What should be done to the pastors

Dear Editor,

Re: Church, Govt. tax dispute deepens 

Line up every single faifeau who hasn’t paid their taxes by 30 June 2018 and serve them notices of default. 

Send them to jail if they don’t pay next year. These people are only men. 

They are not God. As men and citizens of the country, they come under the jurisdiction of the laws of Samoa. 

If they think they are above the law, then they can tell it to the Judge at Mulinu’u as they are sentenced for tax evasion.

I don’t know why overseas faifeau are involved in this. They have nothing to do with this. Only Samoan-based faifeau should pay because they are under Samoa’s government jurisdiction. 

Overseas faifeau pay tax or file charitable trust returns to their overseas governments.

PAYE Tax means the more alofa the faifeau gets, the more tax he pays. 

The less alofa he gets, the less tax he pays. 

This “I am poor and don’t get much alofa” argument is irrelevant. 

If the faifeau only has a few matafale and only gets a small alofa, then the tax he pays will be small. 

If he is a faifeau of a big church, then the tax he pays will be accordingly be big. If people are worried about their faifeau having to pay tax, the best thing to help him pay less tax is to give him less alofa.

 

Petelo Suaniu

Samoa Observer

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