Besides
prayer and charity, nuns at a Spanish convent run a side business selling
candied almonds. A Spanish city's decision to tax those operations has called
Spain's relationship to the Church into question.
Off a
cobblestone street in the historic city of Alcalá de Henares, the birthplace of
Cervantes, roughly 30 kilometers from Madrid, a 400-year-old convent, El
Convento de Clarisas de San Diego, awaits its next customer.
When the
doorbell rings, a nun cries out, "Holy Mary, the immaculate!"
"Good
afternoon!" a customer says. "May I have four boxes of roasted
almonds, please?"
Since a
nun's vow of chastity means she can't be seen in public, the four delicately-wrapped
almond tins are pushed through a rotating wooden turnstile. "That will be
19 euros ($25)," the nun says, and the transaction is completed.
Profits
from the nuns' almond enterprise are likely minimal. But that's beside the
point, says a group of lawmakers in Alcalá. A part of the convent is being used
by nuns for commercial purposes, the city council believes, and for that, the
church must pay.
"We're
studying whether any church properties that have long been listed as charities
are actually being used for commercial activities," city councilman
Anselmo Avendaño told DW. "If that's the case, they'll have to start
paying taxes."
A question
of 'tradition'
Spanish Premier Mariano Rajoy says taxing the church violates a 1979 treaty |
In truth,
the tax system is supposed to work that way already. Those tax laws, however,
have until now not been enforced.
The city of
Alcalá's campaign has ruffled feathers throughout Spain. Prime Minister Mariano
Rajoy told reporters last year that any efforts to press the Church for more
taxes would violate a 1979 treaty with the Vatican.
"I
insist, we will not renounce an international agreement adopted in 1979,"
the prime minister said. "It would be irresponsible. We need to dedicate
ourselves to more important things."
Councilman
Avendaño, a Catholic himself, believes the real issue is not about tradition
but cash-strapped municipalities.
"We're
not questioning the Church's good works - charity for the elderly, or poor, or
infirm. What we want is to re-examine property the Church uses to make a
profit; for example, rental apartments, parking lots and garages that it owns.
Those are businesses."
The ranks of jobless Spaniards in Alcala de Henares are rising |
Land
holdings
The
Catholic Church owns approximately half of the property in Alcalá. The city of
200,000, meanwhile, has debts of more than 300 million euros.
"Some
of the Catholic schools have swimming pools, and they charge a fee to area
residents to swim there on weekends," councilman Ricardo Rubio told DW.
"So the school should be paying taxes on that activity. But they haven't
been."
Juanjo
Pico, a spokesman for Europa Laica, a Spanish group that lobbies for the
separation of church and state, sees Alcalá as a symbol of a much larger
problem. If the Catholic Church had to pay taxes on all its property in Spain,
he says, it could owe up to $3 billion euros a year.
"These
days, towns are cutting their budgets for healthcare, education, infrastructure
and welfare," Pico told DW. "But the Catholic Church hasn't had to
make a single cut. [That's] because it gets money from the state."
When
Spaniards file their tax returns, they can check a box to donate money to the
Church. The state then deducts it automatically. That transaction, too, is
coming under scrutiny, particularly as Spain becomes increasingly secular.
"Something
like 15 percent of Spaniards attend weekly mass," Hamilton Stapell, a
historian and expert on Spain at the State University of New York at New Paltz,
told DW. "A couple of years ago, there was a report out. Less than five
percent of Spaniards thought the Church was one of the top three valued
institutions in society."
History doesn't raise enough money: A statue of Don Quijote in Alcala de Henares, the birthplace of Cervantes |
Non-profit
For their
part, Catholic Church officials believe their institution has been unfairly
singled out.
"Why
isn't this debate about all non-profit groups?" asked Fernando Giménez
Barriocanal, the financial director of the Spanish Episcopal Conference, in an
interview with DW. He says the Church has the same tax deal as the Red Cross
and other NGOs.
In scale,
however, the Catholic Church dwarfs those institutions. It is also Spain's
biggest landowner - and by extension, potential tax target.
Yet the
Church is also Spain's largest charity. At a time when public welfare programs
are being cut and unemployment tops 26 percent, it provides important services
to those in need.
"Obviously,
we'd have to direct more of our money to pay those taxes," Barriocanal
said. "The Church would still want to help those in need, but we'd have
less money to do that."
Still, the
Alcalá city council aims to complete its land survey by the end of the year -
and, if things continue according to plans, to serve the Catholic Church with a
slightly updated tax bill.
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