The Catholic Church has faced so much scandal over the past several years that it can actually be hard to keep up.
Their latest one?
Well, the Vatican is now facing a new annual tax bill of a massive €720million.
Why?
Someone hasn’t been paying all their taxes. Uh-oh…
The Irish Independent reports that the European Commission is currently in the process of re-examining the controversial tax breaks that the church is allowed.
The EC is planning on condemning the fiscal perks and forcing the Vatican to cough up at least €720million a year in taxes.
Prime Minister Mario Monti has already written to the Competition Commissioner at the EC saying that the Vatican will resume property tax payments.
Mario Monti’s government has been on a mission to get the Vatican paying tax on its properties for the past two years.
He believes that if the church begins to pay what they owe, it will be one step closer to helping Italy get out of debt.
Speaking about the proposal to force the Vatican to pay tax, a spokesman for the Competition Commissioner said yesterday: “It is a proposal that constitutes significant progress on the issue and I hope it will be implemented.”
“This is a victory for public pressure. We’ve managed to break down – a little bit – the wall protecting the church,” said Mario Staderini, the leader of the Italian Radicals party.
At present the Vatican avoids paying property tax on 100,000 properties that are classed as being “non-commercial.”
This includes 8,779 schools, 26,300 ecclesiastical structures and 4,714 hospitals and clinics.
Estimates say that the Vatican saves anything from €700million up to €2.2billion a year by avoiding paying tax on these buildings.
However the church argues that its tax exemption is only worth €120million a year.
We wonder how this one is going to play out - if anything the reputation of the church will be tarnished even further if they refuse to agree to tax payments.