Churches deserve their tax breaks
Claims of the tax exemptions for churches (The Age, 29/4) are greatly overstated. In the case of church and charitable private hospitals, they don't receive exemptions from GST, and fringe benefits tax exemptions are no greater than those for health workers in the public system. They are income-tax exempt, but they don't make a profit.

Any surpluses are used either to fund the constant capital requirements of a hospital or returned to the community in a variety of charitable programs.

Church-run private hospitals do receive exemptions from state and local taxes, similar to those of public hospitals, partially as they provide public health services such as education, aged care and emergency care.

Church-run hospitals have operated for many years, well before the distinction between the public and private hospitals system existed. They were not established as commercial enterprises and have always had a responsibility to provide for the community. In recent decades, more than a third of church and charitable private hospitals in Victoria have closed as they do not have the corporate backing and capital-raising advantages of the for-profit private hospitals.

Maintaining the limited tax exemptions for our members is a relatively small recognition of their important social function.

Stephen Kerr, secretary, Church and Charitable Private Hospitals Association

This letter was CCPHA's response to the article 'Churches reap the benefits of belief' by Barney Zwartz, published in The Age, 29 April 2006.