CyprusLiving

I have recently discovered that the Kissonerga Symvoulio (Council) have introduced a 'Cemetry Tax' payable annually and which if not paid by a certain date now incurs an additional charge of 25%. (It was 20% in 2012 )
This Cemetry Tax has now been incorporated into the same bill that is presented for Communal Services and Refuse Tax although itemised seperately.
Does anyone know if this 'Cemetry Tax' is legally enforceable.
A number of reasons have been given by the locals as to why this tax has been introduced, none of which, in my opinion justify its introduction.

They are making a new cemetery as the current one is filling up, my bf is a Kissonerga native as are all his family and as far as I know they'll be paying it.

They could save all of this if they would allow a Crematorium, many ex pats would prefer to go out this way and it would save valuable land!


I know obvious but will continue to push for this to happen here.

Clive (is that him?) had another letter in the paper last weekend about it Jim, it's just a case of them realising they're running out of suitable burial space and joining the 21st century - some of this country's antiquated ways are quaint but some need a serious update. The article said that the Archbishop doesn't have a problem with it, so it looks like the stumbling block, yet again, is the government!

Last Saturday we scattered my Stepfather's ashes on my Mother's grave at Erimi, and I couldn't help but think about this topic!

Public bodies in Cyprus providing a service or goods SHOULD follow the EU Rules regarding interest on overdue accounts.

DIRECTIVE 2000/35/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 29 June 2000 on combating late payment in commercial transactions

Quote: "the level of interest for late payment (‘the statutory rate’),
which the debtor is obliged to pay, shall be the sum of the
interest rate applied by the European Central Bank to its
most recent main refinancing operation carried out before
the first calendar day of the half-year in question (‘the
reference rate’), plus at least seven percentage points (‘the
margin’), unless otherwise specified in the contract."

The interest rate applied by the European Central Bank to its most recent main refinancing operation is here -
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/Lex ... 002:EN:PDF

When this was reported in the CY Mail well over a year ago, it said the government had set the rate for Cyprus at nine percent.

I am not a fan of asking Expats to pay this cemetery tax as if it's anything like Chlorakas only Greek Cypriot villagers can be buried in the village graveyard!