Property Tax
Interesting news item at
ADN Kronos International:
Israel: Vatican owes Jerusalem most of 65 Million Dollar Debt
As the Vatican and Israel prepare to meet in January in a fresh attempt to resolve a long-standing tax dispute, Jerusalem officials said this week that the Catholic Church owes most of a 65 million dollar debt in unpaid property taxes in the city. According to Israeli law, properties that are used as houses of prayer are exempt from paying property tax (arnona). But Christian churches, are required to pay property tax for buildings they own that are not used for worship, such as hostels and schools.
City officials, cited by the Jerusalem Post newspaper, say that the total amount of unpaid property tax amounts to roughly 300 million Israeli New Shekel (about 65 million US dollars), with the Latin Patriarchate the biggest offender.
"The debts in question belong to many church institutions in Jerusalem, and primarily relate to adjoining establishments such as educational institutions, guest houses, and halls which belong to the churches," deputy city spokesman Rafi Shamir said in a written statement.
Sounds perfectly alright to me -- the Catholic Church certainly knows the local laws but they still went ahead and started using these premises. And if they somehow persuade the Israeli's to give in, that would only open up claims from all of the other faiths that have property in Israel.
Posted by DaveH at January 2, 2006 7:16 PM