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A pastor in Samoa feels he has been duped over a Bill taxing pastors that was signed in July this year.
He has discovered that the Bill legalising the taxing of church ministers is not limited to the “alofa” or contributions made by members.
“I am sad because we were not informed about this during the public meetings.”
“During the consultations, all the Ministry of Revenue went after was the alofa but, to my surprise, someone came across the new amendment and pointed it out to me.
“Why were the Minister of Revenue Tialavea Tionisio Hunt, and his Associate Minister So’oalo Mene, not honest from the beginning about this hidden amendment?
“So aside from the alofa, they now want to tax us on our other incomes that we receive when conducting service prayers for functions, weddings and funerals,” said the furious Church Minister.
The pastor said the unfairness of the decision by the government was keeping them in the dark about taxing all income they receive from their roles as church ministers.
“All right, that’s fine, but I think the government should also look at taxing the cash envelopes the Cabinet Ministers receive from any event they attend.
“It is only fair that, if they desperately need money as indicated by their measures put in place to obtain more funding, they too should also be taxed when they receive their cash envelopes.”
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News category: Asia Pacific.
