In an announcement posted Feb. 15 on the government’s website, Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti said he would seek legislation requiring the church to pay taxes on all its commercial holdings. About one-third of the 100,000 properties owned by the church in Italy are used for commercial ventures, according to Italy’s Radical Party, which has long campaigned against the tax exemption.
Here is more, and for the pointer I thank Mark Thorson.
They can call it “Unrelated Business Income Tax”, or UBIT.
Amen.
Give to Ceaser what is Ceaser’s…
And to Croutons what is Crouton’s,
For the Salad.
Taxing churches?
They don’t realize that the church tax exemption was to protect government from the church, not the other way around?
I expect to see massive lobbying by churches to lower the overall business tax rates.
I don’t see why Monti would oppose this over the medium to long run.
“I expect to see massive lobbying by churches to lower the overall business tax rates.”
The Vatican’s economics has titled towards the free market under John Paul II and Benedict XVI. It is really the case that the Radical Party and its allies will not like the end result if the church decides it needs to influence tax and business policy.
The Radicals are free-market quasi-libertarians.
Not the Italian radicals I’m afraid. They are more like anti-semitic communists who believe in one set of rules for themselves and another one for everyone else. That doesn’t mean that they are always wrong though, and in this case it is difficult not to side with them
I’m afraid you do not have the slightest idea of what the Italian Radical Party is. They are the Italian best friends of Israele and USA, they are anti-communist and free-market, have promoted the introduction of divorce in the country of the Pope and have been fighting for forty years against corruption and bribery of the italian political parties.
Occupy Jehova!
Hate of Christianity (because this move is motivated only by hate and nothing else) knows no broders
And restaurants get taxed by Hate of Food?
‘Sup broder? Don’t ice me, broder!
Sadly, the net result of the crisis has not been reduction of special privileges. It has been shift it special privileged towards finance sector and bondholders, at larger total cost as % of gdp.
Neither boom nor bust seems able to reduce special privileges.
It is quite an old news.
It was quite a big problem in Italy. I am not a Radical supporter but it was a proper campaign, due since a lot of time. Monti was the first PM to be able to do it because he is not elected, he does not care about the overwhelming catholic power during elections. But the theme was discussed every other year in the last twenty years.
Catholic Hostels with Tax Exemption was unfairly competing with normal ones. A 10% margin can be quite a big advantage in a free market. The problem was not only related with Catholic institutions by the way. On the same page, enjoying Tax Exemption on unrelated activities, there were political associations and labor unions.
Accordingly to the new norms they should be Tax Free only for activities related to their primary purpose and non commercial activities (e.g.: food and shelter for poor people), but they will pay normal taxes for all commercial activities. With the previous rule it was enough for a building to be used for both commercial and non commercial activities to make it Tax Free. Therefore they were used to add a small chapel in any Hotel, so that the whole Hotel was not paying Taxes.
By the way, Monti is a well known strict Catholic, “Hate of Christianity” is not an option.
Buildings don’t pay taxes…
If you just charged for water, etc., the problem mostly goes away, correct?
I would suspect it’s just a tax increase.
The tax exemption we are speaking of is the old ICI (Imposta Comunale sugli Immobili, something like County Tax on Real Estates), now called IMU (Imposta Municipale Unica, something like that).
You pay it accordingly to square meters and the category of the building.
Meh, they really only need bolt, sphere and chord.
File under “politicians did not wake up one recent day forgetting they liked to spend OPM.”
I also doubt that Italians forgot they liked fornication. My dad thinks the world’s big problem is too many people and that the Catholics are a major perpetrator.
Your dad does not think well. Italian population is going to shrink: http://blog.euromonitor.com/2007/09/italian-ageing-and-declining-population-will-affect-consumption.html
In fact you will not find a Catholic nation among those with the fastest growing populations: http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2011/08/02/countries-with-fastest-growing-populations/
fornication != reproduction
Among Christians of a nation are Catholics relatively more fertile?
It’s good his son is brighter.
Perhaps relevant:
Why Tolerate Religion? http://press.princeton.edu/titles/9839.html
Papal relocation to more favorable “business” environments? Offshoring the church? Filipinos beating down the door to provide high quality butlering services that Europeans charge and arm and a leak for. Tyler’s posts are all coming together now.
They have tried it in the past. But I am not sure Avignon, in the south of France though it is, would be a better place for the Vatican to do its business these days.
I hear there is a spare full scale copy of Saint Peters in the Cote d’Ivoire just going to waste.
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