(edit title) Kyrkoavgift (church tax) Anyone know about this? Options

[Yorkshireman]

Pre 1996, all Swedish citizens were made automatically a member of the Swedish Church, and had to pay the Kyroavgift (tax).

After that, one normally chooses whether to be a member of a Church/Religion or not. They are the ones that tell Skatteverket Your in, or Your out.

Ring Skatteverket to find out if currently You are due to pay Kyrkoavgift, I doubt that You are, unless You were an asylum seeker that used being a Christian and member of Swedish Church to help support the claim.

Note: Check now!... If memory serves Me correct, if You are a member of a Church/Religion then it is already too late to change the tax now for tax year 2012 ... and to be deregistered from paying for 2013 the Tax Office must be informed by the relevant Church before end-Oct 2012. And that is where the tricky part is ... since some of the religions/churches know that once the deadline for the year is passed you have to pay the following years tax ... they only remove members and inform Skatteverket once a year ... most often during the 1st Quarter, Jan-Mar. So, anyone leaving April onwards still has to pay for the following full year.

Everyone pays Begravningsavgift in the tax declaration, if You pay the Kyrkoavgift, it is normally included in that sum, though there are exceptions in certain Kommuns.

Begravnings avgift was created when the State seperated itself from the Church ... the seperation was not entirely complete. Swedish Church is technically the legal responsible for disposal of bodies upon death, not the State. So this Begravningsavgift was created to support that, since it became possible to opt-out from paying Kyrkoavgift.

And before anyone asks ...No!... You cannot get a rebate upon death in another country, it is classed not so much as a charge as the name implies, but more rather an insurance that covers the need for disposal of your body if you die in Sweden. Use it or lose it.

So, in Sweden, not only can You be certain of Death and Taxes ... they even tax you because you will die!.

[byke]

I wonder how many people (like myself) just haven't gotten around to removing themselves from this tax. As I am registered from before a time where it wasn't possible to opt out ...

Many of the people I have spoken about it in the past who may not be religious, have continued to pay for it in the belief that if it wasn't paid it could lead to a issue in their community where churches were forced to close and landmark architecture would be put in jeopardy.

I have to be honest and say I was one of these people funding a system I have very little regards for. Especially since I am a person of no faith.

But the thing that has changed my perception of the whole ordeal is 2 factors.

#1. While I may not be a believer, I always respected other peoples faith (almost in an admiring way). But when a faith can be so easily told by the government that it needs to adopt changes due to government demands it makes me question if a organization can so easily change their view on such issues - then is government more powerful than "god"?

#2. When I went to do an online check regarding faiths in sweden it seemed somewhat bent.
As statistics seemed so wrong, it led me to question if this church tax was being used as a factor to to justify the great differences between the religions. And if it was, were so many people really "believers" or simply signed up to a system they hadn't gotten round to de-subscribing from since they were enrolled without the opportunity to refuse. Or if some were still paying this as a notion of charity, but without faith.

[Bender B Rodriquez]

Many of the people I have spoken about it in the past who may not be religious, have continued to pay for it in the belief that if it wasn't paid it could lead to a issue ... (show full quote)

Many of the people I have spoken about it in the past who may not be religious, have continued to pay for it in the belief that if it wasn't paid it could lead to a issue in their community where churches were forced to close and landmark architecture would be put in jeopardy. ... (hide full quote)

That may be the case, however churches that are considered landmark architecture (i.e. anything old) are maintained with government money earmarked for architecture and culture, i.e not by the church tax. The church tax only goes to the actual services and church staff, so opting out will likely not affect the old buildings.

[Snood]

Byke, the process for leaving the church is very simple. There's no need to worry about churches running out of funding. They'll eventually be bought by people wanting to convert them into homes.

[Yorkshireman]

It is my understanding that the reason the Kyrkoavgift was added as a collection centrally via the Tax Declaration was exactly because it was recognised that the Swedish Church would come into serious financial difficulties if they had to rely on members in churches paying, once the state stopped central funding and introduced opt-out... (bums on seats ) ... however, in order for the central collection and distribution to be non-bias it is open to any organisation that gets approved, eg. Roman Catholic etc...

Like @byke says, the majority of Swedish Citizens that were automatically made members of the Swedish Church, just haven't bothered to leave it and continue paying the annual fee. According to some statistics I read somewhere not too long ago, something like 80+% of Swedish Citizens are members of the Swedish Church, yet in an alternative survey, less than 10% of those say they believe in any god!

[byke]

Like @byke says, the majority of Swedish Citizens that were automatically made members of the Swedish Church, just haven't bothered to leave it and continue paying the ann ... (show full quote)

Like @byke says, the majority of Swedish Citizens that were automatically made members of the Swedish Church, just haven't bothered to leave it and continue paying the annual fee. According to some statistics I read somewhere not too long ago, something like 80+% of Swedish Citizens are members of the Swedish Church, yet in an alternative survey, less than 10% of those say they believe in any god! ... (hide full quote)

Yeah I read something similar also the other week.
I was looking to see statistics of religion in sweden, especially in regards to those of the muslim faith to see what percentage they represented in Sweden.

And when I went to look I read that sweden was something like 84% "Swedish church" which just didnt sound right.
As either we live in a very religious state, or the numbers are false due to other reasons (such as church tax).

Although the bigger question is, if one religion proves to be less popular and is over taken by another religion in terms of majority numbers. How will that compare in regards to actual atheists and is that reason enough for them to convert to a religion in the name of cultural fear or dilution.

[Bender B Rodriquez]

And when I went to look I read that sweden was something like 84% "Swedish church" which just didnt sound right.As either we live in a very religious state, or the n ... (show full quote)

And when I went to look I read that sweden was something like 84% "Swedish church" which just didnt sound right.
As either we live in a very religious state, or the numbers are false due to other reasons (such as church tax). ... (hide full quote)

Yes, most people (including me) just haven't bothered to opt out. However, looking at the tax and the services most people use (marriage, funeral) it is a waste of money. Like most Swedes I am only christian by cultural association (holidays etc), not by belief.