Amid Economic Crisis, Spain Ponders Taxing Catholic Church Property

Three different laws, including a 1979 agreement with the Vatican, exempt the Catholic Church from paying property tax in Spain. The same provision holds for other recognized religions and non-profit organizations like the Red Cross, yet because Catholicism is the dominant religion in Spain, and because the Church's holdings there are so vast, critics have long argued that the arrangement is part of the preferential treatment granted the Catholic Church. Many Catholic schools and hospitals, for example, are subsidized by the State and each year, citizens have the option to dedicate 0.7% of their income tax to the Catholic Church. In May, the opposition Socialist Party pledged to change the legislation that guarantees the church's property tax privileges and asked its officers in municipal governments throughout the country to introduce motions that would take advantage of loopholes in the existing laws.

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