THE CHURCH TAX IN EUROPE

Have you ever wondered how churches in Europe have been able to survive financially when the numbers of those who attend church service is the lowest it has been in the history of European Christianity?

The answer is simple:  a church tax on citizen taxpayers.

A church tax is a tax imposed on members of churches in Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Sweden, some parts of Switzerland and several other countries.

We shall briefly examine the various church taxes which the civil governments in each country assess,  collect and then distribute to the church of which the individual taxpayer acknowledges he or she is a member.

In Austria, any recognized religious group can collect church tax at a rate of 1.1% of total income, though currently only the Catholic Church makes use of that opportunity.  The church tax is compulsory for Catholics in Austria. 

In Finland, all members of either the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland and the Finnish Orthodox Church (the two state churches of Finland) pay an income-based church tax of between 1% and 2%, depending on the municipality. On average the tax is about 1.4%.

In Germany, the church tax is only paid by members of the respective church. People who are not members of a church tax-collecting denomination do not have to pay it. Members of a religious community under public law may formally declare their wish to leave the community to state (not religious) authorities. The obligation to pay church taxes ends once such a declaration has been made. The church tax is an estimated 800 or 900 Euros per taxpayer.

Taxpayers in Iceland who belong to an officially registered religious group or secular humanist organization must pay a congregation tax which is collected by the state and paid to the individual's respective organization.

Taxpayers in Italy pay a mandatory 0.8% of the total income tax, and have the option to choose to whom they will assign the monies. Every taxpayer can choose the recipient of the contribution on their tax form. Regardless of whether the taxpayer expresses a preference or not, the 0.8% is already included in their tax levy.

The members of Church of Sweden pay church taxes, which vary between municipalities, but can be as much as 2%. In a recent development, the Swedish government has agreed to continue collecting from individual taxpayers the annual payment that has always gone to the church. But now the fee will be an optional checkoff box on the tax return. The government will allocate the money collected to Catholic, Muslim, Jewish and other faiths as well as the Lutherans, with each taxpayer directing where his or her taxes should go.

There is no official state church in Switzerland. However, all the 26 cantons (states) financially support at least one of the three traditional denominations – Roman Catholic, Old Catholic (in Switzerland Christ Catholic), or Evangelical Reformed – with funds collected through taxation. Each canton church tax may formally have to leave the church.   In some cantons private companies are unable to avoid payment of the church tax

In all these cases, it is the civil state which collects taxes which in turn are paid to the various churches with which the individual taxpayer has acknowledged his or her affiliation.  

Free will offerings, as we know them in the United States, by way of collections being taken up during Masses and other liturgical services are unheard of in Europe.  And so, whether or not a particular member of a church in Europe actually practices the faith, their taxes will continue to support their respective church no matter what.  

In recent years, several taxpayer initiatives have been placed on ballots throughout Europe seeking to end the church tax entirely.  The Churches have steadfastly opposed such initiatives, the Catholic Church in the forefront of the opposition.

In some countries, taxpayers have been successful in being declared exempt from the payment of the church tax by opting out of their membership in a church.  In some cases, by merely checking off a box on the tax return, the taxpayer can attest that he or she is no longer a member of a particular church and is thereby exempt from the tax.  

The Catholic Church in Italy has insisted that no Catholic can “leave the Church” unless he or she obtains a certification from their proper Pastor and such is noted in a record maintained in the parish archives.  The taxpayer then presents this certification to their local tax collector and is declared exempt from the church tax.  Obviously, this is an attempt to make exemption from the church tax in Italy as complicated (and frustrating) as possible.

Perhaps the church tax system explains why the churches in Italy and other parts of Europe can continue to be financially viable when their pews are literally empty.

Here in America, as Catholic Church attendance continues to dwindle, the financial impact is beginning to be felt in almost every diocese across the country.  The separation of church and state embodied in our Constitution renders any attempt to establish a church tax comparable to that of Europe a certain impossibility.  How will the Church in America continue to survive financial in the face of such growing cultural secularization?  Only time will tell.

Personally, I find the arrangement between the civil governments and the churches distasteful and vulnerable to corruption on either or both sides of the equation.  I favor the total separation of church and state, a separation not of moral principle but of structure and governance.

These are my thoughts on the subject.

What do you think?