Pastors being encouraged to pay income tax

By Kim Rahn

Pastors may be asked to voluntarily pay income tax, as a Christian group is promoting the idea.

The National Council of Churches in Korea (NCCK) said Friday that it will encourage pastors to voluntarily pay income tax, the first such move by a public Christian organization in Korea.

Under the current law, those engaged in religious servitude are exempt from paying income tax, while some voluntarily report their earnings and pay what they owe.

“In a discussion Thursday, we agreed that Korean churches’ finance management should be more transparent because churches and clergymen face public distrust. Pastors’ paying tax will be part of the transparent finance management,” an official on the council said.

The group seeks to prepare systems through talks with its nine member orders. “We will start discussions in April and if the process goes as planned, we’ll pass a resolution on it in the general meeting in November,” he said.

Pastors make a living from collections from congregations, with those at large-scale churches receiving money monthly, like a salary under the name of honorarium. According to the law, the honorarium is not an income because priesthood is not a job and their preaching is not a labor activity.

While the law doesn’t force them to pay income tax, there has been an argument for decades over whether those engaged in religious practices should pay tax. Many people have claimed they should, as there have been cases where religious figures misappropriated money, especially at large churches.

Following such criticism, some pastors are paying tax voluntarily by reporting their “income” to the authorities. Catholic priests have paid income tax since 1994 following a resolution among them.

The NCCK resolution, if made by the council, will not be legally binding, but each order will revise their own rules accordingly and then pastors belonging to the orders should follow them.

“Several Christian groups have called for tax payment, but their calls have not made an actual impact on churches because they are more like civic groups. It was not easy for public Christian organizations to promote the payments because their members are pastors and their opinions will have a great influence,” the official said.

“The council’s action is the first move as a public Christian organization about finance and tax payment issues. We can’t ignore the calls anymore for change amid social distrust,” he said.