The Greek government has announced it will start taxing churches as part of its efforts to get out of its financial crisis.
The Greek government has announced it will start taxing churches as part of its efforts to get out of its financial crisis. A new draft bill to be tabled in parliament next week imposes a 20 per cent tax on the Orthodox church’s real estate income, reportedly worth over 10 million Euros (US $14.8 million) a year, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The Orthodox Archbishop of Athens Ieronymos said on Sunday that taxing the churches is unconstitutional and “unprincipled.” He told the Athens weekly, Real News, that the Church of Greece would challenge the tax in the Greek and European courts.
He proposed instead a calculation based on revenues and expenditures, rather than real estate income, with the Church paying 20 per cent tax on the remainder of their net income.
“The state is telling us that ‘we don’t know what your (Church) revenues are; yet, I want 20 percent of what you receive’. This is unconstitutional,” he said. The archbishop dismissed media accounts of the Church’s wealth. “Come and show us where this money is,” Ieronymos said.
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Tags: Church Life