ITALY
Crux
John L. Allen Jr.July 17, 2016
EDITOR
The Italian Church netted $1.3 billion from its share of income taxes that go to religious groups, according to the latest annual data, while in Germany the figure is a staggering $6 billion. That means German and Italian support for the Vatican is inflated by tax dollars, while American offerings come from voluntary contributions.
Last week the Italian government released its latest data on the distribution of annual income tax proceeds, covering the year 2012. The results show that the Catholic Church netted a little over $1.3 billion from what’s known as the otto per mille (“eight per thousand”) system.
Under Italian law, 0.8 percent of everyone’s income tax is devoted either to support of one of the organized religions recognized by the state or to a government-run social assistance program. In a country where distrust of government is pervasive, roughly 80 percent of taxpayers who express a preference each year choose a religion, and the lion’s share goes to the Catholic Church.
Moreover, the law says that for those taxpayers who fail to designate a choice, their 0.8 percent will be allocated on the basis of the shares created by those who did, meaning that the Church gets the bulk of that money too. That’s hugely significant, given that in 2012 almost 55 percent of taxpayers didn’t express an option.
The total yearly haul for the Church for some time now has been north of $1 billion. It’s often erroneously reported that the money goes to “the Vatican,” but that’s not the case – it goes to the Italian bishops. They put out a breakdown each year of where it goes, with the largest line items being clergy salaries and pastoral operations.
Italy is not the only country to have some version of a “church tax.” Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Sweden, Austria and Germany all have such a national system, and some cantons in Switzerland also have a local version.
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