Eight per thousand

Taxation
An aspect of fiscal policy
Policies Government revenue Tax revenue Non-tax revenue Tax law Tax bracket Tax threshold Exemption Credit Deduction Tax shift Tax cut Tax holiday Tax advantage Tax incentive Tax reform Tax harmonization Tax competition Double taxation Representation Unions Medical savings account Tax, tariff and trade
Economics Price effect Excess burden Tax incidence Laffer curve Optimal tax Theory Optimal capital income taxation
Collection Revenue service Revenue stamp Tax assessment Taxable income Tax lien Tax refund Tax shield Tax residence Tax preparation Tax investigation Tax shelter Private tax collection Tax farming
Noncompliance Tax avoidance Tax evasion Tax resistance Tax haven Smuggling Black market Transfer mispricing Unreported employment Tax shelter
Distribution Tax rate Progressive Regressive Proportional
Types Direct Indirect Per unit Ad valorem In rem Capital gains Carbon Consumption Dividend Ecotax Excise Fuel Georgist Gift Gross receipts Income Inheritance (estate) Land value Payroll Pigovian Property Sales Sin Single Stamp Steering Turnover Value-added (VAT) Corporate profit Excess profits Windfall profits Negative (income) Flat Wealth
International Financial transaction tax Currency transaction tax Tobin tax Spahn tax Tax equalization Tax treaty Permanent establishment Transfer pricing European Union FTT
Trade Custom Duty Tariff Import Export Tariff war Free trade Free trade zone Trade agreement
Religious Church tax Eight per thousand Teind Tithe Fiscus Judaicus Leibzoll Temple tax Tolerance tax Jizya Kharaj Khums Nisab Zakat
By country List of countries by tax rates Tax revenues as %GDP Albania Algeria Argentina Australia Azerbaijan Bangladesh Bhutan Bulgaria Canada China Colombia France Germany Greece Iceland India Indonesia Iran Ireland Israel Italy Japan Kazakhstan Lithuania Malta Namibia Netherlands New Zealand Norway Pakistan Palestinian territories Peru Philippines Poland Russia Singapore South Africa Sweden Switzerland Tanzania United Kingdom United States Uruguay

Eight per thousand (Italian: otto per mille) is an Italian law under which Italian taxpayers can choose to whom devolve a compulsory 8 ‰ = 0.8% ('eight per thousand') from their annual income tax return between an organised religion recognised by Italy or, alternatively, to a social assistance scheme run by the Italian State.^[1] This declaration is made on the IRE form. People are not required to declare a recipient; in that case the law stipulates that this undeclared amount be distributed among the normal recipients of such taxes in proportion to what they have already received from explicit declarations. In the period from 1990 to 2007 only 42.73%, on average, expressed a choice.

History

The relations between the Italian State and the religious confessions in its territory can be traced back to the Statuto Albertino of 1848, which applied first to the Kingdom of Sardinia and then to the Kingdom of Italy. Its first article declared the "Roman Catholic Apostolic religion" the only state religion and granted legal toleration to all other religious confessions then present.^[2]

Under the Lateran treaties of 1929, which were incorporated in the 1948 Constitution of the Italian Republic, the State paid a small monthly salary, called the congrua, to Catholic clergymen as compensation for the nationalization of Church properties at the time of the unification of Italy. This ended on 31 December 1986, with the entry into force, as a result of a 1984 agreement between the government and the Holy See of the "eight per thousand" system.

Current situation

As of 2015 there are 12 possible beneficiaries of the tax:

• Italian State
• Catholic Church^[3]
• Union of Methodist and Waldensian Churches^[4]
• Seventh-day Adventist Church^[5]
• Assemblies of God in Italy^[6]
• Union of Italian Jewish Communities^[7]
• Lutheran Evangelical Church in Italy^[8]
• Baptist Evangelical Christian Union of Italy^[9]
• Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Italy^[10]
• Apostolic Church in Italy^[11]
• Italian Buddhist Union^[12]
• Italian Hindu Union^[13]

In addition an agreement has been signed with the Jehovah's Witnesses,^[14] but it has not yet received parliamentary ratification.

