Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has reminded people who made it to leadership positions in all fields of human endeavours in life that they owe the society three type of taxes.
The first one, he said, is income taxes, which is personal income tax, “and if you own a company, company, or corporation tax.”
The second tax, Professor Osinbajo said, is a social tax, which is another name for philanthropy: “the obligation of the wealthy to give back to society.”
And the third is a civic tax: “the obligation of the successful to write their stories, to share the histories of the phenomena they have become, in order to instruct, to admonish and to inspire the present and the future.”
The Vice President spoke today, September 17, in Lagos, at the presentation of the biography of the General Superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry, Pastor W. F. Kumuyi, jointly written by Banji Ojewale, Segun Babatope, Emeka Ezeze and Tunde Opeibi
The Vice President added the fourth tax which he called “the Pentecost Tax,” which he said is for successful preachers of the gospel.
“But for the successful preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ, there is the fourth tax, this is the Pentecost Tax. The obligation of men and women since the day of Pentecost, the day described in Acts 2 when the Holy Spirit empowered the disciples to preach the gospel, to tell the story of their missionary journeys. The miracles, signs, and wonders that God has wrought on that journey, the deprivations, the fastings, and the persecutions. The victories and failures, the mountains and the valleys.”
According to Osinbajo: “this is a huge responsibility. But the saints before us discharged that responsibility so we are the beneficiaries of the Acts of the Apostles, the stories of the men and women who carried the gospel first to Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.
“Their stories have encouraged generations of Christians since, their recorded experiences may seem to make them stars, but they are meant to instruct us in adherence to sound doctrine, to rebuke us and instruct us unto righteousness.”
Prof Osinbajo said that the book: “Kumuyi – the Defender of the Faith,” is the continuation of the baton handed down over to our generation since the day of Pentecost.
He also described the book represents the work of discharging the Pentecostal tax obligation of Pastor Kumuyi.
“The book tells the story of the incredible work of the Holy Spirit in his life and Ministry. How by His grace, he not only preached and continues to preach holiness to a whole generation, but lived and lives it himself daily.”