Christians must pay tax – Catholic Bishop urges

Christians have been urged to pay tax as an obligation placed on them by God to help change society for the better.

Bishop John Kobina Louis, Auxillary Bishop working under the Greater Accra Catholic Archdiocese, said, though Christians saw tax payment as a civic responsibility, they ought to understand that it was a duty the Bible espoused strongly.

He said this in a homily (sermon) at the St Agnes Catholic church in Dodowa when he visited and celebrated the Holy Mass with the faithful from across Dodowa and its out-stations.

Bishop Kobina Louis said Christians needed to pay their tithe and do so for the nation in form of tax especially as citizens continued to ask for development in all aspects of their lives.

Delivering the sermon on the teachings of Mathew 22:15-21, where the pharisees tried to entrap Jesus on payment of census tax to Caesar, Bishop Kobina Louis said Jesus’ answer of “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God” enjoined Christians to be just and honest in serving God and nation.

“As Christians we should also pay our taxes. As to whether the tax rate is fair or not, that is another case altogether. God has made you to be leaders of nations. Our contributions will bring the good roads, schools, and hospitals we yearn for,” he said.

He said Christians had been engaging in social vices and evil doing and misinterpreting the Scripture by saying “we are giving to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and we will give to God what belongs God when we go to church.”

The Bishop said Jesus’ answer placed a greater responsibility on employees and workers to be productive at all times and employers to be truthful with their workers.

“It is a call to do what is right in our homes, families, workplaces, communities and the nation. Thanksgiving only in the church will not please God. Husbands must be responsible and love their wives whilst the latter must be submissive,” he said.