Beginning in 2001, United Methodists in Sweden will have the option of paying a church tax collected through the government's regular taxation system. That action will be granted under Sweden's new "Religious Communities Act" which provides all churches and religious communities with the right to establish their own identities, as well as the option to use the income tax system to collect membership fees. However, each member must consent to participation in the plan. In separate government legislation, on January 1 Sweden's Lutheran Church will lose its status as a state church and become a so-called "free church."

The United Methodist Church, which serves a community of about 9,000 people, has started an information campaign about its use of the tax system for membership fees, according to Bishop Hans Vaxby, who oversees Northern Europe. The fee is not intended as a replacement for tithing, but will give less active or faraway members and friends a way of supporting the church on a regular basis. The fee will be 0.8 percent of a member's taxable income. Thirty percent of the proceeds is to go to local churches and 70 percent will be for connectional mission programs.

For Lutherans, who make up about 90 percent of Sweden's population, the membership fee will be mandatory. But because the church is afraid of losing members, "they have no objection to the fact that people continue to go to other churches if they retain their membership in the Lutheran Church," Vaxby said. Those members could also voluntarily pay a fee to another church. The Lutheran Church will continue to retain some status under the new system. "We have no objections that they keep their property and keep their positions in many social contexts," Vaxby added. "We have no interest in making the Lutheran Church weaker."

One other Scandinavian country, Norway, already has a mandatory church tax that is taken from all citizens. "In the case of Methodists who pay that, the state transfers the tax to the United Methodist Church," the bishop explained. The money disbursed to the denomination goes directly to an annual conference fund that guarantees minimum salaries to all pastors.

December 21, 1999

Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, New York, and Washington.