Mandate tax
The mandate tax is a tax in favor of religious communities or social, cultural and humanitarian purposes. It has so far existed in Spain , Italy and Hungary as an alternative to church tax and similar concepts for church funding .
With mandate tax, the taxpayer can choose which institution should benefit from the tax: a church or religious community, the state or a non-profit organization (e.g. a cultural or social institution, a citizens' initiative or a non-profit organization such as B. Greenpeace or Amnesty international ). The mandate tax could in principle also serve to finance parties . It is paid by all taxpayers; the taxpayer is simply free to choose which institution will benefit from his contribution. He cannot avoid the mandate tax by leaving the church - in contrast to the church tax.
Other names
In a reform proposal Dietrich-Bonhoeffer-association , the designations culture tax and social control (or as a term: cultural and social control ) used for similar control models.
This type of tax is sometimes also referred to as a cultural tax . However, this designation is misleading: in Germany, Kultussteuer is the usual designation for church tax for Jewish communities (Section 16 HKiStG); the term church tax is avoided here, as “church” can designate both a Christian religious community and a Christian building.
The term “mandate tax”, which he had coined, was already used in 1972 by the church critic Horst Herrmann , who advocated replacing the church tax with this alternative to church financing that he proposed.
history
A mandate tax was introduced in Spain in 1979 and in Italy in 1984 as a model for church funding. In Spain it is 0.52% and in Italy 0.8% of the wage or income tax . In Italy it is therefore known under the name otto per mille (eight per thousand). A similar mandate tax of 1% of income tax was introduced in Hungary in 1998. This financing model was introduced with the official approval of the Vatican in the form of concordats (i.e. contracts between the Church and a secular state), as these countries have a very high proportion of the Roman Catholic population and thus, based on experience, a large part of the mandate tax of the Roman Catholic Church flows in. There is a similar model in Iceland , where taxpayers can decide whether part of their taxes should benefit the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland or the university.
Legal structure
The financing of religious and ideological communities through a mandate tax is legally a form of direct state financing. It is more closely related to the state church systems of Northern Europe than to the system of church tax in Germany , which is actually a personal membership fee for a religious community that is collected like a tax by the state, but the state has no influence on the amount Has.
The starting point for the mandate tax is the income tax burden that every employee has to pay to the state . In principle, the taxpayer cannot decide how to use his income tax. For example, it has no influence on what proportion goes to motorway construction and what proportion goes to the rail network. The mandate tax starts at this point and enables the taxpayer to determine a part of the state finances. A tax in the traditional sense is not yet given with this right of determination.
The state decides on the amount of the mandate tax, ie the proportion of income tax. The religious and ideological communities thereby become more dependent on the state. It is difficult for the members of religious and ideological communities to be persuaded to make further payments, since many have the impression that they have contributed enough to the financing of religious and ideological communities.
The amount of money generated in Spain through the mandate tax - € 78 million - only covers a fraction of the church's financial needs; However, this also includes the construction expenses that are covered in other countries such as France and partly also in Germany by state funds or as part of the state preservation of monuments. The Spanish state still pays the lion's share of € 3.6 billion. Conversely, the introduction of the Italian mandate tax has put the Waldensians in Italy in a very good financial position. The Protestant Church has only 25,000 members in Italy, but more than 400,000 Italians have decided to give the Waldensians the tax, which can be allocated to various secular and religious communities and aid agencies.
Situation in Germany, Austria, Switzerland
In Germany , the model of the mandate tax has been rejected by the church for decades, as financial losses compared to the current model of the church tax are feared. In Germany, the church tax has long been 8% or 9% of wage or income tax, depending on the federal state. It is not a part of the wage or income tax, but is added and is only paid by those taxpayers who belong to one of the participating religious bodies under public law . Due to the constitutional anchoring of church tax in Article 140 of the German Basic Law in conjunction with Article 137 paragraph 6 of the Weimar Constitution , the church tax can only be abolished against the will of the churches by a constitutional amendment and then replaced by the mandate tax. The direct and direct financing of religious and ideological communities from state funds, insofar as it is not based on other constitutional norms, also comes into conflict with the prohibition of state churches in Article 137 paragraph 1 of the Weimar Constitution.
The mandate tax is being discussed in other European countries, for example in Switzerland and Austria .
In Switzerland, a mandate tax at the cantonal state level would definitely have a chance if it were introduced soon. If the number of church tax payers falls too sharply, the majority of the population would tend not to agree to the introduction of a new tax. In principle, a taxpayer would be free to choose whether he would like to pay religious tax (church tax) or mandate tax. A taxpayer could choose from a manageable number (say no more than ten) purposes. State or charitable purposes are favored. Examples: Libraries of cantons and municipalities, pot for cantonal supplementary benefits to AHV / IV (relieving the state budget), elderly aid for the elderly (which the health insurance does not pay), domestic development purposes (such as mountain aid), famine relief and disaster relief in Germany and abroad, cantonal funds for non-profit Purposes (already funded with lottery money). The basis of a cantonal mandate tax would be a mandate tax law (referendum eligible). A list with the mandate taxable purposes would be determined by law. The law determines what it takes to recognize a social institution or association of institutions as a prerequisite for receiving funds from the mandate tax.
See also
literature
- Horst Herrmann: The church and our money . Hamburg 1990. ISBN 3-89136-301-X
- Horst Herrmann: Church, clergy, capital. Background to a German alliance . Münster 2003. ISBN 3-8258-6862-1
- Horst Herrmann: Church tax as a mandate? A request to the state and church . In: Voices of the time 97 (1972), pp. 398-400 (definition of terms).
Individual evidence
- ^ "Social and cultural tax" as a general civic duty: The Dietrich Bonhoeffer Association (dbv) proposes a sustainable church tax reform. (pdf, 10 kB) Dietrich Bonhoeffer Association, May 12, 1996, accessed on December 28, 2018 .
- ↑ Jens Petersen: Appearances and Financing of the Churches in Countries of the European Community , footnote 2 ( Memento of the original from May 12, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 44 kB)
- ↑ Joint project funding of the Waldensians with the GAW. Gustav-Adolf-Werk, January 11, 2013, accessed on May 5, 2015 .
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^ Erwin Tanner: Church and State: The Mandate Tax - a Janus head ; Schweizerische Kirchenzeitung 25/2001 of June 21, 2001. ISSN 1420-5041 ; accessed on May 9, 2014.
Swiss Federal Supreme Court: Direct federal tax. Extraction costs. Mandate tax ; Judgment of the Swiss Federal Court of December 5, 1997 (pdf; 22 kB)
Peter Knechtli : Basel church tax should fall: Long live the mandate tax ; on: Onlinereports.ch , April 17, 2001
Church tax or mandate tax ( Memento of the original from May 12, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ; Summary of a kath.net article in the International Business Times , April 6, 2011
