FASHOLA! FAHOLA! FASHOLA! How many times did i call you? Don't jeopardise the chances of ACN guber aspirants in other states o,my uncle's contesting o. I hope you saw what went down in Kogi? PLEASE O

May kelly:

More anti-christ are yet to come.  Beware of  your state politicians.

Toll gate fee not enough, Civil servants tax deducted before salary not enough, revenues from offices, shops and market men and women not enough - then Churches tax may be enough?

Still no good roads, no water, no provisions for the people.

This should be simply put that our Lord should be paying tax to the Lagos (Nigerian) Government for having a house where people gather to worship.

Nigerian is approaching the end time.

How is it anti-christ when it says churches that do business (not all churches) should be taxed? Why should they get away from being taxed? The fact that churches are doing business is even more anti-christ than the taxation. Was it not Jesus that turned down the temple when it was arrayed with people selling here and there?
If you want your country to look like the US, yes you have to be taxed. Who will look at your face here that you can't make ends meet, so you shouldn't be taxed?

[size=18pt]Mr Fowler the head of Lagos Inland Revenue Board by the time he marries his other daughter or na son e get sef,  this time no be Dubai dem go go, they would probably go all the way to Australia, anything to show the world that ‘here we have got a bottomless pit’ courtesy of Taxing Churches and Mosques, more grease to Fashola’s elbows.[/size]

Good move. I dont see any reason why religious organizations that engage in extral-religious activities should not remit tax to the govt on bases of profit made from such activities.
For instance, some churches print cloth materials for their anniversaries and sell such to their members, thereby making profit from such sales. NOW THEY HAVE TO PAY TAX.

Infact, I may consider asking my church for their TIN in the coming years cos my church does some profit making transactions. It has investments in education sector.

Fashola, this is a good move but I have one concern.
How wud you expect me to pay tax on gift i receive from friends and or family relatives? That is ridiculous. You cant find me complying with that one o.

Concerning the tenants paying withholding tax, would it not amount to double taxation for the landlords considering they are made to be paying income tax and tenement rates?

My personal view is that churches need to pay tax, but not as high as personal or corporate tax.

Jesus set the example and paid tax, so I do not see why not.

I drive on a road to go to my branch of Winners. We use public utilities, so paying tax to cater for those things is not out of place.

aletheia:

He's not even taxing the churches directly, just saying that they must pay tax on any business that they run. Are churches supposed to be running businesses? BTW Jesus himself paid taxes.
^How precisely does Mr Fashola intend to enforce this?

I should open ur eyes, every church biz has a name, and they pay tax to the government. Every biz in Nigeria has a name - no biz is answering their church name only. i.e covenant univeristy is not living faith university and never winners university, they all have their biz names and they are being taxed.

Do not let the politicians of nig fool you. they kn what they are doing - they can never speak straight knowing.

This is not bad, since the churches have now turned business ventures and we now have 'world largest church'. What is it with Fashola and tax sef, abi him get 'alajo gene' for him blood? This man can tax anything taxable. Beware!!!

Most people on this forum are naive about tax system in Nigeria. FYI Fashola is only allowed to collect Personal Income Tax or PAYE and not on offering or other business profit the church is operating. VAT , withholding tax and Companies Income Tax are collected by FRIS. I heard from a Pastor that they used to tax their monthly allowance to be remitted to LSIR.

After collecting these taxes, these crooks will turn around to milk the citizenry through toll gates and then bizarrely accuse any protesters of 'wanting to get things for free'.

We still have a long way to go.

yeah, what of shrines?

after all, in their totalitarian approach to revenue generation, they seem to be blind to every thing else save the fact that ideals and absolutes reached upon by right thinking minds and fine-tuned over generations here in Europe can't just be transposed straight from here to Nigeria without destroying the same people that are supposed to be served!

nobody answers the question of TRUST and TRANSPARENCY? Or do you think the incessant demands for adjustment and re-adjustments required of the poor and struggling should not be meaningfully addressed to the wealthy, affluent and wasteful? Before you style a man as a Cicero or a Ceasar personified, how all-embracing are his policies?

just how constructive is it that the poor get the rugs pulled off from under their feet without any soft-landing zones but the recouped funds are then wastefully and wantonly expended on over-invoiced deals and inflated contracts?

sacred cows are kept, indited, tried in celebrated cases and nothing comes of it? in this country, you get indited on a 7-count charge of whatever, the prosecuting side will prove beyond doubt the reason why you should be behind bars or should pay the required penalties!

