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Christian Family Who Said Taxes Were ‘Against God’s Will’ Ordered To Pay $2.3m Bill

Christian Family Who Said Taxes Were ‘Against God’s Will’ Ordered To Pay $2.3m Bill

The judge challenged them to find a passage in the Bible that said 'thou shall not pay tax'. Unsurprisingly, they couldn't.

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie

A Christian family in Tasmania, Australia has been ordered to cough up a hefty chunk of change after failing to pay their taxes.

Christian missionaries Fanny Alida Beerepoot and Rembertus Cornelis Beerepoot argued the reason why they didn't pay $930,000 in tax was because they said it was against God's will.

Fanny and Rembertus represented themselves in court, according to ABC News, and said paying tax was contrary to the law of 'Almighty God'.

Mr Beerepoot told the court: "We believe that the constitution affirms the fact that the Commonwealth resides within the jurisdiction of the law of the Almighty God and the law of the Almighty God is the supreme law of this land.

stockcatalog/Creative Commons

"As we move outside of God's jurisdiction, this country has received curses which we're already seeing in the form of droughts and infertility.

"Transferring our allegiance from God to the Commonwealth would mean rebelling against God and therefore breaking the first commandment.

"We rely on the blessings we receive from God which we give to him and not to an outside entity such as the tax office."

Apparently, Rembertus wrote to both the Queen and the Prime Minister last month to question whether paying tax was really in the best interests of a practicing Christian. Presumably he was hoping to get a bit of sympathy from two very high-powered Christians. Clearly the messages fell on deaf ears.

But it seems like the Beerepoots have a bit of a history of not paying for certain jurisdictional things. Two years ago, their 2.44-hectare property was seized by the Meander Valley Council because they didn't pay $3,000 in rates over seven years.

They say they don't own anything because they are in God's hands.

bestlawdir/Creative Commons

But, unsurprisingly, the judge found it pretty incredulous that someone would try to use God and Christianity as a way to flout the law. He even gave the Beerepoot's a lesson in the word of the Bible.

"If you can't find me a passage in scripture or gospel that says 'thou shall not pay tax' then can you see I have difficulty finding a starting point?" Justice Holt asked.

"I believe the submissions to be honestly and genuinely held beliefs rather than an attempt to avoid tax liabilities.

"But in my view, the Bible effectively said that civil matters and the law of God operate in two different spheres."

In total, they had to fork out $1.159 million and $1.166 million to cover income tax debt, administrative costs, interest charges and running balance account deficit debts.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: News, Australia