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Please read this article from the Copenhagen Post about the Church Tax (Kirkeskat). Apparently there are many foreigners who pay this tax without even realising it! - Kathleen V.
Link to article:
http://www.cphpost.dk/news/national/88-national/45572-foreigners-unaware-of-church-tax.html
Here is the article copied and pasted (just in case the link doesn't work)
Source: The Copenhagen Post Online
Foreigners unaware of church tax
Monday, 04 May 2009 13:47 KR News
The state church receives funding in the form of tax deducted from its members’ salaries, but many foreigners are unaware that they have been signed up as members or that it involves paying tax
Both the Atheist Society and an anti-church tax website have reported repeated requests from foreigners wanting to opt-out of paying an automatic tax to a church they are not members of.
Around 83 percent of Danes pay the church tax, which is on average 0.88 percent of their earnings, to pay for the upkeep of the Church of Denmark. It is expected that this will amount to almost 5.5 billion kroner this year, reports 24 Timer newspaper.
Danes that are baptised in the Church of Denmark, the national Lutheran church, must pay the tax as long as they are members, but foreigners who move to Denmark are not obliged to, unless they register as church members.
Mads Dørup, who runs the ingenkirkeskat.dk website (‘no church tax’), said that he receives at least five enquires every month from people wanting to opt-out of paying the tax.
‘It is mainly people who have moved here, for example, from Norway and Sweden. They are very surprised that they have been signed up as church members and it takes them by surprise that they suddenly have to pay a tax,’ said Dørup.
The Atheist Society also reported receiving a number of queries each month; mainly from people who did not realise they had been paying the tax for many years.
When a foreigner moves to Denmark and signs up for the civil registration ID number, they should be asked if they want to be a member of the church. If they answer yes, then they are signed up as a paying member of the church.
Jesper Vind of the Atheist Society believes that not enough is being done to make foreigners aware that they are being registered as paying church members.
If a currently registered church member wants to opt-out of membership, they must write to their local church office and request a resignation of membership form in addition to providing their birth certificate.
Once a person opts-out of the Church of Denmark, they can no longer have a minister of that church preside over religious events like a wedding or funeral. |
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