Voyage to Taxing Religious Organizations in Nigeria and blocking leakages in the Nigerian Economy: Legal Framework and Matters Arising

Taxation in the modern State has become an essential ingredient in the fabric of economic and social development, often utilized as a pivot to assemble revenue for catering to the needs of the entire citizenry. Religious Organizations for centuries have enjoyed classic exemption from taxes across board. There are many reasons for their exemption from taxation, but chief of them all is the argument that religious organizations like charitable entities meet a moral need crucial to peace, stability, and progress of the society, thus taxing them would be so burdensome and crippling that their objectives may be defeated with a heavy tax burden placed on them. A curious mind would wonder if this argument can hold sway in this millennia where religious leaders have made the Forbes list and a lot of them boast of private jets and mansions their counterparts in other centuries before could not have afforded or boasted of. If these religious organizations have become profit making centers why should they not be taxed? In this work the writer reviews the status quo gleaning from the American experience and scrutinizing the matters arising in this age long debate. The trajectory then is that the phenomenon of exemption of religious organizations from taxation must be revisited from a legislative and policy making stand point.