The Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea, a major Protestant church here, has decided that its clergy will voluntarily pay income tax. It was the first time that a major Presbyterian church has made such a decision.
The PROK, which has a total of 1,654 churches across the country, with its congregation and clergy standing at 280,000 and 2,950, said that it took the decision after making a theological and legal review of the issue.
“We agreed that it was fair for the members of the clergy to pay tax, which is an obligation of all citizens of this country,” a church spokesman said. The agreement is not binding, but it certainly will encourage other Protestant churches and religious groups like Buddhists to follow suit.
Taxing the income of the clergy has been a contentious issue for decades – going as far back as 1964 — but the plan faltered time and again due to protests from religious groups and politicians who needed their votes in elections.
Opponents claim that the work of the clergy should not be regarded as labor and that churches and temples should be regarded separately from places of business. An alliance of the 55 largest Protestant churches has been formed to oppose the government plan to tax the clergy.
But paying tax is — as the PROK sees — a constitutional duty every citizen ought to abide by — like the military draft for every healthy young man. The Catholic Church has already been fulfilling this duty since 1994, and the Anglican Church became the first Protestant group to pay income tax in 2012. Some Buddhist monks also pay tax on a voluntary basis.
Opinion surveys show that a majority of Koreans and even Christians support the plan to tax the incomes of priests, ministers, monks and other members of the clergy. A recent poll found that 75.3 percent of Koreans and 72 percent of Christians supported the plan. The argument for preserving the privilege for the clergy has no place in this society.
Given the opposition from religious circles, the government has done well to take a thoughtful step. Its latest plan will regard 20 to 80 percent of the income as expenses and deduct it from the tax base, and those whose income is under 40 million a year will not pay any tax. Accordingly, less than 50,000 of the 230,000 clergy members would be subject to taxation in the initial stage.
The PROK leadership said that labor was a noble mission entrusted by God and that what the clergy was doing was a kind of labor as well. All religious groups should embrace this position, and the National Assembly should act on the government-drafted bill quickly.
