Moral Benchmark: Not Churches
I’m sorry God but I don’t think you care about children or their safety. The churches you are associated with certainly don’t appear to care about them either. The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse have provided their findings and report today. It is horrifying reading; with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull labelling it a “national tragedy”. I was one of the victims who made a submission to this Royal Commission along with thousands of other child sexual assault survivors.
Over time, churches have portrayed themselves as the benchmark for morality. I would consider the level of child sexual abuse and subsequent coverups have rendered their moral benchmark a significant falsity. Churches have not proven to be moral institutions; they’ve proven to be evil and damaging institutions to many helpless children over many, many years.
This particular Royal Commission took five years to complete with six Commissioners involved and many other professionals involved in its execution. It has a budgeted cost to the Commonwealth of $500 million; all of which is justifiable expenditure for the protection of children into the future. The redress scheme recommended by the Royal Commission to the victims is around $4.3 billion with an average payment of $65,000 for each victim. When you consider the lifelong torment and mental health issues endured by child sexual abuse survivors, this redress scheme is nothing unreasonable. Some of the redress scheme will be paid from the churches involved, in addition to the payments to come from the government.
Churches have now been legally proven to have covered up child sexual abuse, failed to protect children when they knew of it, and failed to report the crimes to the police. I would say that makes churches very poor moral participants in our community and broader society. Yet, churches and their ministers still receive the most generous tax exemptions and concessions in Australia under the motivation of “advancement of religion”. A church registered with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission is exempt from income tax, receives Fringe Benefits Tax rebates or concessions, and GST concessions.
I won’t go in to all the nuances of tax law in this area as it is rather complex and this isn’t tax advice. The long and short of it is that a religious practitioner is technically able to access tax exempt benefits for their entire remuneration package. This is not available to most Australian taxpayers. Provided the requirements are met for a religious practitioner who is employed by a religious institution and is conducting pastoral duties, there is no Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) payable by either the church or pastor. There are also no reporting requirements for these exempt benefits paid by religious institutions to their religious practitioner; they do not appear on the PAYG Payment Summary. That’s a pretty sweet deal you’ve got to admit. Let’s imagine you’re a minister of a large church and you’re conducting pastoral duties and you’re deemed eligible to receive exempt benefits. The church can pay the mortgage on your house, all utilities, telephone and internet bills, maintenance costs on the house, and other “ministry related hospitality expenses”. Ministry-related expenses may be motor vehicle costs, computers and software, travel costs, books and journals, etc. These payments do not appear on the group certificate for the minister as they’re exempt benefits. Who pays the tax on these payments? Nobody. Not the church, not the minister.
Other charities classified as Public Benevolent Institutions have FBT capped at $30,000 per employee. This is still extremely generous. There is no FBT limit applied to the exempt benefits amount that can be paid to a religious practitioner employed by a religious institution provided the specified criteria is met.
The question now is whether religious institutions and their religious practitioners should continue to receive such generous tax exemptions and concessions. Their claim to these tax concessions are under the phrase “advancement of religion”. When religious institutions, en masse, have shown utter disregard for the welfare of Australia’s children, then I would consider the “advancement of religion” dogma to be a damaging part of society. The Royal Commission cost taxpayers a lot of money and it's probably time for religious institutions to assist in footing the bill. Paying tax is an easy way to contribute.
Let me tell the religious institutions something about my life and being subjected to child sexual abuse. I have paid through the teeth to fund my own wellbeing over the years; I have seen psychiatrists, psychologists, counsellors, doctors at great expense. I have sobbed and sobbed for days on end. I have doubted my own mental faculties on many occasions. I have beaten myself around the head in a bid to make my brain function normally. I have struggled to have meaningful relationships in my life.
I have paid my taxes for the last twenty-seven years, though. I have copped it as the net medical tax offset was removed that repaid me for some of my out-of-pocket medical expenses. I have copped the reduction of mental health funding that allowed me to visit specialists under Medicare funding.
What are religious institutions going to do? They’ll probably fight any reduction to their tax concessions if it’s even considered by any government. They’ve got enough money to lobby politicians; I don’t. I will continue to pay the tax imposed upon me. I will also continue to believe religious institutions are the most money-hungry, hypocritical entities in our society and the lowest moral benchmark.