The state requires the Journalists Association of Serbia (UNS) to pay a total of more than 60,000 euros this year for property taxes, which is why journalists can be left without a portion of their property, indebted with a long-term loan and with half the money in solidarity funds to help the vulnerable, UNS press release.
Instead of UNS continuing to provide material support to journalists of around 140,000 euros a year for interest-free loans and grants, the huge money will be diverted to the budget of Belgrade’s municipalities, the statement said.
That this non-profit association does not pay high taxes because it has large assets is evidenced by the fact that, instead of UNS, the owner of the same real estate is a Serbian tycoon, he would have paid 2.5 times less in the name of taxes, the statement said.
Representatives of news organizations from the region were stunned by the amount of just over 60,000 euros that the UNS has to pay this year as the owner of 3,370 square meters in downtown Belgrade.
More specifically, the municipal tax authorities are asking 40,000 euros a few days before the New Year for the current and retroactively more than 20,000 euros for the last year, for which the UNS has already regularly paid 15,000 euros. A UNS survey shows that the Slovenian Journalists Association pays less than 700 euros in taxes for 182 m2 in Ljubljana.
In Slovenia, legal entities do not pay property taxes, but municipalities pay an annual fee for the use of construction land. In Croatia, the system is even more favorable because there is no property tax for legal entities and citizens.
The Croatian Journalists’ Association pays about 1,400 euros in utility fees for a space of about 4,000 square meters, according to a statement. The BiH Journalists’ Association does not pay property tax or construction land for a space of 270 m2.
UNS Secretary-General Nino Brajovic expressed concern that the imposition of a huge tax on the UNS could reasonably be interpreted as a strong pressure on this journalistic association that threatens his independent work.
Brajovic says UNS is in a situation of either having to sell part of its assets or borrowing from banks to pay taxes, UNS said in a statement, Danas reports.
