German canonist Hartmut Zapp says he will sue the Vatican in his battle against the church tax that is deducted from the salaries of all employed German Christians. Zapp, a retired canon law professor from Freiburg, was taken to court by Germany's Catholic Church for challenging existing procedures for collecting the church tax, the Irish Times reports.
The tax, calculated as up to 8 per cent of income tax, raises approximately €5 billion annually for the Catholic Church; the Lutheran church earns €4 billion.
German Christians may stop their church tax payment by going to their town hall and filling in a form which, when passed on to the church authorities, is interpreted as a Kirchenaustritt or "church exit".
The person's name is struck from the church register and they are excluded from church services and sacraments.
Prof Zapp (71), a practising Catholic, challenged this interpretation two years ago by altering his "church exit" form to read "exit from the Catholic Church, a public corporation".
When challenged by church authorities, he said he was still a believer but was no longer interested in paying an obligatory tax.
Prof Zapp won the first court battle in Freiburg; but an appeals court in Mannheim has now ruled in favour of the church, saying disputes over the tax were an "inner-church matter" to be resolved by canon law.
Prof Zapp has waived his right to go to Germany's highest appeals court, saying: "All that remains now is the road to Rome."
SIC: CTHUSA