During the registration at the commune, I declared Greek Orthodox, so I don't understand what I will be paying. If need be I can declare whatever necessary to not pay...
Art. 14 1 Sont assujetties à l'impôt ecclés iastique : a) les personnes physiques qui sont membres d'une Eglise reconnue et qui ont domicile ou séjour fiscal sur le territoire du Canton; b) les personnes physiques de la confession d'une des Eglises reconnues qui remplissent dans le Canton les conditions d 'un assujettissement partiel; c) les personnes morales qui ont leur siège ou dont l'administration s'exerce dans le Canton; d) les personnes morales qui remplissent dans le Canton les conditions d'un assujettissement partiel.
It's a general principal that church taxes are paid by everyone except those who declare themselves as having no religious belief and that the funds are distributed among all faiths. The majority, of course, would go to the main religions, and I can well understand that if you are a member of one religion you would resent paying into a pot of which only a very small proportion goes to your chose church.
It's been discussed here in the past, and I think it is possible, but not easy, to change your declared confession, but it could be seen by many as hypocritical, if you actually believe, stating that you're an atheist just to avoid a little bit of tax. How does your God view the practice of lying and denying your belief in Him/Her?
This has been discussed ad nauseum on other threads, but a quick re-cap:
By not joining a Swiss church one is not necessarily denying one's faith, merely choosing not to support or to join in the local Swiss version of that faith. The faith you adhere to and the local Swiss version of that faith can differ in views and practices, sometimes significantly. You may value one but not the other, there is really no hypocrisy in deciding not to register as a member of a Swiss church if you don’t feel aligned to it.
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I am a Catholic and practice among kindred spirits whenever I am in other countries. But I am not a member of the Swiss Catholic church.
I made this choice because the local parish - the group who would get my church tax - promotes views I find antithetical to my understanding of the faith. I cannot in good conscience - heck I cannot in faith - support some of the things they do and say. Paying tax to the local Swiss parish would be hypocritical, as I do not espouse their interpretation of key issues.
If I encountered this situation back home, I'd simply not go to the local church and instead find a parish elsewhere more in line with my faith. That parish would get my financial support, because back home supporting one's church is done on a voluntary basis.
Because the Swiss church tax system leaves me no discretion as to which parish to support I decided to register as other. I am Catholic, but I am not a Swiss Catholic.
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FYI, de-registering from Swiss religious affiliation is pretty easy, see here:
Would be really interested Melon ''the group who would get my church tax - promotes views I find antithetical to my understanding of the faith. I cannot in good conscience - heck I cannot in faith - support some of the things they do and say.''
would you mind giving exemples? I know that in Switzerland attitudes even within the catholic Church, change from Canton to Kanton, even regionally.
Here, the Catholic Church is very much part of a strong eucemunical movement- with both the Protestant and Catholic Church work together, accept mixed marriages and funerals, etc.
In the UK, I remember the Sunday Church migrations- where people went to attend surrounding Churches because the preferred that Vicar, or to avoid women Vicars, or because one supported this, or that, or opposed it. Whilsts people from those surrounding Churches would drive to attend our local Church, because the Vicar was a strong opponent of womens' ordination. It was quite hilarious to watch.
This will happen automatically, if you have checked the box of one of the religions that are officially recognised in your area. In this case, your money will go to your choice of the local Catholic Church, the local Reformed Church, in some municipalities to the local "Christkatholische Kirche", and in some more rare places also the local Jewish synagogue.
or choose, legitimately, to not pay this tax .
To do that, one can simply register at the municipality and/or at the tax office as "Konfessionslos", or in some cases "other". This is an option for atheists and agnostics, for the confused and searching or for those who deem this all to be irrelevant, just as much as for believers who (as meloncollie set out above) do not agree with the way the local institutions are being run, as well as for believers of many other kinds, (including Greek Orthodox) and those who practice no religion at all, or any other religion besides those few that are formally acknowledged by one's municipality or canton.
As an aside, religion is still a very sensitive issue in the Jura. When the Canton was annexed (without asking the Jura people their opinion!) to Bern- in exchange for giving Vaud its freedom from Bern - the Bernese settlers arrived, took all the lands, and imposed the Bernese German language- in schools, business, judiciary, etc, etc. And their imposed their religion, a rather severe form to Protestantism. On a people that had always been French speaking and Catholics- the bitter tensions still exist today. (Congrès de Vienne 1814).
My father grew up in Neuchâtel Jura- and so did his father- but grandfather came from JU Jura in the 19C. Catholics were a tiny minority at the time, and right up to the big waves of immigrations, first Italians after 1st and 2nd W wars, the Spanish and Portuguese- and now in NE practicaly have parity- partly the reason for the strong ecumenism movement here.
When my father married a Protestant, it was a scandal! Divorcee with a child- oh horror. When I discovered that in fact our family came directly from Huguenot descendants- persecuted and tortured for their Protestant faith - the irony was just too much. Tried to discuss it with dad, but he just could not handle it, so dropped it.
The German word is Konfessionslos. In French "sans confession" I guess. This means without confession - i.e. not belonging to any specific denomination. Undenominational. Plenty of people aren't atheists, but are also without denomination.
By checking it you're not saying you're athiest, nor being hypocritical. Just being accurate.
Since you can donate to charity and reclaim the tax, and most churches are also charities, the whole tax-based approach seems pointless.
Of course if they abolished it and churches had to get people to think about donating their income would plummet, so it's not likely to happen any time soon.
I think (most of) Valais is the exception to the general Swiss rules as regards church tax. It's done by municipality not canton. Many (most?) Gemeinde only have a Catholic Church, and in that case the money goes 100% to the Catholic Church and you can't opt out.
Is that why ace1 had a different understanding to most of us maybe?