Flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has announced that his administration intends to provide incentives to churches to engage in more developmental initiatives instead of imposing taxes on them.
He asserts that churches are well-equipped to collaborate with the government in advancing development within the nation.
This declaration arises in the midst of initial debates regarding the potential taxation of churches.
Nevertheless, Dr. Bawumia opposes this idea, highlighting the crucial societal role that churches fulfil.
During a meeting with the clergy in the Bono East region as part of his ongoing nationwide tour, the NPP flagbearer noted, “If you look at the work the church has done, we should rather be paying them than they are paying us.
“Unless you don’t understand the work the church has done,. If you are looking at the buildings, way they keep society together, the universities, the hospitals, and 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 same way that the development partners are with us.
You are our domestic development partners and we will give you incentives to do more.”