Eight in ten Italians give tax to church

(ANSA) - Rome, July 8 - Eight in ten Italians chose the Catholic Church as the recipient of a compulsory donation from their annual income tax.
    The church will receive more than one billion euros after it was selected by 80% of the 18,929,945 taxpayers in the country in 2011. The money will be paid to the church this year.
    Under an Italian law known as the 'eight per thousand', taxpayers can choose whom to give a compulsory 0.8% from their annual income tax.
    Italians are able to choose between an organised religion or a social assistance scheme run by the state.
    Some 15% of people gave their contribution, worth 195 million euros, to the state, while the Waldensian Evangelical Church received $40.2 million.
    Other recipients include the Jewish Community (5.8 million), the Lutheran Evangelical Church (4.1 million), the Seventh-Day Adventist Church (2.4 million)and the Assemblies of God in Italy (1.5 million).