SUPREME SOVIET CONSIDERS DRAFT FOR EXEMPTING CHURCHES FROM REAL ESTATE TAX
Institute of Religious Liberty, 19 March 2015The Supreme Soviet of Ukraine included in its agenda a draft law introducing changes in the Tax Code of Ukraine concerning exemption of religious organizations from tax on immoveable property.
On 18 March 2015, 263 people's deputies of Ukraine voted for this, the Institute of Religious Liberty reports.
A majority of parliamentary fractions supported this initiative, which was written by deputies Pavel Ungurian and Nina Yuzhanina from the interfraction deputies' association "For spirituality, morality, and health of Ukraine."
The draft law aimed to exempt, at the legislative level, religious organizations from the recently introduced tax on immoveable property. The background conditions for this were the contradictory decisions of local bodies of government, which either refused to provide tax privileges to religious organizations or selectively and in a discriminatory manner exempted from taxation only certain religious societies or confessions.
The parliamentary Committee on Matters of Tax and Customs Policy, at its session on 4 March, supported the adoption of this initiative as a basis and on the whole in a clarified version, which exempts a somewhat shortened list of church real estate from taxation.
In the opinion of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches, for now the legislature has defined harsher conditions of taxation of immoveable property for religious organizations than for small and mid-sized business, as well as owners of industrial buildings. "We consider such a legislative approach unjust and unreasonable," a letter from the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations to parliament says.
The heads of churches and religious
organizations called the people's representatives not to burden
with an additional tax religious societies, which exist and
maintain church property exclusively by means of donations. (tr.
by PDS, posted 19 March 2015)
Background article:
Kiev's
punishment of Orthodox Church takes effect
March 13, 2015
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