Churches, mosques now to pay tax – DELEGATES VOTED-

DELEGATES at the on- going National Conference  Tuesday voted that henceforth, Churches and Mosques will be paying tax to the federal government, just as they also agreed that Federal and state governments should no longer fund Christian and Muslim pilgrimages to the Holy  lands.

These were part of the resolutions reached yesterday during discussions of report of Religion Committee.

The decision to make religious bodies pay taxes came up when a delegate representing Civil Organisations, Mallam Naseer Kura during his contribution on the report had raised it that religious leaders were making much money and should be taxed.

Also in his contribution, a delegate representing the Nigeria Guild of Editors, Isaac Ighure however frowned at the situation where pastors and heads of churches make too much money with some of them owning private jets, just as he stressed that they should be made to pay taxes and the elite class must stop abusing the little ones in the society, “some people buy private jets when people in their churches are suffering and living in abject poverty, they should be made to pay taxes.”