Bund gegen Anpassung
Alliance Against Conformity
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Parliamentary Question from MEP, Maurizio Turco (Italy), on 25 July, 2003 in the European Parliament on the enforced imposition of church tax on unemployed non-church members in Germany


The enforced imposition of church tax on unemployed non-church members in Germany is now also being discussed in the European Parliament. Italian MEP, Maurizio Turco from the Partito Radicale, found out about this constitutional violation from our speech held at the Secularist Congress in Albacete (Spain), which took place from 4-6 July, 2003, and immediately gave his signature in protest. Consequently, he then put the following question to the European Parliament on July 25, 2003:

Parliamentary Question from MEP, Maurizio Turco (Italy), on 25 July, 2003 in the European Parliament


Translation:


European Parliament
July 25, 2003

Parliamentary Question from MEP, Maurizio Turco,
to the Commission of the European Communities


Re: The enforced imposition of church tax on the unemployment benefit of those
       unemployed who do not belong to the church by the Federal Republic of Germany.


The question is based on the following considerations:

  • In Germany, considerable amounts of money are being collected as church tax from unemployed non-church members, who are thus being forced to financially support an organisation they do not belong to.
  • This situation seems all the more incredible as the German constitution expressly forbids that anyone should be disadvantaged in any way for not belonging to a religious community.
  • The enforced imposition of church tax on unemployed non-church members violates the following provisions of the German constitution:
    a)   Article 3 Sections 1 and 3 of the Basic Law, which states that no-one may be "favoured or disadvantaged" on account of his religious or political views,
    b)   Article 4 Section 1, which states: "Freedom of faith and conscience and the freedom of religion and weltanschauung are inviolable", and
    c)   Article 33, which prescribes the state's fundamental obligation to neutrality.
  • The Federal Constitutional Court has ruled that church tax may be imposed on unemployed non-church members as long as a clear majority of those in work are church members. However, according to a ruling made by the Federal Sozialgericht on November 8, 2001, 49%(*) of the German working population did not pay church tax in 1999.
Since the regulation in question is in violation of:
  • the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of religion,
  • the principle of equal treatment and the state's obligation to neutrality and
  • the principle of separation of church and state.
The commission is requested to state:
  • whether the facts mentioned above are known to it and, if so, whether steps have been taken and, if so, which?
  • if the commission is of the opinion that the aforementioned facts are in contradiction to the valid law of the European Communities?
  • what formal steps the European Union could take against Germany, should the situation as stated not be remedied, in order to protect the principle of religious freedom?

(*) This is obviously a mistake which has crept into the text. The correct figure is 43 per cent. (Note of the BgA)
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