Press Release
SWEDISH TAX AUTHORITIES GRANT FULL EXEMPTION TO CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY
Tax authorities in Sweden have granted the Church of Scientology exemption from all taxes on the basis that the Church is a nonprofit organization with a religious purpose. In a decision of November 23, 1999, the tax office in Stockholm adjudicated that the Church is an idealistic association providing a public benefit and therefore exempt from corporate income tax and value added tax.
In the written background to the decision, which arose out of a past tax matter relating to the Swedish Church, the ruling from the tax authorities refers to the Church?s activities as ?consist[ing] of, among other things, worship, services such as baptism, marriages and funerals, spiritual counselling and study of the Church?s scripture.? The Church?s economic activity, the tax authorities found, forms a natural part of its publicly beneficial purpose, and the Church falls within the tax code which exempts associations whose purpose is to forward religious objectives.
President of the Church of Scientology International, Heber C. Jentzsch, acclaimed the decision as further evidence that the Church is part of mainstream religion in Europe.
?The Swedish people recognize that (cont)
freedommag.org |
