Source: Reuters
PRAGUE (Reuters) – The Czech parliament’s lower house voted on Wednesday to tax churches on payments received for property confiscated during the Communist era, meeting a key demand of the Communist Party that props up the center-left minority government.
Lawmakers from the ANO party of Prime Minister Andrej Babis as well as junior coalition partner the Social Democrats, joined the Communists and far-right SPD party to vote for the bill, which passed with 106 votes in favor in the 200-seat chamber.
The payments, mainly to the Catholic Church, began in 2013 and amount to 2 billion crowns ($89 million) per year over 30 years.
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