Moves To Collect Back Taxes From Churches Frozen As PM Orders Negotiations

Jerusalem, 27 February, 2018 (TPS) -- Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, along with Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat will establish a special team  to find a solution to the issue of back taxes owed by the church for properties which they own, but do not constitute houses of worship.

The team will be headed by the Minister for Regional Cooperation Tzachi Hanegbi, and will include representatives from the Treasury, the Ministry of Interior, the Foreign Ministry, and the Jerusalem Municipality, which will negotiate the matter with representatives of the church.

All measures to collect taxes or confiscate lands from the church have been frozen until the team submits its findings.

On Sunday, churches in Jerusalem, including the historic Church of the Holy Sepulchre, closed their doors to worshippers to protest a measure made by the Knesset to demand retroactive payment of delinquent taxes, and City Hall’s plan to seize church properties and bank accounts in lieu of payment.

The Greek and Armenian Patriarchates, as well as the representative of the Franciscan order within the Roman Catholic church, said the move was a “flagrant violation of the existing Status Quo” that was reminiscent of anti-Jewish laws passed “during dark periods in Europe.” They added that the main victims of the seizures would be poor people in and around Jerusalem that rely on the churches for food assistance and education.

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat noted in response that the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, like all churches, are exempt from city taxes and will remain so, but that it was not logical that “commercial areas like hotels, wedding halls and businesses should share this exemption, just because they are owned by the churches.”

“Why should the Mamilla Hotel pay municipal tax while the Notre Dame Hotel across the street is exempt? I’m sorry to say that for too many years, the state has blocked the municipality from collecting these taxes for commercial areas, which have reached a staggering NIS 650 million! It’s illegal and illogical, Barkat said. “Either the state has to give us back these funds, which are meant to develop the city, or we will continue collecting them from the churches, as the law requires. We will not agree to have Jerusalem residents cover the bill for these inordinate sums.”