by VM44 11 Replies latest watchtower scandals
Years ago it was announced that France was going to tax The Watchtower.
I believe The Watchtower took out a full page newspaper ad in the New York Times (?) protesting this action on the part of France.
The Watchtower in France appealed this decision to the courts.
So, after all these years, what happened?
Did The Watchtower (France Division) have to pay taxes or not?
Anyone know?
Last time I heard it was still pending before the European court...
Do they have a website that can be searched for any pending case?
BTTT as I would like to know too.
The ECHR case reference is 8916/05 (Google that to find heaps of information and analyses from all standpoints) but I don't see anything new since 6.17.2008, when the Court declared the request partly admissible (which is not a judgement yet) and asked for further information from both parties.
I assume that religious organizations are not taxed in France?
If that is the true, why are the JWs being treated differently? On what is the case based?
BTS
BurnTheShips, I believe you are correct - france does not tax religious organizations. But they do tax cults.
The WT in France is claiming exemption from tax as a CHARITABLE organization.
The french have clearly defined the things a group has to do to qualify as a charity. The WT does none of these things, except hawk the magazines from door to door.
The government is fully aware that the publishers are expected to pay up front for the litterature, and that any contributions received are also to go into the contributions box.
By taking the end of year count for placements in France, and corelating this with the recommended price, and probable contributions it is simple to come up with an approximate figure, and apply the calculation to previous years.
Religions in France do not pay tax on the CHARITABLE parts of their work. Where the Church makes a clear profit they are taxed. The law requires that no religion is to be shown special favor.
Also take into account that there was a huge enquiry made into the activities of what we would call cults. Since the WT operates in the same way as these it came under the same scrutiny. They know what the WT is up to, and are not prepared to let them get away with it. in the report as I recall the word "dangerous" was used.
They are not being mean and nasty to the poor sweet innocent Watchtower Society.
HB
It's more complex than that. There are specific (not general; on real estate, for instance) tax exemptions for official "cultual associations" (a status that many local and maybe one or two national associations of JWs have gained since) and fiscal advantages for a broader category of associations ("of general interest") as well (your donations are partly deduced from your income tax). But the present case is different: they did not declare the donations at all (they were not obliged to do so) and as when the fiscal services found out the "offerings" line in their accounts (for the sole year 1996) they decided to tax it at the highest possible rate (60 %). It must be noted that the law changed again in 2003 and since then they would not be subject to taxation on donations.
Well, let's hope the watchtower loses this one and help the JW's appreciate that Jehovah failed them or could care less about them
