Gotta pay to pray: Germany’s Catholic bishops call on faithful to hand over tax

By artappraiser on Fri, 09/28/2012 - 10:18pm |

By Juergen Baetz, Associated Press, September 28, 2012

BERLIN — The road to heaven is paved with more than good intentions for Germany’s 24 million Catholics. If they don’t pay their religious taxes, they will be denied sacraments, including weddings, baptisms and funerals.

A decree issued last week by the country’s bishops cast a spotlight on the longstanding practice in Germany and a handful of other European countries in which governments tax registered believers and then hand over the money to the religious institutions.

In Germany, the cost for Catholics, Protestants and Jews is a surcharge of up to nine per cent on their income-tax bills — or about $75 a month for a single person earning a pre-tax monthly salary of about $4,500 [.....]

URL:

http://www.theprovince.com/life/Gotta+pray+Germany+Catholic+bishops+call+faithful+hand+over/7315169/story.html#ixzz27oy0kwk8