Last Sunday, I was in church and they announced three offerings. First offering, second offering, thanksgiving. Then on Tuesday I passed the same church and saw a big new building project, with bags of cement everywhere. In my mind I asked, how much does this church make in a week?
That is when this question became real for me. Should places of worship be taxed?
I grew up believing that church and mosque money should never be touched. It belongs to God. But as I grew older, I started to see how much money flows into religious houses. My friend who is an usher in a big church once told me how they count money after service, sometimes it is up to hundreds of thousands in one Sunday. And that is just one branch. Multiply that by many branches, many Sundays, many years. It is huge money. All of it tax free.
If you think about the economy, taxing places of worship could actually help Nigeria a lot. Imagine if even 5 percent of what big churches and mosques collect went into government account. That money can build classrooms, repair our bad roads, buy drugs for primary health centers. Right now, the government taxes a barber, a hairdresser, a small provision seller. Even POS business owners pay tax. But a church that owns a big hall, a private jet, a university where students pay millions, that church pays no tax on offerings. Is that fair?
So from a fairness and economic angle, yes, tax them. It will make sense.
But then I remember my small village church. My home church in the village has zinc roof and wooden benches. The offering on Sunday is sometimes just 2,000 naira total. The pastor uses it to buy fuel for generator and to help a member who is sick. If government says that church should pay tax, that church will die. Who will lose? The villagers who depend on that church for hope and help.
Many places of worship are not just about money. They do what government is not doing. During COVID, it was churches and mosques that were sharing food. When someone loses their job, it is their pastor or imam that gives them support. When there is crisis in a family, they run to the mosque. If you tax these places heavily, you weaken the only support system many poor people have.
Another thing is the worship experience itself. Worship is supposed to be free. You come, you pray, you give what your heart wants to give. But if pastors know they must pay tax, they will put more pressure on members. They will say, "We need to meet our tax target this month." Offering will become like a compulsory levy. People will start feeling that going to church is like going to a tax office. The joy and peace of giving to God will be gone. And trust will reduce. People will start asking, is this offering for God or for government?
So I don't think we should tax offerings and tithes directly.
What I think should be taxed is the business part. If a place of worship opens a school and charges high fees, let that school pay tax like other schools. If a church builds a hall and rents it out for weddings at a high price, that income should be taxed. If a religious group runs a pure water factory, a bakery, a big bookshop, that business should pay tax. But the money people drop in the offering box inside the church should not be taxed.
That way, government makes money from the rich religious businesses, but small churches and the real act of worship are protected.
For me, that is the balance.
image source AI