Mr. McCabe: Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you on behalf of the Jehovah’s Witnesses for inviting me to present a picture of the tax situation of Jehovah’s Witnesses in France.
It’s interesting that the 21st chapter of the Bible book of Luke describes a very poignant scene where a needy widow drops two little coins of small value into the contribution box at the temple in Jerusalem. The Lord commended this woman’s generous spirit. Today, in the nation of France, if this woman is a member of a small pentecostal congregation or a member of Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Ministry of Finance wants to impose a 60 percent tax on those two coins of little value. How was this determination made? Why are Jehovah’s Witnesses and other religious minority groups under this fiscal attack?
Well, it should be noted at the outset that Jehovah’s Witnesses are not a new religious movement in the country of France. As far back as 1891, the first president of the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society, a legal corporation, used worldwide by Jehovah’s witnesses, visited France. By 1913, there were religious assemblies of Jehovah’s Witnesses being held in many different cities and departments of France. By 1928, there were 400 active members of the faith and participating with others in some 45 congregations in France. And, in 1939, six weeks after the beginning of World War II, Jehovah’s Witnesses were banned as a religion in France.
During the next several years, the Witnesses faced extreme persecution, and many were deported to concentration camps. Today there is a group of them known as “the deportees” of France that survived that ordeal. Oppression that was heaped upon the witnesses during this time period was because of their Bible-based conscientious stand on neutrality and their refusal to cooperate with the Nazi Regime. Some of the Witnesses were even executed during this time period.
But, despite the extreme difficulty emerging after the war, the group had grown from 1,004 in 1939 to over 2,000 in 1945. And, the religion has continued to grow steadily over the past few decades and is now the third largest Christian religion in the country of France.
In November of 1997, a special one-day religious assembly of Jehovah’s Witnesses was held in a facility called Villepinte in Paris, where a total of 95,000 Witnesses and their associates attended. The latest yearly report for France indicates that the number of Witnesses and their associates is now well over 220,000 with some 1,685 congregation in the villages, towns, and cities throughout France. Now, in addition to their Bible-educational community service, Jehovah’s Witnesses in France have been active in the organization of humanitarian aid to several African countries over the last ten years.
Despite the clear religious nature of their activities, Jehovah’s Witnesses along with other so-called “sects” that are mentioned in the report that Mr. Fautré has described for us, have been the subject of widespread media attacks. In a climate that stems no doubt from growing concern about so-called “dangerous cults” following mass suicides of the adherents of the order of the Solar Temple in the forest of France, the subway gassing in Tokyo, events that took place in Waco, Texas, and even more recently the suicides of the Heaven’s Gate group in San Diego, cult-watch groups in France urged official inquiries be made by the government into the activities of the so-called “sects” or “new religions.” As Mr. Fautré has indicated, the National Assembly formed a Parliamentary Commission on Cults.
After a year-long study, they issued their report in January of 1996, which I believe interestingly enough did not list the Order of the Solar Temple as being one of the cults under investigation. The report is largely based upon hearsay and has no legal characteristics in France, yet it is frequently cited as an official determination that the list of groups, the 172, are dangerous cults. The religious groups that are singled out and classified by some individuals in governmental agencies are then described as not being religious at all, they come under the nomenclature of dangerous cults.
So, the report concluded, among other things, that the laws on taxation should be used to control, suppress and eliminate these dangerous cults in France.
Not surprisingly, in January of 1996, the tax authorities in France began an official audit of “Association les TeAE2moins de JeAE2hovah” (ATJ), the principal legal corporation used by Jehovah’s Witnesses in France. The audit was extended beyond the normal one year statutory period to a period of 18 months, and during this time period no irregularities were found in the Witness books of accounts, and it was determined that there was no commercial activity being engaged in by the group.
Nevertheless, a ruling was issued that a transfer tax applies to the religious offerings received from the faithful. A similar determination was made by the local tax officials in both June and then in November, and ATJ was held to be liable to pay the “transfer tax” of 60 percent of the donations it has received.
