Why does Destiny Church have a tax free status?

The church was irresponsible with their recent protest, held during a level 3 lockdown in Auckland. The majority of those attending were without masks, and were not following physical distancing guidelines. When the media pointed out that most people were not wearing masks, the church's leader, Brian Tamaki, said: "I saw everyone wearing masks."

The church and its leader have a rich history of controversies. For example, during a 2016 sermon Tamaki blamed gays for the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes. Two and a half years later, he finally apologised for his comments.

Because of the 2016 sermon, a change.org page was set up to call for stripping Destiny's tax-free status; 125,572 signatures were gathered. At the time, Internal Affairs Minister Peter Dunne tweeted: "I do not favour taxing genuine churches and real charities but as Destiny [Church] is obviously neither, it should pay taxes like every other business."

In 2019, Destiny Church's charity organisations had a combined income of $8,112,428, yet paid no tax. Taking advantage of the recent wade subsidies offered by the government during our lockdowns, Destiny Church Auckland Trust received $91,384.80, and Trustees In The Destiny Church Hamilton received $36,518.40.

In 2017, the Department of Internal Affairs issued a notice to strip two of Destiny's charities of their charitable status - Destiny International Trust and Te Hahi o Nga Matamua Holdings. Destiny Church took immediate legal action, and in 2019 the High Court restored the charitable status of both groups.

New Zealand is a secular society, and it's about time we removed "the advancement of education or religion" as a charitable purpose from the Charities Act 2005. Religious institutions shouldn't be automatically allowed to register as charitable organisations.

Daniel Ryan

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