--------------------
Letter of the
Archbishop of Athens and all Greece Ieronimos, regarding the issues of taxation
of the Orthodox Church of Greece and of the payroll of Its clergy to Greek PM
and the leaders of the EU
Prompted by repeated
publications in a part of the European Press regarding the issues of taxation of
the Orthodox Church of Greece and of the payroll of Its clergy, and whose
authors, in violation of any notion of ethics, avoid addressing relevant
questions to the competent Press Office for their complete information, we are
obliged to proceed to the following clarifications in order to restore the
truth:
A.
Taxation of the Church. The latest tax exemptions in favour of the
Orthodox Church as well as in favour of all known religions in Greece with no
exception, were repealed on April 23, 2010 by law No. 3842/2010. Henceforth, the
legal entities of the Orthodox Church have been disbursing : (1) a tax on their
real estate, and indeed at a tax rate three times as high as the one applying to
the rest of the public organisations of the country; (2) a tax on the rents they
receive each year from their real estate at a tax rate of 20% of their value,
namely higher than the one applying to private individuals; (3) a complementary
tax on their revenues from edifices and leased lands at a rate of 3%; (4) an
advance payment of tax for the following year at a rate of 55% of the value of
the aforementioned complementary tax; (5) a tax on inheritance and donations at
a rate of 0.5% of their value; (6) a stamp duty fee and Agricultural Insurance
Organisation rights at a total rate of 2.40% on each pecuniary contribution from
the faithful to the Holy Churches by reason of sacred practices. Moreover, the
aforementioned legal entities of the Church withhold and pay to the Greek
Government all taxes which private tax payers are also obliged to withhold and
pay in their transactions with third parties (tax on salaried services, VAT
etc.). In accordance with tax law, only spaces used for worship and public
benefit purposes by all religions and denominations with no exception are
exempted from the tax on real estate. Thus the Central Service of the Church of
Greece, the Holy Metropolises, the Parishes, the Holy Monasteries and the
Ecclesiastic Foundations paid for the year 2011 a total amount of 12,584,139.92€
in taxes.
B.
The payroll of the clergy. The payroll of the clergy is disbursed by
the Government in compliance with a contractual obligation of the latter,
assumed by it as of the year 1833 vis-à-vis the Church, since 65% (i.e. two
thirds) of the rural and urban real estate property of the Church at the time
came to the State. Henceforth and up to this day 96% of the remaining
aforementioned property has also come to the State — either unilaterally
(through a number of laws passed by the Greek Government) or through donations
offered by the Church. The largest mass land concessions by the Church to the
State took place in order to assist the refugees of the Asia Minor Disaster
(1922) as well as the landless cultivators after 1945. Furthermore, the most
significant public edifices of the capital (housing academic institutions,
hospitals etc.) have been erected on real estate conceded by the Church free of
charge for this purpose.
Today the largest part of Church property consists of forest extents, with regard to which, in accordance with the Greek Constitution, no change of their purpose and use is permitted, and of a few urban estates, upon most of which urban planning compulsory purchase has been imposed by the State so that they may be turned into communal spaces, without, however, the Orthodox Church legal entities’ having been compensated for them, due to the lack of financial resources of the relevant Municipalities. It is worth noting at this point that the salaries of the Deacons and of the Presbyters of the Orthodox Church are stipulated by the same law as those of Public Servants and are subject to the same cuts and tax allowances.
C. The revenues of the Church. The revenues of the Church derive from the rents of Its remaining real estate, the dividends from bank shares and voluntary contributions from the faithful. It should be noted that, as of 2008, paying dividends to bank shareholders has been suspended by law, while the real estate market is also going through a severe crisis. Despite all that, in October 2010 the Church of Greece supported the Greek economy by partaking of the share capital increase of the National Bank of Greece with the amount of 27 million euro, derived from bank borrowing. Today these shares, apart from the fact that they yield no dividend, have almost zero resale value. It should be emphasised that the Church of Greece has no revenues from commercial ventures or business activities in general.
