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Estonian Wikipedia Makes Case for Tax Exemption
Estonian Wikipedia is suing the government because of changed rules that deny Wikipedia tax exemption status as a non-governmental, philanthropic organization.
"A few years ago, the Tax Board changed its way of selecting charities for the tax exemption list," said Raul Veede, a board member of Wikimedia Eesti, a Wikipedia-related NGO. "The text [of the law] remains the same, but the interpretation of it changed."
Veede explains that the new interpretation of what counts as a charity eligible for tax-exemption status now rests on two conditions: first, the charity must distribute material goods; and, second, it must serve people who are disadvantaged as compared to the rest of society.
However, the Estonian-language website of Wikipedia, with its mission of content creation and information dissemination, does not meet these criteria.
"There has to be rich and accessible information, and that's why we need knowledge disseminated free of charge to everyone," said Veede. "Fortunately, the information is there, so that it can be distributed endlessly. Both city millionaires and village poor have equal access."
Raul Veede hastens to add that this nascent legal case is not just a matter of Wikipedia, but also how Estonia defines the concept of non-profit civil society.
Andres Kahar