A Helicopter, Rental Buildings and No Tax Exemption: A Columnist Asks Who Checks the Church’s Books

• Columnist Patria-Kaye Aarons heard a church was exploring leasing a helicopter and hiring a pilot
• She wrote that the same church had bought several buildings in two years and was renting them out
• The church had not registered for tax exemption; she said most churches register as private businesses
• She argued congregations deserve to know how every dollar is spent

In May 2016 Gleaner columnist Patria-Kaye Aarons, a television presenter, took on a subject many Jamaicans discuss privately but rarely in print: church money. Her column, “The Church and money”, was prompted by something she had heard about one local congregation.

“It has come to my attention that a particular local church is currently exploring the option of leasing a helicopter and hiring a pilot on retainer so that its minister can spread the word of God wider, faster,” she wrote. The same church, she said, had been building a property portfolio: “Said church has acquired several buildings over the past two years and is leasing them, collecting rental income to finance ‘church activities’.”

Aarons then checked the church’s tax status. “I went on to the website of the Department of Co-operatives looking to see if the church I was told of had registered for tax exemption. To my surprise, it had not,” she wrote. When she called the department, she said, it confirmed that most churches had chosen to register as private businesses. She reported that fewer than 100 churches were registered for tax exemption, even though Jamaica has an estimated 2.75 churches per square mile.

Her conclusion was about accountability to the pews as much as to the tax authorities. If a church registers as a business, she argued, it has chosen to pay taxes, and someone should be looking at its books. “It is my belief that a church congregation should know how much collection makes it to the offering plate weekly and how that money is spent – down to the last cent,” she wrote.

The column raises a question that still matters for churches that invest in property. Rental buildings can give a ministry steady income, but they also bring questions about tax status, registration and transparency. For members at home and in the diaspora who fund church building projects, it is fair to ask how the church is registered, who holds title to its properties and where the rental income goes. Churches that answer those questions openly are better placed to keep both their tax benefits and their members’ trust.

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