I received an email this morning alerting me to a story in yesterday’s The Observer (The Guardian for Sundays) about a coterie of bishops and church groups attempting to put pressure on the chancellor of the exchequer, Gordon Brown, to close legal loopholes that allow the extremely affluent to avoid tax.

Christian Aid, Cafod, Church Action on Poverty and the Church Council for Monetary Justice have all this weekend issued separate statements urging the Chancellor to tackle what they see as a new frontier in an anti-poverty agenda. With concern mounting over the widening gap between rich and poor in Britain, church leaders are understood to have the backing of the senior archbishops within the Church of England.

…

Non-dom status allows the wealthy to legally escape paying tax on earnings abroad. It is thought Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams is concerned at how tax breaks enjoyed by an elite group run contrary to a social justice agenda.

Andrew Pendleton, a senior campaigner at Christian Aid, said: ‘This is an economic issue. But it’s a moral one too. Is using perfectly legal methods of minimising tax right? The answer is no.’

The hypocrisy of these remarks, and who they are coming from, shouldn’t go unnoticed. These church groups are trying to close these loopholes, and their entire argument comes from a ‘moral’ standpoint. Strangely enough, in the UK churches enjoy a de jure tax-exempt status.

Morality my fat aunt! As I’ve mentioned before, the anglican church currently hold in the region of £5 billion in assets, completely without any tax liability.

Niall Cooper, national coordinator of ecumenical Christian charity Church Action on Poverty, said: ‘Most of the population does not have the opportunity to avoid tax. Tax isn’t a voluntary activity.’

Absolutely correct. One legal way of avoiding tax is to become a priest. However, I’m sure that this choice of career isn’t ideal for most of us, but for those who choose to enter a religious organisation are given a free ticket to tax exemption.

Churchy: “Hey, taxman, you should tax the rich more!”
Taxman: “Maybe. We need more money for welfare programmes and such.”
Churchy: “Yes! Tax these fat cats, it’s immoral that they can get away with not paying tax!”
Taxman: “Yes… wait a minute, don’t you enjoy a tax exempt status?”
Churchy: “Never mind that, look at the fat cats!”
Churchy points over there while waving his free arm trying to hide the large purple elephant in the room.

Fucking hypocrites.

Read the full article at The Observer

This entry was posted Monday, April 30th, 2007 at 7:32 am and is filed under . You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.