Wayo wants churches taxed if ...

The Founder and Leader of the United Renaissance Party, Charles Kofi Wayo, has expressed concern over the way some pastors are feeding fat on their congregation, and has called for a radical change of the situation.

In an exclusive interview with the Chronicle on Saturday, he stressed the belief that most of these so-called 'pastors' were feeding on their unsuspecting followers, thereby enriching themselves with the proceeds they fleece of these innocent and poor people.

This was in reaction to the controversial issue of whether or not the church, as an institution, must pay tax to support the development efforts of the nation.

Though Chuck, as he is affectionately called, does not subscribe to suggestions for the church as a place of worship to pay tax, he noted that their business concerns and interests, such as schools, must be taxed.

Wayo has therefore asked the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), to begin investigations into the activities and operations of some of these "Pastors' and their churches, since, according to him, some of them live very ostentatious lifestyles.

"Some of the preachers, when they have the ostentatious lifestyle, the IRS must find out if they use their church money for that, then the houses they live in must be taxed, and their luxury cars and stuffs must be taxed, e emphasised.

He further noted, "You know, a lot of preachers live ostentatious lifestyles ehh… some of them have million-dollar homes in United States and stuff, and we have to prop up the IRS to make them an efficient and effective tax collecting agency to check some of these things in our society."

Under the current circumstance, he noted that the IRS does not have the needed capacity to deal with the situation, since according to him the institution was ill equipped.
He, therefore, stressed the urgent need for the government to set a standard to stipulate what churches can and cannot do, so that the activities and operation of churches in the country would be streamlined.