l****z
发帖数: 29846 | 1 The Greek Orthodox church – Greece's second largest landowner after the
government – has come under fire for not paying enough in taxes on its
assets.
One group to join the protests in Athens against austerity measures is Make
the Church Pay. Its members are fed-up with the inadequacy of the church
administration to support their country in its hour of need. A similar
Facebook group – Tax the Church – has 100,000 supporters.
"They simply don't pay. They are so rich, and yet their contribution is
minimal," says Theodora, one of the protesters.
The scale of the Greek Orthodox Church's assets shed light on this
resentment. The exact value of the Church of Greece, including land,
property, artifacts, commercial revenue and shares in government companies,
is unknown but experts estimate the 500-plus monasteries, 7,945 parishes,
130,000 hectares of land and 1.5pc stake in the Bank of Greece is worth &#
8364;7bn to €15bn.
Church representatives insist they are pulling their weight, releasing
figures showing that upwards of €2.5m was paid to the Greek taxman in
2010. The published figures, however, detail the taxes paid by only one of
the 6,500 government companies classed under "church", that of the effective
head office. Critics believe the web of church/government bodies is another
way to draw attention away from the total gross value of the church as a
whole. | g*****w
发帖数: 1824 | 2 这不奇怪啊，有些国家据说十一税还是国家直接从工资里扣的呢。 |
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