Posted on 09/22/2006 12:28:50 PM PDT by Alex Murphy
The state will no longer give money directly to the church and the percentage contribution individual taxpayers may choose to donate to the church in their tax declarations will rise from 0.52 percent to 0.7 percent.
Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la VegaIn a surprise announcement, the Socialist government on Friday said it had reached a new accord on how the Roman Catholic Church in Spain will be financed.
Under the agreement, the state will no longer give money directly to the church, the government said. Previously, the government had provided an annual contribution to the church separate from voluntary donations from individual taxpayers.
Announcing the deal, deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega said the percentage contribution individual taxpayers may choose to donate to the church in their yearly tax declarations would, in turn, rise from 0.52 percent to 0.7 percent.
Fernandez de la Vega said that from now on, the Church in Spain would have to pay value added tax on any sale or purchase of goods and property, a measure the European Union had required. She said the church would also have to present a yearly report to the government on how it spends money it received from taxpayers.
"We have reached a new financial deal between the Spanish state and the Roman Catholic Church," Fernandez de la Vega told reporters following a weekly meeting of ministers.
The Socialist government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has clashed with the church since taking office in April 2004, principally by introducing legislation facilitating divorce on demand, gay marriages. It also scrapped plans to make religion an obligatory subject in schools.
The government had also announced that it would push for the Church to become far more self-financing. Both sides began talks on the issue in May following a call for a settlement from the justice minister in May last year.
Once a bastion of Roman Catholicism, Spain has become a predominantly lay society, particularly since the end of the Church-backed dictatorship of Gen. Francisco Franco in 1975.
They can't be too hppy about this in Rome.
I didn't realize that any government had contributed directly to a church.
Especially when you have to maintain centuries-old buildings, govt. support seems more reasonable. Still a double-edged sword, though.
not only that - the church runs most of the hospitals, orphanages, retirement homes, etc. Government gets a bargain, the church operates them a lot better than the state would.
Remember, joining the EU will not violate your country's sovereignty! Pay attention Britain!
That tax will be huge.
I know that the Swedes pay a church tax for the Lutheran Church. So do Germans (Catholic and Lutheran).
Indians pay a tax on their religion too.
More than these three countries have church tax. We just don't know about them.
India has numerous religions, including a Baptist terrorist group in the northeast part of the country.
How does the Indian government get the right amount to each group, or is there just one favored one?
Harley, did you know about this?
Most of the money comes from taxpayers who check that box on their return (the way we check the box for a contribution to an election fund), and the rest is basically compensation for services, such as the maintenance of historic buildings, educational and health services, etc. that are of benefit to the state. In the case of Spain, it was also compensation for property seized from the Church by the Government in the past.
We subsidize churches here by allowing unlimited tax deductions to them from our personal income. The amount they allow in Spain today is a pittance, if I read the article right.
I can see direct government payments to the services the Church provides. We do that here. Medicare covers care in Catholic hospitals.
But an annual payment directly to the Church, if I'm reading it right, is surprising to me.
Countries that have established churches (England, Spain, certain Nordic countries, etc.) usually contribute to their support, since these churches also provide the "ceremonial" functions of the nation. We've never had that here, of course, and it's hard for us to understand.
Personally, I think the Church, by having to pay all those taxes (which ours do not), is coming out short. The thing that many Spaniards don't like is that this was not the result of Spanish legislation, but of EU requirements.
Wonder what that would be, thumping someone to death with our big bibles? ;O)
The taxes support Hindism.
They ARE 90%+ of all Indians.
Even with 10,000,000 Muslims, that's a drop in the bucket of the almost 1 billion Hindus.
Actually, from what I've read, the Baptist terrorists are quite nasty, although I doubt they'd qualify for any support from the main church. In fact, I'm quite confident of that.
Remember this thread?
Southern Baptists launch pre-emptive strikes against Assemblies of God
>>>>India has numerous religions, including a Baptist terrorist group in the northeast part of the country.<<<
I thought you were kidding!
http://www.hvk.org/articles/0703/107.html
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