“All those people renting houses and turning them into church the next day, what do you call it – Church?
“It is no church; it is like a school. Just as a school has its definition, that is how a church has its definition.”
Okogie endorsed the decision of the Lagos State Government to tax Christian and Muslim clerics.
“I will not say it is completely wrong. If you earn a salary, you must pay your tax and that is what he [the governor] is doing,’’ Okogie said during a pastoral visit to Ijanikin, near Lagos.
“The government believes that there are some clergymen who are earning salaries and if you look at it properly, there are so many people who are calling themselves clerics today.
“If you earn a salary you should pay your tax. But if you don’t want the state to be developed, it is too bad. Why then are you in the state?’’ Okogie asked.
“The Corporate Affairs Commission is the one licensing them and when you put on your white collar, they think you are a clergyman while you are a journalist,’’ Okogie said.
“But everybody feels that they can hide under the umbrella of the church, get CAC licence and they do whatever they like,’’ he remarked.
Recently, the Lagos State Government sent out letters to some churches and mosques on the decision to tax their earnings and those on their payroll. (NAN)
