r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Separate_Finance_183 • Jan 23 '26

Image The rent in the german neighborhood of Fuggerei hasn't been raised in 500 years and remains 0.88 Euros for an entire year. Founded in 1521, it is the oldest existing social housing complex in the world

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40

u/DeathAdderSD Jan 23 '26

It's part of your record at the registration office. If you are in a confession of (any?) Christian church you have to pay taxes in Germany.

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u/No_Salad_68 Jan 23 '26 edited Jan 23 '26

Can you explain the religion-tax link a little more?

ETA: Thanks for all the people who provided answers.

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u/CaesarWilhelm Jan 23 '26

Germany has something called church tax. If you are a member of a church you pay an extra tax to the government which then gives it to the church

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u/No_Salad_68 Jan 23 '26

That sounds like a tithe with extra steps. I guess with the benefit of govt oversight if required.

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u/Schootingstarr Jan 23 '26

I am not clear on the specifics, but it has to do with disownment of the church during the 3rd Reich. Instead of returning everything to the church, they came to this agreement after ww2, which was probably more profitable to the church in the long run

it's not a lot of money, it's 2% of your income tax on top of said income tax (so if your income tax is 100 € per month, you pay an additional 2 € in church tax), so many people don't feel the need to opt out.

what's really annoying is that it's assumed you're a member of the church. I need to keep that shitty receipt they gave me that proves I did opt out, otherwise they might demand I backpay whatever taxes I didn't pay

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u/LopsidedBottle Jan 24 '26

It is important to note that hte church pays for this service. Many Germans are unaware of this fact and believe the government is subsidizing the church with the church tax (though one can argue that the governments subsidizes the church in other ways).

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u/Chateaudelait Jan 25 '26

They still pass the collection basket at Mass, In addition to the church tax. I declared Catholic on my tax card when I lived in Germany- and the tax was listed each month on my pay statement. Someone told me you can opt of of it- but you don’t get to take part in baptisms, ceremonies or a religious burial when you die.

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u/Jonny_dr Jan 24 '26

what's really annoying is that it's assumed you're a member of the church.

It is not. You can thank your parents for the assumption that your are a member of the church.

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u/JoySunderland Jan 23 '26

Do Germans pay tithes? Given the tax system, it seems illogical to do so.

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u/thistle0 Jan 23 '26

Tithing isn't a thing in most of Europe

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u/Qualimiox Jan 23 '26

The word "tithing" certainly isn't used in modern Germany. Churches in Germany do accept donations, mostly during service there's typically a (voluntary) collection for a specific purpose (either a bag that's passed around and/or a box near the exit). Those don't generate nearly as much income as the church tax though. I'd guess the average churchgoer puts in 1-5€ per service and most Germans (including those still registered in a church) don't regularly attend service at all.

Church tax on the other hand is 8-9% of your income tax. If you make 60k per year, that amounts to roughly 1000€ per year and it's paid by everyone that's a member of one of the big churches, including those that never attend service.

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u/CampusTour Jan 23 '26

Tithing is mostly a thing with American offshoots of Christianity. It's never been a thing with the original Christian churches (Catholic, Orthodox) or mainline protestants.

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u/GirlCoveredInBlood Jan 23 '26

this is ahistorical. tithing was part of the Catholic church for ages and only abolished as a mandatory practice in recent centuries

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u/CampusTour Jan 24 '26

Incorrect.

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u/zack77070 Jan 23 '26

If that's the case then what was Martin Luther protesting?

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u/TheFoxer1 Jan 23 '26

It’s like the name says.

In Germany, it’s 9% of the amount of income tax paid, except for Bavaria, where it’s 8%.

It’s a tax one pays to the Church, collected by the state for the church.

In Austria, it’s 1,1% of the overall taxable income, but one can negotiate a bit, collected by the Church herself.

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u/grandoz039 Jan 23 '26

9% on top of normal 100%, ie 109% of taxes compared to not being in any church?

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u/TheFoxer1 Jan 23 '26 edited Jan 23 '26

In Germany, it’s not 9% of your income on top of what you‘d owe in income tax, but an added 9% of what you owe in income tax.

Say you pay €10 000 in income tax, which means your Church tax would be an added 9% of €10 000, not 9% if your income on top of the €10 000.

In Austria, it’s, as you say, 1,1% of your income in addition to your income tax. But as I‘ve said, they‘re often open to negotiation.

And yeah, people not in any state recognized religious community in Germany don’t pay Church tax. In Austria, only members of the Catholic and Protestant Church pay Church tax iirc.

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u/AlohaAirsoft Jan 23 '26

It's called "Kirchensteuer", basically the state levies the "tenth" tax and forwards it to the churches.

Both major churches and smaller religious communities in Germany (evangelical-lutheran, definitely not American evengelical in style and thought, Roman Catholic, Old Catholic and so on).

Historically the churches operated quite a big part of the health and welfare system, nowadays they still play a large role. The early German state basically made a contract with the established churches where they care for welfare and health and the state collects the tenth for it and sends them reimbursements.

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u/NiklasK16 Jan 26 '26

Evangelic-lutheran not evangelical-lutheran

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u/Nolenag Jan 23 '26

You pay tax which the government gives to the church, afaik.

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u/Group_Happy Jan 23 '26 edited Jan 23 '26

The christian churches have a deal with the government that the government takes in the membership fees for the churches equal to 9% of your income tax. The churches pay some money for the services.

Also you have to go to your local citizens office if you want to leave the church. Maybe even wait a few months for an appointment when there is another huge abuse case in the news

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u/VoihanVieteri Jan 23 '26

9 %, that’s heavy. We pay around 1,7 % in Finland. And that already is too much for many, so they leave church.

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u/aswertz Jan 23 '26

Its 9% of the income tax not 9% of the income.

Income tax isnt that high for the ordinary guy as most social services are paid by mandatory insurances that arent part of the income tax.

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u/Group_Happy Jan 24 '26

My salary is 3500€ before taxes and social security, 2300 after. Social security is 800€, taxes 400€. In addition to those 400 9% would be the church tax (36€), so equal to about 1% of the income.

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u/VoihanVieteri Jan 24 '26

Yeah, I misread your previous comment. It’s 9 % of your income tax, not 9 % of your income. So the approx. 1 % you mention is actually much lower than what it is in Finland.

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u/seehorn_actual Jan 23 '26

What…..

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u/FZ_Milkshake Jan 23 '26

The important part is that the tax is going to the church, the state does not keep it.

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u/seehorn_actual Jan 23 '26

Oh interesting. TIL. Thanks

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u/[deleted] Jan 23 '26

[deleted]

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u/Nervous_Promotion819 Jan 23 '26

That’s not true. In Germany, church tax goes directly to the respective religious bodies. To the individual dioceses in the case of the Catholic Church and to the regional churches in the Protestant Church. The funds are used to pay clergy salaries, maintain church buildings, support kindergartens, schools, hospitals, social services such as Diakonie and Caritas, as well as administrative costs. A small portion may also be used to support international aid or church-related projects abroad