgiving mass to celebrate the 70th year birthday of the Catholic Archbishop of Ibadan Diocese, Most Rev. Gabriel Abegunrin held at the Church of Ascension, Bodija, Ibadan at the weekend.
He stated that any places of worship that do businesses such as establishing of schools, universities, hospitals, bakeries, and so on must pay tax to the government since it was a profit-making venture.
While delivering Governor Makinde’s message at the service, Rev. Ogedengbe said the government seeks the support of the church to make sure that everybody pays tax.
He, however, noted that as members of the church, they should ensure they pay their taxes regularly, stating that members of the body of Christ should pay their tax and not the church itself.
“So, instead of giving the money as a whole to government, churches and mosques should have a plan of action towards supporting the needy, supporting the under-privileged in the society. “Some churches and mosques that have schools, they should try to reduce the school fees, and whatever they are charging is more or less close to what government is charging. We have churches and mosques promoting education, promotion good health care too.
For example, he added that churches and mosques having universities, bakeries, pure water company, running services and so on, are urged to pay taxes because it is income generating and profit-making business “and as such, they must pay tax on such business to the government.”
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