Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia Alexis II has urged the government to keep up tax discounts for religious organizations.
As he addressed the lecturing staff and students of the Russian Academy of Government Service Thursday, Alexis II said the chapter on taxation of the property of organizations, added to the Russian Tax Code recently, had created problems for the social activity of the Church.
"We're not asking for government aid when we build shelters for orphans or refuges for the elderly, but we're asking the government to bring back the previous patterns of taxation that made all the activity of the Church, religious and social likewise, free of taxes," Alexis II said.
The Tax Code amendments restrict tax discounts to the property that religious organizations use for services only.