But don't worry: Catholic and Protestant Churches will get your tax money anyway: Since Napoleon – yes: THE Napoleon! – Germans pay a "compensation" for the riches taken from the churches then (which they, of course, had taken first from the people…). It is still paid today by the state, even though already the German constitution of the "Republic of Weimar" (i.e. 1919-1933) demanded that these payments should be sto…
> The money coming from all tax payers (yes, muslims, buddhists, atheists … too!) is taken Wrong. > They get a free appartement, a free car with a driver and a salary near 10,000 €/Month I guess you should leave the Catholic church then. Oh, you're not a member? Why should you have a say in what salary Catholics find adequate?
German Church Tax
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Re: German Church Tax
#12But don't worry: Catholic and Protestant Churches will get your tax money anyway: Since Napoleon – yes: THE Napoleon! – Germans pay a "compensation" for the riches taken from the churches then (which they, of course, had taken first from the people…). It is still paid today by the state, even though already the German constitution of the "Republic of Weimar" (i.e. 1919-1933) demanded that these payments should be sto…
> The money coming from all tax payers (yes, muslims, buddhists, atheists … too!) is taken Wrong. > They get a free appartement, a free car with a driver and a salary near 10,000 €/Month I guess you should leave the Catholic church then. Oh, you're not a member? Why should you have a say in what salary Catholics find adequate?
You got it wrong. What I listed is NOT what church goers pay for with their "church tax". It is paid by the State from the tax paid by ALL tax payers in the country, be their religious or not (like me).
AND: The entire sum (e.g. for tax evations granted to the churches by the state) is 20.6 billion (yes, 20,600,000,000) €/year!
But … they take care of our children in Kindergartens (2% paid by the church, the rest by the tax payers) with so much love and devotion, you know … maybe I should think: It's worth it. But I can't.
Re: German Church Tax
#13But don't worry: Catholic and Protestant Churches will get your tax money anyway: Since Napoleon – yes: THE Napoleon! – Germans pay a "compensation" for the riches taken from the churches then (which they, of course, had taken first from the people…). It is still paid today by the state, even though already the German constitution of the "Republic of Weimar" (i.e. 1919-1933) demanded that these payments should be sto…
PS: We, every tax payer, even pay for the "frankincense" in catholic church rituals and for many more persons in the church hierarchy, not only bishops. These do not only get "near 10,000" as I wrote, but 13,000 €/month = > 14,300$. Per Month! And: They don't pay into the state's pension system (~19% per month), only pay 50% for health insurance, and the free car they get is usually a S-class mercedes now (used to be…
I have no idea why you're getting down-voted. It is unlikely for average Germans to have a salary of 10000Euros a month. Not even for people working in lucrative fields such as software. On top of all this, the government just gives out money to some other institution while working class people bear so much of the burden. This is harassment.
Re: German Church Tax
#14> if you want to get out of it Note you're not just getting out of the tax, you're getting out of your church (or equivalent depending on religion). To take Catholic Church for example you can no longer get married in a church, cannot get a church funeral, can't be the godfather of a child or such. The 30 Euro is just burocracy since the decision gets notarised. Same cost if you get married, a little less to get proo…
FYI: The state keeps a percentage of the tax as an administrative fee as well. Each federal state apparently keeps 2 to 4.5% percent of the tax as an administration fee.
So the state is basically the collector of said tax.
Re: German Church Tax
#15> it takes another two months to go away
That is not true anymore. When you go to the authorities and "leave the church", then the next month will not have the tax on your pay slip. If it does, you should be able to claim it in your next tax returns.
In the past there was a so called "Reuemonat" / repentance month, but that is not true anymore, as it has been abolished in 2014.
Re: German Church Tax
#16Can a person following other religion i.e. Muslim opt out of it?
Re: German Church Tax
#17Can a person following other religion i.e. Muslim opt out of it?
Muslims don't pay church tax. Germany plans to introduce Mosque tax very soon and disallow external entities e.g. U.A.E. to "donate" into German mosques.
More integrated muslims are in favor of this, also more integrated muslims do not even identify as such and have no religion. Less integrated are opposed because they don't want to pay.