It’s almost tax time again here in the States …dreaded or welcomed depending on whether you’re getting a refund.

Do you know that in Germany, if you declare a “religion” you have to pay a church tax of 10% to the government. Here is an old article out of “In Touch” (a local magazine for English-speakers living in Germany)

The Tithe Tax
“So you decided to live in Germany, be it for professional or private reasons. You were told to go along to the Amt für Öffentliche Ordnung and register; no big deal, it’s the law, even the Germans have to register. You pick up the form and begin to fill it in, most of it fairly innocuous stuff like names, date of birth, address, and so on. There are two little check boxes which might cause some consternation, however. One is “Wehrüberwachung ja oder nein”, the other is “Konfession”. The first one means quite simply:
“have you served in the German Army or are you about to be called up?”.
Since, as a foreign national, you are very unlikely to be drafted, forget this entry and go straight to “Konfession”.

Now that is the tricky one. “Konfession”, believe it or not, means “confession”, or your creed, religion, belief, denomination - your God, in other words. You might wonder why anyone should be interested in something as personal as your belief, but the German officials want to know for the simple reason that the German government made an agreement long ago with the big churches (and some other communities) which allows the state to levy taxes on behalf of these churches/communities. Yes, as strange as it might seem to you, there is such a thing as a “Church Tax” here in Germany. Now let’s assume you have come over from Britain or Ireland to settle here, you are not an atheist, you have always (or sporadically) attended mass at your local Catholic church or have always attended the Anglican service back home, and you have always dropped a few pennies or buttons into the collection box. You might be tempted to tick the box with “RK” (for Roman
Catholic) or “EV” (for Evangelisch/Protestant). This little tick means that, from now on, you are going to pay ten percent on top of your income tax in church tax.

If you want to stop paying the tax, visit your nearest town hall, pay about
25 Euro’s and you get a certificate saying that you left the church. This certificate, once given to the Amt für Öffentliche Ordnung, will exempt you from paying church tax. A few years ago you were told by the person in the Kirchenaustritt-Office that a priest might come and see you to dissuade you or to try and make you reconsider your decision. I am not sure if that’s still done today, but you can always decline the offer politely. With most taxes, you have no choice. But with this one, you have.”

Interesting! Please pray for Germany and the believers there.

On a personal note, we have a contract on our house again. Thank you for your prayers,

Your friends,

Courtney and Krista