Worthy Christian News > Christian > Samaritan’s Purse among volunteer health workers required to pay New York income tax for helping during pandemic

Samaritan’s Purse among volunteer health workers required to pay New York income tax for helping during pandemic

(Worthy News) – Having been asked to come to New York City to help with the COVID-19 crisis, disaster relief organization Samaritan’s Purse (SP) has been told it must pay state taxes for the time it spent running its free-of-charge field hospital in Central Park.

Samaritan’s Purse set up its free Emergency Field hospital in Central Park on April 1. The move was in response to a call from the Mount Sinai Health System requesting help with COVID-19 patients that were overwhelming New York City’s medical infrastructure. Describing the hospital, the Samaritan’s Purse website states: “Our 14-tent, 68-bed respiratory care unit was designed especially for this coronavirus response; among other notable features, the mobile medical facility includes 10 ICU beds equipped with ventilators.”

Referencing the demand for income tax payments, Franklin Graham told Faithwire this week: “We didn’t call [the Mount Sinai Health System], they called us. And we agreed to go and we have not charged them one penny. All of our services have been paid by God’s people.”

Samaritan’s Purse medical staff members are among thousands of other volunteer health workers who came to help New York, the epicenter of the pandemic in the US, during the crisis. Under NY rules, workers are liable for income tax once they have been in the state for 14 days. Medical volunteers who came to help with the pandemic for longer than two weeks are also expected to pay NY state tax.

Explaining why income tax is being requested of medical volunteer workers, Gov. Andrew Cuomo stated he was “not in a position to pay subsidies,” WPIX reported. At a press conference, Tuesday Cuomo said: “It would be irresponsible for me to sit here looking at a $13 billion deficit and say I’m gonna spend more money, when I can’t even pay the essential services.”