Jerusalem tax dispute centers on church-owned properties
Mayor Nir Barkat has called into question whether buildings that are not houses of worship should be tax-exempt.
An ethereal city graced with sunlight so bright it turns the white stone skyline gold at sunset, Jerusalem is also an earthbound city where teachers must be paid and where garbage must be collected.
Amid financial woes, finding a balance between the Holy City’s earthly needs and the needs of the numerous institutions that form its rich religious heritage is no easy task.
That balance was upset recently, leaders of the Holy Land’s Christian churches say, when they received property tax bills totaling millions of dollars, applicable to all church properties that are not actual houses of worship. The levying of those bills was spearheaded by Mayor Nir Barkat, who wants to shore up the city’s small tax base.
