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What is something that definitely should not exist? (endlesstalk.org)

submitted 1 year ago by ani@endlesstalk.org to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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[–] bestusername@aussie.zone 182 points 1 year ago (22 children)

Tax exemption for religious organisations.

[–] federalreverse@feddit.de 28 points 1 year ago (6 children)

Could be worse, I guess. I live in a "secular" democracy that essentially collects members fees for the Catholic and Lutheran churches (and only those two!) via the federal income tax.

[–] captainjaneway@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago (4 children)

In Germany, state-recognized churches collect taxes from their members in order to finance their activities as well as wages. Everyone who is a member of an officially recognized religious group automatically gets a percentage of their monthly wage taken from their paycheck. Usually, this amounts to around 9% of income tax — with the exception of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, where the church tax amounts to 8%.

For native Germans, church tax is often automatically collected. Many Germans are baptized at a young age and thereby become members of a particular church, which means they pay taxes to that church when they begin to earn income as an adult.

If you’re a foreigner moving to Germany, you can declare your affiliation to a church when you register at your local citizen’s office.

9%? That's absurd. Is there a way to remove yourself from this?

[–] RandomlyRight@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 year ago

You can only resign from being part of the church, which many young people do once they see this on their first paycheck.

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