In 2015, an agreement was signed with the Soka Gakkai International, and is awaiting ratification into law.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in spite of having made an agreement on 4 April 2007, ratified by Law 127 of 30 July 2012, is refusing to participate in the division of the funds.

Utilisation

Although the 1985 law on the matter declared that the State's portion of the proceeds was to be devoted to extraordinary expenses, such as world hunger, natural disasters and refugees, since 2004 a large proportion is employed for general purposes. In 2004, 80 million euros out of a total of about 100 million were thus employed, leading to criticism of the fact that part of it was used to finance the Italian military mission in Iraq.^[15][16] Because of its financial situation in 2011, the government decided to utilize the entire sum of about 145 million euros for purposes other than those indicated in the 1985 law: for instance, €57,277,063 were spent on improving the prison infrastructure.^[17]

The purposes for which the religious groups may use their portions are laid down in the agreements entered into with the government. In the case of the Catholic Church, the purposes are specified in article 48 of the 1985 law: "worship needs of the people, support of the clergy, charitable activities in favour of Italian society and the Third World". Each year the Italian Episcopal Conference publishes the proportions it assigns under various headings. Thus at its meeting in May 2012 it approved the following distribution (in thousands of euros):^[18]

• 1,148,076 Total amount received (100.0%)
• 479,226 Worship and pastoral work (41.7%)
  • 156,000 To the dioceses (for worship and pastoral work) (13.6%)
  • 190,000 Buildings for worship (16.5%)
    • 125,000 New buildings for worship (10.9%)
    • 65,000 Safeguarding cultural property of the Church (5.7%)
  • 64,226 Fund for catechesis and Christian education (5.6%)
  • 12,000 Regional ecclesiastical tribunals (1.0%)
  • 57,000 Needs of national importance (5.0%)
• 255,000 Charitable activities (22.2%)
  • 125,000 To the dioceses (for charity) (10.9%)
  • 85,000 Third World (7.4%)
  • 45,000 Needs of national importance (3.9%)
• 363,850 Financial support of the clergy (31.7%)
• 50,000 Reserve for future use for worship, pastoral work and charity (4.4%)

The financial support for the clergy brings their salary up to a certain level, such as €852.93 a month for a priest at the beginning of his service, and €1308.57 a month for a bishop at the maximum of his biennial increments (2007 figures).^[19][20]

Choices expressed by taxpayers

For the first 15 years of the system there was a gradual increase of the percentage of those who chose their contributions to go to the Catholic Church and a corresponding diminution of those who chose the State as beneficiary. Of those who exercised a choice, 76.17% opted for the Catholic Church in 1990, increasing to 89.81% in 2004 and falling to 86.05% in 2006 and 85.01% in 2007.^[21] Since in 2007, for instance, only 43.50% of those who declared their incomes expressed a choice, those who did indicate the Catholic Church as beneficiary were less than 37% of the taxpayers, a figure much lower than the proportion of Italians who declare themselves Catholics, which corresponded rather to the proportion opting for the Church among those who did indicate a choice.^[22] Declarations in favour of the State, which were 22.31% in 1990, dropped to their lowest ever level of 7.60% in 2005, recovering later and reaching 11.95% in 2007.

The Eight per thousand tax has significantly helped the Piedmontese Waldensians. A Protestant community whose origins predate the Reformation, the Waldensians have only about 25,000 enlisted members but about 412,000 Italians support them and their charitable works.^[23]

See also

• Church tax
• Tithe

References

External links

• Gian Guido Vecchi (27 August 2010). "Muslims Miss Out as Eight Per Thousand Contribution is Extended". Corriere della Sera. 

Religion in Italy
Christianity in Italy	Roman Catholicism Protestantism Orthodoxy
Other religions	Bahá'í Faith Buddhism Hinduism Islam Judaism Sikhism
Related	Eight per thousand Freedom of religion in Italy