The lower house of Parliament on Wednesday approved a controversial
Communist proposal to tax churches on monies they receive in line with a
property restitution law enacted in 2012. The proposal will now go to the
Senate for further debate.
Opponents of the proposal argue that it is unjust to tax money paid in to
the churches in compensation for properties confiscated by the Communist
regime. They argue it is akin to punishing the victim of a theft and also
unconstitutional, as in their view it violates earlier treaties.
The coalition government comprised of the ANO and Social Democrat parties
backed the proposal by the Communists, who had threated to withdraw their
tolerance of the minority government if they had rejected it.
According to the Communists, the state stands to recover about 380 million
crowns annually from the roughly 2 billion crowns it now transfers to 16
churches under bilateral agreements.
In total, the churches should receive 75 billion crowns worth of land and
property confiscated by the Communist regime and get 59 billion crowns
worth of compensation money for the rest, to be paid out over a 30-year
period.