MP: Funding the OCU from the budget will revive transitions from the UOC

The head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy, Nikita Poturaev, proposed a new scheme for financing the OCU through income tax in order to stimulate transitions from the UOC.

Poturaev stated that supporters of Epifaniy Dumenko are short of funds. In his view, this prevents OCU priests from consistently ministering to communities wishing to transfer. "The OCU lives exclusively on donations from patriotically minded people," the MP said. "But that is precisely why the OCU often faces a shortage of money, and therefore of personnel."

The MP named the introduction of the European model of income tax deductions by citizens after the end of the war as the solution to the problem. According to his plan, each taxpayer will be able to direct a share of their income tax to the needs of a religious organization. If a citizen does not make such a choice, the money will go directly to the state budget.

"If a parish receives a young, energetic priest who has enough to live on, this will directly stimulate the pace of transitions," Poturaev emphasized. He noted that the launch of the reform is currently impossible due to the ongoing hostilities, but the authorities plan to implement the new taxation scheme in the post-war period.

The Union of Orthodox Journalists previously reported that Shostatsky complained about the personnel shortage in the OCU.

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