Santa evasión de impuestos

Italy is experiencing what is perhaps its worst economic crisis in history. People are already saying Italy’s going to be the next Greece, which is pretty much the worst insult you can throw at a country these days. Italians have always been lax when it comes to paying taxes, and the situation got so bad that Archbishop Bagnasco, the country’s highest-ranking bishop, got up before the country and declared that paying taxes is every good Catholic’s God-given duty. That’s a nice thing to say, but it’s maybe a wee bit hypocritical, considering that the Catholic Church doesn’t pay taxes. Some folks have been asking—nicely—that Italy’s oldest and most well-off institution start pitching in, including the organization Vaticano Paga Tu (Vatican, You Pay), which has been recently gaining traction among Italians. We asked Alessandro Orlowski, the man behind Vaticano Paga Tu, to explain the situation to us. VICE: How does the Catholic Church earn money?
Alessandro Orlowski: The Catholic Church’s main source of income is private offerings and the “8 x 1000,” an income tax of 0.8 percent that every citizen can choose to devote to the state, the church, or one of four other religious denominations. The problem is that if you don’t identify which institution you’re giving your money to, it’s automatically assigned to the Catholic Church. And 60 percent of the people do not identify an institution. We’re talking about 1 billion euros a year earned this way. And that’s just direct income. How much do they save via tax exemptions?
According to the law, the church isn’t bound to pay taxes on its properties—which amount to an incredible 20 percent of all Italian real estate—unless they are used for “strictly commercial” purposes. “Strictly” means that building a chapel inside a hotel is enough to avoid paying taxes. Moreover, the Italian government provides funds for Catholic clinics, even if they’re private, and there are hundreds of instances of undeclared rent for buildings owned by the church. So the goal of Vaticano Paga Tu is to get rid of all these exemptions?
No, it’s right that places of worship and charities don’t have to pay taxes. But there’s a huge amount of income resulting from government funds and exemptions that is not reinvested transparently. Are there any particularly questionable examples of the government giving the church money?
For example, Monsignor Bagnasco was a priest in the army, which means he was an archbishop in the army church, with the corresponding rank of general. As such, he earned $9,600 a month, and now that he’s retired he gets $5,500 every month. Sum up what you’re proposing in one sentence.
That we simply apply one of the founding principles of our constitution: the separation of church and state.