The tax officers of Stavropol demand that the urban botanical garden
pays a debt of 31 million rubles. The botanists argue that they are
exempt from paying taxes, RIA Novosti reports.
The garden was exempt from paying taxes until 1 January 2006. At the
end of this time the director of the garden, Nikolay Kozhevnikov, sent
an inquiry to the tax office asking whether they have to pay taxes in
the future. He received a written response from the tax authorities
stating that the botanical garden is not subject to taxation.
However, later, the tax authorities conducted an inspection of the
situation which completed only a month ago and considered the garden
subject to taxation. Now the garden is faced with a 31 million rubles
bill of taxes.
