You shall pay thy tax, says society

Australia has become increasingly secular, and is continuing to do so. The general society does not revere any particular religion. In fact, religion, particularly Christianity has no place in the public sphere. Interestingly enough, other religions which are generally regarded to be the same as Christianity in terms of its teachings and values are not criticised by the media.

Channel 9's Current Affair, presented a report which criticised Hillsong for being exempt from taxes and "investigated" its finances. According to the report, the government classifies religious groups as charities, and hence are exempt from taxes. The purpose of taxes are to fund government schemes and programs. It is at the discretion of the government to allocate its revenue to schemes and organisations.  Accordingly, it must tax those who it serves and depend on it.

As such non-government organisations such as charities, and churches are of a different status from taxpayers as entities. They are independent of the government, so the government should not interfere with their activities. Its revenue is not earned, it is donated by its members.

The criticism directed at churched for being exempt from tax shows that they are not regarded  as organisations that are different from secular organisations. Instead, their donations that help support its works must be used to fund the facilities of others who do not contribute to it, that is general society. The onus is on the church to explain why it should be exempt from paying taxes.

If it were a secular organisation, or a religious non-Christian organisation, it is questionable as to whether it would have received the same criticism. One does not need to be religious to ask this.