In Nigeria's comedies of errors', fellas come out on 16, 22, 40, 53-count charges and still walk free! if you can try that and walk at the public law courts here in Europe, its either everybody were stupid in the first place to have accused you or you should just recommend your Voodoo priest, witch or Hex Master to us so we can contact him for help on committing crime without doing time?!

So, who are we fooling? In any economic system wherein there is a turn to internal revenue generation drives, you must expect complaints because the masses will always feel the pinch of it first but then you provide other incentives that they readily relate to.

I believe Nigerians have been afflicted with one of the chronically unaccountable and criminally irresponsible leaders in the world and yet they strive, they cooperate, they innovate, they share, they bear, Look here, mate, I SALUTE THE NIGERIAN SPIRIT AND EVERYONE WHO CAN BEAR TO SEE FOLKS CRUISING BY IN GRAND PRIX's obviously bought with public funds ill-gotten! I salute everyone who can bear to sleep in the dark without power for their heaters, freezers, TV's and PS game-boxes while knowing that beneficiaries of bloated contracts are sleeping soundly on water-beds in the adjoining estate nearby! It just the kinda thing that'd make me wanna go get a bbgun and start blasting but folks bear up patiently under such 2nd-rate mediocre handling, abeg, let's be more mindful of the folks eating from dustbins even when we can't bear to spoon in micro-waved grub! Let the government think of more ways to make the system work without necessarily taking, taking and taking from the people all the time!

Even though i be serious christian, let the churches be taxed abeg, at least their members park on state govt repaired roads on sundays among several amenities they use without paying, especially with wealthy pastors parading around in the midst of so much poverty and deceit. Let the churches be taxed, Taxed and Taxed.

Speaking at the third Lagos State Taxation Stakeholders Conference, held recently in Ikeja, Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola, explained that the new tax regime was scripted to enhance the state's revenue base and promote effectiveness of governance.
Fashola explained that churches and mosques, who owned buildings used for business purposes, were not exempted from paying taxes to the government because they earn income from such businesses.

Well most churches are registered as a Charity organisation which means you cant tax them!!!!

This is a bad move. How can the community punish the very people who help achieve what politicians only dream of. Can we imagine what this world will be like of we there was no religion?

Again that is bad move.

Very soon this man will tax you before you can take a dump,

I support this 100%. For the first time in a long time i'm agreeing with fashola. If you do anything that looks like a business you must pay tax. You can't be flying a private jet and tell us you run a charity organization.

Thumbs up Fash.

Ekoo oni baje

Obaje ti ti ti

This is a brilliant move, all other states should follow suit. Well done

A new development on progress carries go fashola!

Supported

Guys read up, he is talking about taxing business owned by churches. Not taxing the church directly!

ACN now officially slipped into FAIL MODE   I know we are all for taxing churches given the propensity of the naija- type MOGS, but what da heck are they doing with these taxes other than grandiose projects that price out the poor?
I have just about had enough of these cut and paste approach to governance and public policy  

Are offering buckets passed out in mosques?

[size=13pt]Fashola explained that churches and mosques, who owned buildings used for business purposes, were not exempted from paying taxes to the government because they earn income from such businesses.[/size]

As long as it is just those involved in Non-profit businesses, that is fine by me.

MrMechEng:

Are offering buckets passed out in mosques?

What have offering buckets to do with this particular issue? Donations to non-profits are usually tax exempt.

Ride on baba Fash,, please tax those religious organisation well (Churches, mosques, shrines e.t.c), they are profit making organisations, they don't do no charity work, the pastors feed fat on the money and keep brainwashing the members that if they don't pay it, there shall be no prosperity, they even slap them on top their money, lol. As a matter of fact aside from the property tax, collect like 2.5% of the 10% tithe they claim to collect on behalf of God that they use by themselves. Aside from you politicians, they are the ones scamming the gullible public. As per the 5% from rent, good move! BUT LET US SEE WHAT YOU ARE USING THE TAX FOR O.
Common guys, how can pastors have fleet of cars and private jets when church members wallow in abject poverty?

