Talk:Church tax

message: Woah, did not realise, that still in this century, the church did not have to fund itself through charitable donations.
Did england or france ever have it?
:In answer to your question during the early 19th century in Ireland it was compulsary to pay tithes to the anglican church (The cause of much resentent in many quarters -particularly Roman Catholics who constituted the majority of the population) as (all of) Ireland was part of the United Kingdom at the time presumamably the law also applied in England (and Scotland/Wales etc)213.40.117.87 (talk) 20:04, 20 November 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: Untitled

message: Church tax is compulsory in Austria is this correct and if so does the tax go to one church or is it distributed among several of them -if so how ? 213.40.117.87 (talk) 20:04, 20 November 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: No, the Curch-tax in austria is NOT "obligatory". it is, for people who are in a excepted religious group (like catholic, evangelic, budhistic,... ) and do have an regular income. maximum tax to pay is 200euros. -for references see the german (austria) article. --62.178.26.203 (talk) 23:20, 5 April 2010 (UTC)
replies: text:  Is this a comprehensive list? Or at least comprehensive on European states with such law? Aryah (talk) 22:07, 27 June 2010 (UTC)
replies: text:  Someone has updated the Austria section to state that the Church tax is compulsory for Catholics. Does this mean that members of other religions dont pay anything ? And what of lapsed/non-practising/former Catholics. How easy is it for them to get out of paying ? 86.112.87.162 (talk) 13:33, 24 December 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: Austria section unclear

message: on the basis of tax regulations passed by the communities 
It's not clear what "community" means. In my experience, community usually means the city or town, or the people of the city or town. That's how I first understood it when I read it here. However, on re-reading, I think it may mean the church, or the church congregation (meaning the people who are members of the local church). "Community" could be used in this way if the meaning was clear, but in this case it's not. I suggest revising the wording to make it more explicit. If "community" means municipal government, say "municipal government". If it means the church, or the congregation of the local church, then say that. I'd fix the wording if I knew what it means, but since I don't I'll leave it for others to fix. Omc (talk) 14:04, 17 August 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: I just changed two instances to "religious communities" as that's indeed what is meant here, i.e. the churches on a national rather than congregational level. Mbethke (talk) 04:46, 1 March 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  "Community" not clear (Germany section) 

message: Why no mention of church taxes in UK or England?  Could someone who knows this history, fill it in?  I have searched the internet but cannot find anything on why England imposes no church tax, while so many other developed nations do.  The USA and the UK seem to be rare exceptions.  Further, I once read that Britain had a church tax that was abolished in 1927.   Might it be cause and effect, or just coincidence, that the church tax was abolished a year after the 1926 United Kingdom general strike?  I can find references that state that some prominent clergymen in the UK proclaimed that the 1926 general strike was sinful and therefore illegal, according to their religion.  See the following
The article at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13828537
Three minutes, 30 seconds into the video "British Empire 20th Century in Colour  Geographical Height and End", which claims to play a genuine recording of BBC news.
I can't find reference sources for my other recollections.  Can anyone else find these events in trusted sources?  Was there a cause and effect link between the 1926 United Kingdom general strike, and the 1927 abolishment of church taxes in England 71.207.222.246 (talk) 01:20, 6 December 2013 (UTC)
replies: text: That sounds like it would be useful.  Many United States founders believed in secularism, which would explain no church tax.  Maybe they paid church tax before independence?  Anyhow, I xagree this article could be expanded with more clarity over which countries still pay church and which used to. Jonpatterns (talk) 16:04, 6 January 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: In the past, there were church taxes in the US, but these were generally abolished after the American Revolution as part of instituting separation of church and state. I've added some examples to the article. Ltwin (talk) 05:45, 3 July 2018 (UTC)
replies: text: During the 19th century there were mandatory tithes in Ireland (which was part of the UK at the time) which caused considerable resentment given that the majority of the population didn't belong to the Anglican church (the sole beneficiaries) 2A00:23C7:70C:EF00:F13D:6F03:5B28:A267 (talk) 17:00, 16 August 2021 (UTC)

text: Totally agree with Aamackie. Replaced section with "There has long been no church tax in the United Kingdom. Tithing was obligatory in England centuries ago.[7]" Pol098 (talk) 16:15, 27 June 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Why no mention of church taxes in UK or England? 

message: Are there analogs in Islam and other religions?--Kaiyr (talk) 06:58, 30 July 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Islam 

message: Substituted at 11:45, 29 April 2016 (UTC)
thread_title: Assessment comment

message: What controversies over this law exist in countries where this law is in effect?Ztallen 09:14, 7 March 2018 (UTC)
thread_title: Controversy over law

message: There seems to be confusion within the article over the topic. Most of the article deals with European countries that have laws that allow the government to collect taxes on behalf of churches from within a church's membership that would provide financial support to the said church. Then, at the bottom, is a section on court cases in the United States dealing with whether church's should have tax exemption and whether allowing church's to apply for government programs would be a violation of church/state separation. These are two separate topics. The section on the US is completely unsourced, so I will be removing it and replacing it with information states that imposed church taxes in the past. Ltwin (talk) 04:58, 3 July 2018 (UTC)
thread_title: Scope of article

message: Iceland should not be in here. Church tax is defined in the opening paragraph as: "A church tax is a tax imposed by the state on members of some religious congregations to provide financial support of churches,..."
This is not the case in Iceland. There is no tax imposed specifically on the members of religious groups. "Sóknargjöld" are a state subsidy that's not collected from the members of the churches specifically. The finance ministry explains it here:
 
And the Alþingi ombudsman has stated the same in 8118/2014: "Af ákvæðum þeirra laga leiddi að í reynd innheimti ríkið engin sóknargjöld heldur væru um að ræða að framlagið væri reiknað samkvæmt lögum á grundvelli tiltekinna viðmiða, þ.e. „hlutdeild í tekjuskatti“."
The source cited in the article, an US state report, basically confirms this:
 
Note that it isn't taken out of the income tax of the members, but it's the income tax from all taxpayers, just like any other state subsidy, and distinct from a church tax.
--Herro56 (talk) 00:03, 30 April 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  Remove Iceland from this article - Not a church tax in Iceland 

message: I have removed the section because church tax, defined by the article itself as "a tax imposed by the state on members of some religious congregations to provide financial support of churches" does not exist in Croatia. Instead, religious communities are financed directly from the government budget. GregorB (talk) 15:44, 26 June 2020 (UTC)
thread_title: Church tax in Croatia

message: "A church tax is a tax collected by the state from members of some religious denominations to provide financial support of churches, such as the salaries of its clergy and to pay the operating cost of the church. Not all countries have such a tax."
I'd like to edit this. As it stands it reads as if 'church tax' is the normal, but not all countries do this. There's nine countries listed in the article, with an on-going discussion as to whether Iceland should be included. There's 193 UN member sovereign states, 2 UN General Assembly non-member observer states, and 10 other states. 
Instead of 'Not all countries have such a tax', can we please 'Less than 5% of sovereign state have a church tax.' It makes it clear 'church tax' exists, but it is not at all common. 92.39.204.3 (talk) 12:05, 4 January 2024 (UTC)
replies: text: I suppose one could write more clearly in the first sentence that the tax exists in "some countries" or similar to avoid giving an unsourced impression that it is very widespread, but a more definite statement as to the frequency requires a reliable source. There is no reason to think that the countries mentioned excplicitly in the current article version are the only ones levying such a tax. Økonom (talk) 14:53, 4 January 2024 (UTC)
thread_title:  Not all countries have such a tax