July 17, 2015 Eagle
Reporters
German Catholic Church has dragged Italian
Footballer; Luca Toni to court over his €1.7m income
tax.
Luca Toni had played for German giants Bayern
Munich football club between 2007 and 2009 is presently facing
Court cases for failing to pay 8-9% income tax levied on all
Catholics, Protestants and Jews faithful living in
Germany.
Church taxes are payable elsewhere in Europe.
In Italy, citizens choose which religious institution they wish to
pay a compulsory income tax of 0.8%. The tax can be paid to various
institutions, including Christian churches, Buddhist and Hindu
unions or the Italian state.
The striker, who is a Catholic, is now suing
the city of Munich and his former tax advisors for compensation
after claiming that he was misled following his transfer to Munich
from Italian side Fiorentina in 2007, German media
reported.
The case highlights the religious levies
operating in Germany, which generate billions for religious
institutions and have led to waves of Christians renouncing their
church membership in protest.
Toni, a World Cup winner in 2006, returned to
Munich yesterday for a second appeal hearing following a first
appearance in the regional High Court in March. However,
yesterday’s hearing produced no conclusive result and the case
appears to have been kicked further down the road.
Bayern have supported their former player, now
with Serie A side Verona, who earned a monthly salary of €500,000
while with the German champions. The striker reportedly earned a
total of €43m during the period when he was playing for
Bayern.
The tax is a percentage of the income tax paid, so an tax bill of
€100 would result in a church tax of €8, bringing the total to
€108.
Toni has said he was not given a description
of the documents he was signing by government authorities when he
arrived in Munich in 2007.
“I did not know that you have to pay so much money to be Catholic
here,” said Toni, according to local newspaper
Tageszeitung.
He
added that he told his advisors to rush through the process of
signing the documents so he would be able to start playing. “I had
many documents laid in front of me, so I simply signed. We players
talk about everything, but not about taxes,” said Toni.
The religious levy was first
introduced in the 19th century to compensate for the
nationalisation of religious property. According to German law,
anyone baptised as a child is automatically a member of the church
and is liable to pay the tax unless they make a formal renunciation
of their faith.