Posted on 02/21/2020 6:40:53 PM PST by ebb tide
FELDKIRCH, Austria, February 21, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — The Austrian diocese of Feldkirch is taking a father of six to court for refusing to pay the Church tax. The father, who remains anonymous, argued that he could not pay the tax in good conscience because of the diocese’s involvement in the promotion of homosexuality and gender ideology.
As reported by faithful Catholic news website kath.net, the father pointed out that employees of the diocese took part in an event celebrating homosexuality. He also mentioned that the diocese, bordering Switzerland, puts too much emphasis on pastoral care for homosexuals.
Gender ideology has taken over the diocese, according to the father. At the same time, openly Christian associations like “Teenstar” receive no support.
The first hearing in court took place on Tuesday, February 18. The diocese “remained firm and did not want to hear theological objections and reasons” for the man’s refusal to pay the Church tax, kath.net wrote. The next hearing is scheduled for March 31.
Even though the father did not pay the tax, he tithed and contributed to the well-being of the Church. Receipts documenting his contributions were sent to the bishop. The diocese preferred going to court over roughly €400, accumulated from 2016 to 2018.
In Austria, the Church tax (Kirchenbeitrag) is 1.1 percent of a person’s income. An employee making €35,000 per year would have to pay the Church €385. However, most people are able to apply certain deductions, decreasing the taxable income as well as the Church tax.
In Germany, on the other hand, the Church tax (Kirchensteuer) is collected not by the Church, but by the government. The amount is based on a person’s income tax, which in turn depends on many other factors, like how much money a person makes and how many children there are in the family.
The Church tax in Germany is eight to nine percent of the income tax. A monthly income tax of €250 would lead to a Church tax of roughly €20. The government would collect €270 from the taxpayer and forward what is owed to the Church.
Catholics in Austria have the option of designating half of their Church tax to a specific cause of their choosing (Zweckwidmung). What sounds good in theory is often difficult in practice. The father taken to court by the diocese of Feldkirch, for instance, was not able to support Teenstar, since the diocese did not list it as one of the options.
In 2016, it was reported that in the diocese of Feldkirch alone, about 300 cases of people not paying the Church tax ended up in court. Before that happens, however, Catholics usually receive a number of letters from the diocese.
Rudolf Höfer, professor of Church history at the university of Graz, criticized the Church tax in an opinion piece published by Austrian newspaper Die Presse in January 2020.
“It still remains to be explained what is terrible about the year 2019, when 67,583 people, an increase of 15 percent compared to 2018, have chosen to leave the Catholic Church and thus freed themselves from a coercive Nazi law, signed by a war criminal executed in 1946,” Höfer wrote.
He went on to ask, “Is the Nazi law not rather terrible, whose intention was ‘a crushing blow against the Church organization,’ and which has the same effect today? In 1939, all bishops protested against it in writing.”
Höfer expressed his surprise that in spite of almost 70,000 Catholics leaving the Church, the amount of money brought in by the Church tax in all of Austria rose from €461 million to €474 million.
According to the professor of Church history, very few people leave the Church every year in European dioceses where no Church tax is collected. The Diocese of Bozen-Brixen had 14 Catholics leave out of 480,000; the archdiocese of Ljubljana had 27 leave out of 580,000.
“Austria should have had only 150 Catholics leave, due to about ten times the number of Catholics. In reality, there were 58,376 departures in 2018 and 67,538 in 2019. Since 1945 there have been over 2.4 million,” Höfer stated.
Ping
It once was that the Diocese of Lincoln Nebraska was worth contributing to. I don’t know if that remains the case or not. I contribute only to the maintenance of my church building, the annual collection for nuns retirement and our Saint Vincent de Paul Society.
Do people who do not attend church have their income taken like this?
What an incentive to not ascribe to a religious affiliation!
Ridiculous that any government would take money from citizens and give it to churches. That is establishment of religion.
Good for the father not to pay the church tax for the Austrian Diocese. He will win in court.
I belong to two parishes. The first is a parish of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter. I give to that parish in the normal way. For now. The other is a TLM parish in the archdiocese. I give only to funds that are not taxed by the archdiocese, such as the buillding fund. Not a penny to the archdiocese.
The Catholic religion is established in Austria. The reason for that clause is most countries in the 18th century had an established religion.
all over Euro$400.00 Probably about 375.00 in American money. Gee the Diocese is like the guy in the NT who was forgiven of his large debt, but turns on the man who owed him a paltry amount. The one who had forgiven the first guy learned about the problem and went to collect on his debt. The Diocese is the guy whom owes debts, but desires them forgiven and goes after someone whom owes them a paltry amount.
The church does not want to hear theological reasons, but will hear the case again in March. Where is Martin Luther and the 95 Theses nailed to church door as a matter of debate. (At that time in 1500s, if you wanted to have discussions you posted at the church for everyone to read, no newspapers back than, no internet, but the church was the center of the community.)
I checked the euro converter to US Dollars equals $433.88.
In Germany, you have to pay taxes to the Lutheran or Catholic Church, your choice. It isn’t just the Catholic Church, many countries have established protestant or orthodox churches, or established Islam.
Yeah, Germany. Need I say more.
[[The Austrian diocese of Feldkirch is taking a father of six to court for refusing to pay the Church tax. ]]
And that folks is why we have a constitution and why our country is great-
Not just Catholics; all religious bodies in Germany, including Protestant, either have the government collect the taxes or are authorized to tax their members directly. It is a German thing and not specifically Catholic.
exactly- our government can not force anyone to participate in any religion under penalty of law if they refuse- this was one of the main reasons why we left the european nations and formed our own nation- to get away from that kind of draconian government forced religion
Indeed, Bob. Thank you.
I wish! I - a mere office drone here in Germany - pay more like five times that amount!
Regards,
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