So, the scope of this decision eventually covered all offerings received from the contribution boxes from the Kingdom Halls, which is what Jehovah’s Witnesses call their houses of worship, during the period from January 1, 1993 to August 31, 1996. After adding the penalties and interest, the total figure sought by the Ministry of Finance was in excess of 303 million francs or in excess of $50 million.
Now, the law on manual donations, or this transfer tax, is normally applied only to estates or is comparable to what we have in the United States known as a gift tax. Now, the law simply provides that any deeds containing either a declaration by the donee or his representatives, or a judicial acknowledgement of a manual donation, are liable to the donation tax. Article 795 of the same law provides an exemption from the tax for donations and bequests made to religious corporations, unions or religious corporations and recognized congregations, and that’s where the problem comes in because the Ministry of Interior refuses to recognize the Jehovah’s Witnesses and many of the other 172 listed organizations as religious, so the Ministry of Finance has determined the tax applies.
Well, despite the clear exemption that religious organizations have from the tax, an additional measure was taken on May the 14th of 1998, the tax official sent a bailiff to the headquarters of the Witnesses in France located near the coast of Normandy in Louviers and presented them with a lien on all of their real property and moveables. This lien means that they cannot move their moveables or sell or encumber their property in any way.
It’s interesting, in obtaining the judicial approval for the lien, the Ministry of Finance lawyer alleged that the Jehovah’s Witnesses were arranging their insolvency, somehow trying to dispose of their assets to avoid paying the tax. No facts were supported or supplied to support the allegations, and yet the judge granted the lien.
The imposition of such a tax is clearly unconstitutional on its face and it has technical problems even within its own framework. To date, the Ministry of Finance has not presented the religion with an official bill to pay the tax. French lawyers inform me that until this event takes place, an actual court case challenging the constitutionality of the tax cannot take place. That such a tax has been imposed on just one religion, while a vast majority of other religions and religious organizations are not similarly taxed on the contributions provided by the faithful, reveals its discriminatory nature. Surely, such an inequality cannot survive the scrutiny of the French Constitution, let alone the European Convention of Human Rights or other international treaties to which France is a signatory.
It’s the intention of the Witnesses to challenge this infringement on their religious activities through the courts of France and in the European Court of Human Rights should that become necessary.
It’s also interesting to note from a recent historical perspective, though, that already in the courts of France Jehovah’s Witnesses have had their places of worship recognized as such by nine different administrative courts. These numerous rulings have meant that in the various courts view, Jehovah’s Witnesses are a religion and their buildings are thus exempted from the habitation and property taxes imposed on non-religious buildings. Additionally, the European Court of Human Rights has ruled as far back as 1992 in the Kokkinakis case and several times since then discussing the situation of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Greece, that they are a well-known religion.
On the face of this jurisprudence internally and externally, it’s hard to fathom how the Ministry of France can continue the attack under the guise that Jehovah’s Witnesses are not a religion of France.
In the words of former Chief Justice Marshall of the United States Supreme Court, “The power to tax involves the power to destroy,” and he also went on to say, “... (and) to carry it to the excess of destruction would be an abuse.” Certainly, that’s the way we view the Ministry of Finance attempt to impose a tax on the “widow’s mite” in the congregations of Jehovah’s Witnesses in France. It is surely an attempt to destroy the religious activities of this group. It is also an attempt to destroy the congregations’ generous spirit that in the past ten years has risen to meet the dire needs in the face of disaster and trouble in Burundi, Rwanda and some eight other African nations. Surely, it is a serious violation of the fundamental human right of freedom of worship.
While I have attempted to, in these brief remarks, to focus on the very recent activities of the tax authorities in France, I think it’s also of note to point out the disturbing results directly attributable to the climate of intolerance growing in France. Virtually every week over the past three years, a segment of the French Government has caused to be published information in the popular media in which Jehovah’s Witnesses are presented as a religion that breaks up families, that there’s somehow a higher incidence of mental health problems among Jehovah’s Witnesses than in the general population, and an old baseless lie that comes from a faulted study from the United States by a former member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, that they have a higher rate of suicide than the general population in France.
