Government fails to agree position on taxation proposal regarding compensation for the Church

Ministers in the Czech government failed to agree a position on a proposal by a Communist MP which would alter details of a property settlement between the state and church which was passed by the previous government in 2012 and took effect in 2013. The proposal suggests that funds to be paid out over 30 years – a total of 59 billion crowns plus inflation – to compensate for property which was seized by the former Communist regime and could not later be returned – could be taxed. The junior party in the ruling coalition, the Christian Democrats, slammed the proposal as “populist”. In the cabinet, the bill received support solely from the finance minister, Andrej Babiš. MPs in the lower house will decide the fate of the bill.

Author: Jan Velinger