A new Draft Ordinance has ust## been published here by which, “save as otherwise provided herein, from and after the commencement of this Ordinance there shall not be claimed by or allowed to any person, corporation or institution, religious, educational, charitable or otherwise, resident or being in Palestine, under the plea of treaty, customs, license, fireman, nationality, religion, calling or otherwise, any exemption from or abatement in respect of any customs or excise duties, or Werko tax or tithes, or municipal rates.
“Exemption from Werko (House and Land) Tax shall be granted in respect of places of worship, cemeteries, monasteries, the residence of Mutawallis of Wakfs, and buildings of religious, charitable and educational institutions, including any building used by the owner as a school.
“Provided that:
“Only such buildings shall enoy exemption as are used exclusively for religious, charitable or educational purposes and are not leased by the owner to any other persons.
“The buildings of educational institutions and schools which are maintained solely or principally by the fees of the students, or any part of such buildings, in which articles are manufactured regularly for sale, shall not enjoy exemption.
“For the purposes of this Section, “building” shall be deemed to include the land on which a building stands and any land appurtenant thereto within the same enclosure not exceeding in any case two dunams in area.
“Premises exclusively occupied for public religious worship or for the purpose of any Government Department shall be exempted from the payment of municipal rates. Any other premises which are exempted from the payment of Werko tax shall for a period of ten years from the date at which this Ordinance comes into force be liable to pay municipal rates at half the rate only which would otherwise be payable in respect of the premises.
“Nothing in this Ordinance shall affect any exemption or abatement enjoyed personally by the Patriarch of any religious community.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
