Dirk Wummel: I have no doubts about that, because it is the best and fairest financing model for churches, even on a global scale. The church tax means performance-related membership fees, it is calculable and constitutional.
Why should it continue to exist, what is it used for?
It is necessary so that the church can fulfill its tasks in this society and in a relatively stable way. We are not dependent on major donors like in America, where the influence can be enormous. We are exempt from that in Germany.
What are the main tasks funded by this tax?
The most important point is the various forms of pastoral care, i.e. the many activities in our Archdiocese, for example in parishes, as well as categorical pastoral care, for example in the hospitals. The block of day-care centers is also large. More than 30 million euros go into this area in the Archdiocese of Paderborn alone. We support schools and educational sectors with almost 50 million euros. A large proportion also goes to Caritas. But tasks of the universal church are of course also part of it, albeit to a lesser extent.
The salaries of the priests are also paid with it.
The salaries of the pastoral workers, i.e. not only the clergy but also, for example, the community officers or pastoral officers, the allocations to the communities, for example for heating costs, but also the maintenance of the building structure. A large part of the churches are listed, so I also see it as a social duty that we not only preserve these special buildings as sacred buildings or places of worship, but also as monuments.
In 2022, the Archdiocese of Paderborn received 412 million euros from church taxes. Supposing it were suddenly gone, what would be the immediate consequences?
First of all, I believe that the big parties appreciate the church tax financing because it relieves them massively in the area of kindergarten education, schools and charity, since we take on these social tasks. That’s why I don’t see any danger of the system being abolished in the next few years. But if it were to disappear, then we would have to prepare ourselves for a church that was clearly financially restricted. They will still exist, but I clearly question whether we will then still be able to support the various tasks to the same extent. And I don’t think that this loss can even come close to being compensated for by donations. Day-care centers would continue to exist, but the state would now have to finance them. And then the tax burden would probably increase or the state would have to save elsewhere.
Every year, the Archdiocese of Paderborn announces new church tax records, while at the same time warnings are constantly being given that revenues are falling. How does that fit together?
Church taxes don’t go up forever. In the first quarter of 2023 we had around 3 percent less church tax than in the same quarter of the previous year. Due to demographic change alone, the number of Catholics in the Archdiocese will fall from the current 1.4 million to an estimated 0.7 million in 2060. We therefore assume that the real church tax revenue in 2060 will only be half, in the worst case even are only 28 percent – although the absolute numbers have not changed very noticeably. In short: the money is there, but you get less for it. And because we have an obligation to our subsidy recipients, such as the parishes or Caritas, or to the staff, we are already pursuing a cautious financial policy.
Can you give examples?
It becomes obvious with our real estate strategy. Maintaining the buildings – although often pastorally no longer needed in this form – costs a lot of money. That’s why we’re planning to reduce the stock by a third, which will relieve the parishes in many ways.
How is the Church of Paderborn preparing for the times of low income and where is it already saving?
Membership and revenue will decrease. We have to react to that and we try to do that. In addition to the real estate strategy, we look at all areas of responsibility and consider what we can do better. This is how we invest in renewable energies, examples of which are the IT building in Paderborn and the pellet plant in Hardehausen. We gave the day-care centers 3 million euros so that they could put PV systems on the roof. These are all cost-cutting measures.
Can you rule out that facilities in the Archdiocese of Paderborn will have to be closed?
We have no plans to close any educational institution or school. As far as the kindergartens are concerned, however, we raise the question of better refinancing by the state for the two large churches. And of course there are no plans to close any charitable institution.
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