Czech Republic: Taxing Church Payouts for Property Confiscated During Communism

(Patria) - The lower house of the Czech parliament has voted to tax payouts the Church receives as compensation for property confiscated during communist rule, a key demand of the current Czech Communist Party (KSČM) for supporting the centre-left minority government.

Deputies of the ruling ANO party of Prime Minister Andrej Babiš and their minority partners, the Social Democrats, joined the Communists and the far-right Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) party, and the bill passed with 106 votes. The lower house has 200 deputies.

Compensation to churches, but mostly to the Catholic Church, began in 2013 and amounts to two billion crowns (about 135 million KM) annually over a period of 30 years. They cover church property that was confiscated by the communist authorities after World War II, and which the authorities could not return according to the restitution law, because, for example, the ownership had changed in the meantime.

The law must also be confirmed by the Czech Senate, and some deputies have already announced that they will seek a constitutional review.