29 March 2024, Friday, 10:25
Support
the website
Sim Sim,
Charter 97!
Categories

State Demands BYN 160K Of Taxes From Red Catholic Church

15
State Demands BYN 160K Of Taxes From Red Catholic Church
PHOTO: OVCHINNIKOVA IRINA (SHUTTERSTOCK)

Meanwhile, the court canceled the fine previously imposed on the parish.

The Minsk city court canceled the decision of the Maskouski district court dated June 8, according to which the parish of the Red Catholic Church for unauthorized construction (Article 21.12 of the Code of Administrative Offences) was punished with a fine of 1,350 rubles, Radio Svaboda reports.

The lawsuit was filed by a subdivision of the Minsk City Executive Committee - “Minsk Heritage” Communal Unitary Enterprise, which drew up an administrative protocol for the fact that the parish allegedly installed two light partitions in the underground part of the plebania.

This was considered a re-planning of the premises. There used to be a garage there, and parishioners believe that there was no re-planning. In addition, the partition itself has been there since 2013. It does not appear in the technical passports that the Minsk Heritage passed over, but in fact it has existed there for a very long time.

The parish appealed the decision of the Maskouski district court in the city court.

The lawyer said in court that the installation of partitions is not an upgrade and does not require permits. These premises will be reconstructed on the basis of the project of the Ministry of Culture and the Municipal Unitary Enterprise “Minsk Heritage”, new partitions will be installed there, and the current ones will be preserved.

Priest Zavalnyuk, who does not have a construction education, signed acts of acceptance of technical documentation in December 2019, according to which these partitions were not there. But they existed even before the transfer of the entire complex of buildings of the parish under a free use agreement.

“He did not know these circumstances and signed the technical documentation, which is recorded on paper and does not make notes that the premises have been redeveloped,” the lawyer said.

Earlier, the parish received a message that it must pay the state more than 160 thousand rubles in taxes. Believers have begun collecting signatures under an appeal to Lukashenka to transfer the complex of buildings of the Red Catholic Church to the parish.

For the parish, these are “unaffordable and unfair” payments.

According to Lukashenka’s order of September 13, 2013, the complex of the Red Catholic Church was transferred from the republican property to the communal property of the city of Minsk, and to the free use of the parish of Saints Simon and Helena. The Minsk city executive committee handed it over to the economic department of the Municipal Unitary Enterprise “Minsk Heritage”.

After the reconstruction of the Red Catholic Church complex in 2018-2019, the parish is forced to pay extra, in addition to utility bills, to the Municipal Unitary Enterprise “Minsk Heritage” 12,950.39 rubles as the land tax, the depreciation and property tax. According to Minsk Heritage, these payments result from the contract for free use. The parish received documents demanding payment in the first quarter of 2020.

Now the debt of the parish to the Municipal Unitary Enterprise “Minsk Heritage” is more than 160 thousand rubles.

Since the buildings of the Red Catholic Church complex do not belong to a religious community, but to the Minsk Heritage enterprise on the basis of the right of economic management, the parish has lost the right to tax benefits regarding the land tax and the real estate tax, which are guaranteed by law.

The parish has repeatedly appealed to the state authorities with a request to restore historical justice and transfer the complex of the Red Catholic Church to it, but in vain. The last time the parish sent such a request to the Minsk City Executive Committee was in May 2020. The Minsk city executive committee replied that then it saw no grounds for transferring the building of the church and plebania to the ownership of the religious community.

As said in the statement of the curia of the Minsk-Mahiliou archdiocese, in the entire history of the existence of the complex of the Red Catholic Church, this was the first time the state took financial part in the restoration. However, for almost 30 years, these buildings have been restored and maintained by the forces of the religious community. During the restoration, the parish acquired three expensive bronze bells, which are installed on the tower of the church.

The curia of the Minsk-Mahiliou Archdiocese does not see a real opportunity to pay 12,950.39 rubles a month, as required by the Minsk Heritage Municipal Unitary Enterprise, since these payments are “unaffordable and unfair” for the parish.

“It turns out that the state, without asking the parish, seems to have lent it to it, and is now demanding its return. But this was out of the question before the start of the restoration,” the statement says.

The curia of the Minsk-Mahiliou archdiocese called on the state authorities to reconsider their decision, to transfer the complex of buildings of the Red Catholic Church to the parish “and thereby restore the right to use tax benefits in accordance with the law.”

"Taxes are not as high as for the Red Catholic Church"

Do similar situations arise in the Belarusian Orthodox Church?

Archpriest Siarhei Lepin, chairman of the Synodal Information Department of the BOC, said that parishes that carry out divine services not in their own premises, but, for example, in residential buildings, in rental areas, pay the relevant taxes.

“It's just that they are not as big as those of the Red Catholic Church, since the general tax is divided among all users of the building's area, as in apartment buildings, for example,” said Archpriest Siarhei Lepin. “Usually these are not such high taxes. The difference in their scope, if any, is the difference the amount of taxes for legal entities and individuals ”.

Write your comment 15

Follow Charter97.org social media accounts