Akiika:

Ride on baba Fash,, please tax those religious organisation well (Churches, mosques, shrines e.t.c), they are profit making organisations, they don't do no charity work, the pastors feed fat on the money and keep brainwashing the members that if they don't pay it, there shall be no prosperity, they even slap them on top their money, lol. As a matter of fact aside from the property tax, collect like 2.5% of the 10% tithe they claim to collect on behalf of God that they use by themselves. Aside from you politicians, they are the ones scamming the gullible public. As per the 5% from rent, good move! BUT LET US SEE WHAT YOU ARE USING THE TAX FOR O.
Common guys, how can pastors have fleet of cars and private jets when church members wallow in abject poverty?

GOD BLESS FASHOLA O. I AM A CHRISTIAN, BORN AGAIN AND READ MY BIBLE, ALLOWING HOLY SPIRIT TO LEAD ME. I SAID IT IN THE PAST, THAT IF I BECOME A GOVERNOR OR PRESIDENT, GOD WILLING, I WILL TAX CHURCHES THAT HAS GONE AWAY FROM THE MISSIONS CHRIST GAVE US AND COMMANDED US TO DO INTO ESTABLISHING BUSINESS CENTERS, ESTABLISHING INSTITUTIONS THAT EVEN 95% OF THEIR MEMBERS CANNOT AFFORD. CHRIST NEVER TOLD HIS DISCIPLES WHEN DEPARTING TO GO ESTABLISH INSTITUTIONS, IT'S MAN'S IDEA WITH WHATEVER MOTIVES THAT IS BEST KNOWN TO THEM. THE CHURCHES HAVE EVEN LEFT THE PROBLEMS OF THE NATION ALONE TO THE GOVERNMENT WITH LITTLE OR NO CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE CHURCHES THAT SPRINGS UP DAILY. I AM NOT AGAINST CHURCHES BUT WHEN THEY HAVE GONE OUTSIDE OF WHAT CHRIST HAD CALLED US TO DO INTO MAN'S IDEA OF ESTABLISHING BUSINESS CENTERS AND INSTITUTIONS WHILE IT IS FEW THAT BENEFITS FROM SUCH, THEN IT WILL MAKE SENSE TO TAX THEM AND USE THESE TAXES FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AS THE CHURCHES HAVE FAILED TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE NATION'S DEVELOPMENT. NOW, WE SHOULD BEGIN TO SEE PASTORS PRACTICE WHAT THEY ALSO PREACH, IF AT ALL THEY WILL BE FAITHFUL TO THE GOD THEY SERVE AND THE BIBLE THEY READ/PREACH. LET THEM START TO GIVE TO CAESER WHAT BELONGS TO CAESER AND TO GOD WHAT BELONGS TO GOD.

Most of these Churches have budgets that surpass State Budgets. Their owners have jets and cars that ply Government Roads, they have to pay some sort of tax to Government. No Church in Nigeria has any vocational Center where poor members could learn crafts and other self help projects, yet they squeeze from the poor to enrich their families

According to fashola, if u have business or transaction with a lawyer or doctor pay ur tax, i see him taxing every transaction that involves rendering of service soon, things like romance-exercises with ashezz, cutting of hair and so on. He will eventually force lagos into practising trade by batter.

People on this forum are being fooled by fashola.let him name the church owned biz that do not pay tax.the mission owned universities pay their taxes.i know a microfinance bank in delta state owned by a church,they pay their taxes.church owned biznesses pay their taxes.this is just a divide and rule tactic by fashola.the aim is to polarise lagosians into two camps- moslems and christians so that with that division,lagosians will not be able to fight against his wicked,exploitative tax policies.lagosians need to join hands to put a stop to all these fashola exploitation.most times revolt against oppressive govts starts in the largest cities,but lagosians definately in the best cowards in nigeria.right now lagosians are worse than slaves.