The Sudbrock Scoop

Taxes

With taxes being a big topic in the news lately, I thought you might find this little bit of German tax info interesting.

In Germany, the Lutheran, Catholic, and Jewish citizens pay church taxes. The tax - 8-10% of their income - goes to the German version of the IRS. The IRS then keeps 3% as a processing fee. The rest is divided up amongst the churches depending upon their membership. Children, teens, senior citizens and the unemployed do not have to pay this tax, but are still allowed to be members of these churches.

In 2005 the German IRS collected 8 Trillion Euro in church tax. That is a few Billion less than in 1995. 20% of what is given to the churches goes toward social programs, kindergartens and help organizations. The other 80% goes directly to the church leaders to use as they see fit.

So, in Germany, if your parents have you baptized as a baby into one of these churches, when you turn 18 that church will start collecting 10% of your income as church tax.

This causes problems for us sometimes. First of all, some do not want to get baptized because they are afraid we will start taking money out of their paycheck like the state churches do. Then, in order for us to baptize someone who is in the state church, they must officially fill out the paperwork to withdraw from that church. Secondly, the people are not used to giving an offering because it has always been taken directly out of their paycheck. It is often very difficult to bring across the idea of tithes and offerings.

Chelli