Face of Nation : Christian missionaries Fanny Alida Beerepoot and Rembertus Cornelis Beerepoot faced the Supreme Court of Tasmania on Wednesday after they both failed to pay an estimated $930,000 in income tax and other charges in 2017.
Solicitor Stephen Linden told the court the pair had been served two notices of their debt and had failed to lodge their tax returns. In their submissions, Mr Beerepoot said Australian taxation law was contrary to the law of “Almighty God”.
“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,” he told the court.
Representing themselves, the pair told the court they had previously paid income tax prior to 2011 but that a deepened spiritual relationship meant they later realised paying tax was “against God’s will”.
Mr Beerepoot told the court the pair sent letters to the Queen and Prime Minister last month calling into question the jurisdiction of taxation and the validity of the legislation.
He argued that by being made to pay taxes, their dependence on God was being taken away from them, which was causing Australia to be cursed.
“Transferring our allegiance from God to the Commonwealth would mean rebelling against God and therefore breaking the first commandment.”
“As we reject God, the curses upon us become greater, but if we return to God’s teachings there will be healing,” Ms Beerepoot, who referred to Mr Beerepoot as her “brother”, said.
“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.” In 2017, the family had their 2.44-hectare property at Mole Creek in Northern Tasmania seized and later sold for $120,000 by the Meander Valley Council after they refused to pay about $3,000 worth of rates on the property over seven years.
“We don’t own anything because we are his [God’s],” Ms Beerepoot told the court.
