The Vatican was certain: Article 16 of the Lateran Treaty exempted from paying the tax. The Supreme Court, on the other hand, has established that the Church will also have to pay the Tari, the tax on waste for buildings not intended for worship. As requested by Ama, the waste company in Rome, which now expects payments for a total of 1.2 million. The sentence, revealed by Messenger, actually refers to 71 thousand euros, a sum not paid in 2012, which later became the tax bill of the Revenue Agency and, finally, the subject of a five-year dispute with the Pontifical Biblical Institute. But counting the amount due in the years following that of 2012, we get to exceed one million euros.
The first round to the Ama, the second to the Church
The stages of the story were different. At first, the appeal of the Pontifical Institute was rejected by the Provincial Tax Commission because the Tari represents a fee for a service, the collection of waste, and not a tax, for which the Church believed it was exempt. But the Regional Tax Commission, to which the Vatican lawyers turned, overturned the situation, giving reason to the Church that required the application of the Lateran Treaty for which the building where the Institute is located is exempt from both ordinary and extraordinary taxes.
The sentence of the Supreme Court
The final word on the dispute has arrived in recent days. For the judges of the VI civil section of the Cassation, the building in question is not intended for worship while the exemption provided for by article 16 of the Lateran Treaty is reasonable, which concerns exclusively the taxes that affect the income from the properties in question. In short, those who produce waste must pay the service of those who collect them. Even if it is called the Pontifical Biblical Institute.