The Association of Victims of the Nazi Regime (VVN-BdA) defends itself against the withdrawal of charitable status by the Berlin Financial Administration. As a result, it came to tax claims - the club has decided to let pass the payment date, said managing director Thomas Willms the news agency dpa.
"We have instead filed an appeal against the tax assessments and made an application for suspension of enforcement." The decision of the tax office for corporations I to deprive the association of the charity, was a scandal. "We feel right and expect our opposition to be granted."
The tax office had justified its decision made known about two weeks ago with the fact that the association has been listed in the constitution protection reports of Bavaria for years under left-wing extremism.
"What is that sign?"
Nationwide, the decision met with criticism. Among other things, the Jewish community in Berlin had rejected the actions of the tax office. It is unacceptable for the state to sanction democratic engagement against right-wing extremists and Nazis, said the representative of the Jewish Community Against Anti-Semitism, Sigmount A. Koenigsberg. "What is that sign?" He asked.
SPD politician Sawsan Chebli wrote on Twitter: "This madness needs to be reversed." Criticism came also from Berlin country politicians of the left and Greens. The VVN-BdA was founded by survivors of German concentration camps after the Second World War.
The Federal Ministry of Finance, meanwhile, wants to cancel clubs tax breaks if they interfere too much in the daily politics. Finance Minister Olaf Scholz plans to supplement the tax code in the reform of the charitable law. However, there is still some internal dispute about the right formulations.