Seoul, South Korea - The prosecution Friday cleared the National Tax Service (NTS) head of charges of dereliction of duty, regarding calls for the imposition of income taxes on clergymen.
The Solidarity for Freedom to Criticize Religion, a civic group, filed a complaint against then National Tax Service Commissioner Lee Ju-sung in May, accusing him of being negligent in his duty by not taxing clergymen. The civic group said that as there are no exemption provisions for religious leaders in the tax code, it is a dereliction of duty not to impose income taxes on pastors, Buddhist monks, Catholic priests, and authorities of other religious organizations.
However, the prosecution cleared the ex-tax commissioner of charges of neglect of duty, saying it has been customary not to impose income taxes on clergymen. The prosecution said though they don’t see dereliction of duty on the part of the tax agency, it does not mean they support the custom of not levying taxes on religious workers.
Despite Lee being cleared of the charges, the controversy is expected to continue.
``It’s totally nonsense,’’ said Kim In-sang, the secretary general of the organization. ``The NTS imposes income taxes on ordinary people as there are no exemption provisions in the tax code. There are no exemption provisions for religious workers, either.’’
Clergymen have not been subject to income tax as there has been no related tax code about whether the money priests get is subject to tax or not. Churches have been arguing that they are non-profit organizations, and that pastors' services should not be subject to taxation as it’s not labor but serving the people.
The tax agency had sought an opinion from the Ministry of Finance and Economy on whether it is legally possible to collect income tax from those engaged in religious work, and the ministry said at the parliamentary audit in October that it would carefully consider the matter after researching cases overseas.
The Solidarity for Freedom to Criticize Religion, however, said the ministry is sitting idle to avoid the risk of angering the religious sector. ``Most of the clergymen in the United States pay income taxes. Religious workers in European countries often have two jobs as they get little income, but they are also subject to income taxes,’’ Kim said.
Even in Korea, some clergymen have been voluntarily paying income taxes. Catholic churches have been deducting tax from income at the source, though most of the priests are in the tax exemption bracket. The Christian Ethics Movement, a Christian organization, has also been advising pastors to pay income tax.
Even when the tax is levied on religious workers, very few of them will be subject to it as most of them are in the tax exemption bracket due to their low salaries. The controversy over income tax seems to have meaning for only pastors of some large churches.
``According to online polls by various Internet portals, over 80 percent of people support the idea that religion should not be a reason for being exempt from income taxes,’’ Kim said. ``We submitted the data, but the government seems to think it isn’t reliable. We are going to demand the government conduct a poll,’’ he added.