Today the largest part of Church property consists of forest extents, with regard to which, in accordance with the Greek Constitution, no change of their purpose and use is permitted, and of a few urban estates, upon most of which urban planning compulsory purchase has been imposed by the State so that they may be turned into communal spaces, without, however, the Orthodox Church legal entities’ having been compensated for them, due to the lack of financial resources of the relevant Municipalities. It is worth noting at this point that the salaries of the Deacons and of the Presbyters of the Orthodox Church are stipulated by the same law as those of Public Servants and are subject to the same cuts and tax allowances.
C. The revenues of the Church. The revenues of the Church derive from the rents of Its remaining real estate, the dividends from bank shares and voluntary contributions from the faithful. It should be noted that, as of 2008, paying dividends to bank shareholders has been suspended by law, while the real estate market is also going through a severe crisis. Despite all that, in October 2010 the Church of Greece supported the Greek economy by partaking of the share capital increase of the National Bank of Greece with the amount of 27 million euro, derived from bank borrowing. Today these shares, apart from the fact that they yield no dividend, have almost zero resale value. It should be emphasised that the Church of Greece has no revenues from commercial ventures or business activities in general.
D.
The social work of the Church. Ever since the establishment of the
Modern Greek State and up to this day, uninterruptedly, and of course these days
in particular, when our people is suffering, Holy Metropolises, Holy Parishes,
and Ecclesiastic Foundations have developed a large number of actions and
charitable initiatives for the relief of those in need. Today the Church of
Greece operates: 2,325 funds for the poor (Philoptocha), 10 nursery schools, 10
kindergartens, 19 hospices for the elderly within the Holy Archdiocese of Athens
and a further 66 in the Holy Metropolitanates, 13 healthcare clinics for persons
with chronic diseases, 8 foundations for persons with special needs, 10
hospitals and medical centres, 7 mental health hospices, 6 hostels for the
homeless, 1 hostel for the accommodation of patients’ relatives, 36 boarding
schools and orphanages, many foundations dedicated to child protection, over 200
free food distribution centres, with the number of portions of food offered
constantly increasing, social supermarkets, free distribution points for
clothing and foot ware, and student boarding houses.
The number of persons hosted in all the aforementioned forms of social infrastructure of the Church for the year 2011 (accommodation, boarding, medical and pharmaceutical healthcare) rose to 5,862. Moreover, 54 camping centres are operated, where more than 15,000 children are hosted each year. Furthermore, there is a special service operated by the Holy Synod for the reception of immigrants and for the provision of legal assistance to them, should they wish to submit asylum requests. Finally, it should be taken into account that daily pecuniary aid is provided to the destitute, and academic scholarships are granted to Greek and foreign students. In total, for the year 2010, all agencies of the Orthodox Church of Greece spent on their charitable and social work the amount of 96,234,510.47 euro.
The number of persons hosted in all the aforementioned forms of social infrastructure of the Church for the year 2011 (accommodation, boarding, medical and pharmaceutical healthcare) rose to 5,862. Moreover, 54 camping centres are operated, where more than 15,000 children are hosted each year. Furthermore, there is a special service operated by the Holy Synod for the reception of immigrants and for the provision of legal assistance to them, should they wish to submit asylum requests. Finally, it should be taken into account that daily pecuniary aid is provided to the destitute, and academic scholarships are granted to Greek and foreign students. In total, for the year 2010, all agencies of the Orthodox Church of Greece spent on their charitable and social work the amount of 96,234,510.47 euro.
It should be taken
into consideration that the aforementioned data do not regard the Monastic
Community of the Holy Mount, the Church of Crete or the Holy Metropolitanates of
the Dodecanese, which constitute administratively independent ecclesiastic
jurisdictions (and distinct from the Church of Greece) in accordance with Greek
law.
We deem the dispatch
of the present to be appropriate so that things may be put back in their right
perspective; so that the irresponsible reproduction of erroneous and
stereotypical information as well as the creation of distorted impressions at
the expense of the Orthodox Church of Greece may cease, being obviously aimed at
serving unfathomable expediencies.
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment