Religion and money are uneasy bedfellows – they fight and squabble about who gets up to soothe the crying baby at night. They don’t agree on a single thing. The neighbours are not left out either – they discuss just how incompatible the two are and are convinced a divorce is eminent. We would like the two to be separated – God and money – one a Higher power and the other a mere creation of man, but human affairs, as we have all grown to learn, are anything but simple and straightforward.
The First Schedule of the Income Tax Act, allows for the exemption of income tax of certain income/gains/profits accrued in, derived from or received in Kenya usually as a Government policy to foster the growth of certain industries and promote certain activities.
[READ: Time for Taxes to Enter Politics.]
Churches (and other religious institutions) in Kenya (as is usually the case globally) enjoy exemption from taxation on the gains/profits they receive from their followers by virtue of the sole purpose for which they exist: the advancement of religion.
But churches and other religious organisations have in the recent past deepened their business interests – rental income, insurance income, consultancy income? et. al. and pundits (critics/the court of public opinion) now feel that these incomes ought to be chargeable to tax.
I agree.
Religious places ought to be a place of worship and not a place of business (remember tables being turned by Jesus?) and no matter how tempting it may be to engage in business so as to “farther the Kingdom” – a real risk emerges when persons engaging in essentially the same business are treated differently for tax purposes.
Licenses to run religious institutions ought to be pegged on purely non-commercial objects and strictly monitored.
Thoughts?