Anyone may arrange his affairs so that his taxes shall be as low as possible; he is not bound to choose that pattern which best pays the treasury. There is not even a patriotic duty to increase one’s taxes. Over and over again the Courts have said that there is nothing sinister in so arranging affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible. Everyone does it, rich and poor alike and all do right, for nobody owes any public duty to pay more than the law demands.
— Judge Learned Hand, U.S. Court of Appeals, 1935.
English: Judge Learned Hand, circa 1910. Français : Le judge Learned Hand, vers 1910. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Source:
New Property Taxes For Greece Demanded By EU, IMF
Uploaded by PigMine3 on Sep 16, 2011
From: http://www.youtube.com/user/AFP
September 16, 2011 - Greeks were fuming on Thursday at a surprise property tax which could exempt the church, while the rest of the country is being urged to make “costly” sacrifices to secure EU-IMF rescue loans. Reactions in Athens.
Hard-pressed Italians call for Church to lose €3bn tax benefit
As Italians grit their teeth against the coming economic austerity measures, the Catholic Church is being forced to defend the multibillion-euro tax breaks it enjoys on 100,000 properties.
Mario Staderini, leader of the Radical Italians party, has led the latest protests by proposing a parliamentary measure to repeal the Vatican’s exemption from the ICI property tax.
Campaigners say the allowance, along with other ecclesiastical tax benefits, robs the Italian treasury of €3bn (£2.6bn) a year. Such a sum, they say, is unacceptable at a time when Italians are being forced to pay more for basic healthcare, as well as seeing cuts to local services and pensions, as ministers seek to slash public spending to calm financial markets.
Mr Staderini said: “Nobody wants to pay their ICI tax to help fund places of worship, and as such they want to abolish the allowance for what are commercial activities carried out by the church authorities.”
The Church avoids paying tax on about 100,000 properties, classed as non-commercial, including 8,779 schools, 26,300 ecclesiastical structures and 4,714 hospitals and clinics. The crux of the controversy is whether church-run businesses should be considered as commercial enterprises and therefore liable to taxation. (via The Independent)