Results of all of this media campaign and this misinformation has had a tremendous impact on the lives of a number of Jehovah’s Witnesses, and it’s noteworthy, I think, that numerous teachers who are Jehovah’s Witnesses lost their employment specifically due to their adherence to their religious faith.
One example involves Mrs. Maryline Bouchenez who, after teaching at one school for 18 years was forced to undergo severe scrutiny from the school authorities simply because she is one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. In their findings, the authorities found that “Mrs. Bouchenez carries on her work in a satisfactory manner. The children are happy in her class. When observing the professional action of Mrs. Bouchenez, it is impossible to say that the neutrality of the public teaching is at stake here.” Yet, in spite of this favorable official report, she was forced to transfer to another school and told that she should not let those working there know of her religious affiliation.
A second example involves Mrs. Catherine Guyard, who, incidentally, had been a teacher for 18 years. A meeting was organized by the parent-teacher association in 1996. The purpose was worded thusly, “Your children will be entrusted to a school teacher who is a member of Jehovah’s Witnesses, who are a sect organization. We invite you to discuss this matter on September 2, 1996, at 8:30 p.m. at the school.” The academy forced Mrs. Guyard to teach at another school, and when she was to return to the school she taught at for 18 years she learned that a tract was being distributed to the parents and posted on information boards outside the school. According to the judge who examined the case, he said, “The tract was written to harm the reputation of Mrs. Guyard and to provoke discriminatory attitudes.“
Weekly, the central offices of Jehovah’s Witnesses of France received reports from Witnesses living in six different French departments that they had lost their employment as day care specialists.
With increasing frequency, we are finding that French authorities are refusing to allow Jehovah’s Witnesses to rent facilities for use of religious services. For example, in Lyons, where the Witnesses have rented the same facility for over 20 years, they were recently denied access to that facility.
Mayors of numerous French towns have also refused to extend building permits to local congregations to construct houses of worship. In nine cases, “Kingdom Halls,” as the centers for religious worship of Jehovah’s Witnesses are called, could not be built. The congregations affected either continued meeting in private homes or in other facilities other than municipal facilities.
Also, it’s interesting to note, too, that in at least 11 cases that we are aware of mothers going through painful divorce proceedings were denied custody to their children, on the simple basis that they were members of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
In conclusion, I think we can say that today religious liberty is definitely under attack in France. Added to the personal toll of living in an environment of religious intolerance as mentioned, the Ministry of Finance in France is attempting to control and destroy the religion of Jehovah’s Witnesses in that country by the imposition of a 60 percent tax on its contributions. These contributions have been voluntarily donated by members of the faith to support their places of worship and carry out their religious charitable activities in France and in French-speaking Africa. Jehovah’s Witnesses see this as a direct result of the Enquete Commission’s report.
Equally disturbing is the fact that as Mr. Fautré has brought out, Belgium and Germany have commissioned similar reports in their respective lands, and we are awaiting the other shoe to drop shortly in those countries. If similar fiscal restraints result from the Enquete Commission reports in Germany and Belgium, ominous restraints and protracted legal battles to ensure basic freedoms and fundamental human rights among the member states of the European Union are sure to follow.
In a speech last month at the inaugural luncheon of the French-American Business Council here in Washington, Madeleine Albright noted that, “Both France and the United States must stand together for peace and human rights.” No doubt our distinguished Secretary of State had in mind helping less developed nations adhere to the lofty principles of fundamental human rights embodied in international treaties such as the Universal Declaration of Rights, the Helsinki Final Act, the European convention on Human rights, but today, we see the need and we see support of all lovers of religious liberty and freedom to demand that France itself respect the human rights of more than 200,000 French citizens associated with Jehovah’s Witnesses within its borders.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (Applause)
Mr. Merry: Thank you very much, Mr. McCabe.
(sorry for the length, but this was testimony on behalf of the Society)