well … it got a lot of press coverage … worth the price of a car

@PontifexMarximus yikes! I can't see spending that much on a bath tub no matter how comfy. oh well maybe in my next life.

@Donna_I I would be happy with a wooden one.

@PontifexMarximus I've never thought of a wooden bath tub. That I would have to research.

@Donna_I I saw them in China: very simple and cheap, yet cool.

@PontifexMarximus very cool!

@Donna_I bon bain!

@PontifexMarximus a new market for coopers!

Love this comment!

Real estate goes up everywhere.

Don't think that too many immigrants are Christians in Germany. Lol

Correction the Kirchensteuer Tax Rate is 9% in all Bundesländern except Baden-Württemberg and Bayern where it is 8% of the payable income tax. As pointed out the membership numbers are steadily declining. Many immigrants do not belong to these churches. Islamic communities could apply to have taxes collected on their behalf, but they have not done so yet.

@PontifexMarximus Sorry, but my information is years old. A neighbor told me he not only had to pay the tax but his property was also taxed so he dropped out of religion (I lived in Baden-Wuerttemberg). I am surprised at Bayern as this is a strong Catholic state (or it was). I had heard things have changed but your's is the first information as to the exact change. I do know Germany has a high immigration level and I assumed that, as here, churches sponsor some immigrants.

What do you attribute these rise in funds?

@zesty In this country many churches sponsor immigrants. I am assuming this is true elsewhere.

@JackPedigo The increase in tax revenue is a consequence of higher incomes of those still paying.

@JackPedigo The effect of churches helping immigrants is negligible compared to the welfare system. Churches must create misery to survive, this is what they do, just hide it. What kind of help is that, anyway? You suck Jesus' cock, we give you some handouts?

@zesty I wonder just how negligible. My late partner was an elementary school teacher for an International public school in Seattle. The stories I heard. One story included a child that showed up during play time and my partner didn't recognize him and took him to the front office to get information. They tried to bring the child to her class but she refused pending more information. It turned out a church had sponsored the family from Somalia and sent the eldest son to come here to learn the language. When the parents? came for a conference (translated) through the son an unbelievable story was told. The father had 4 wives and 32 kids. The family designated one wife and the wife and the others as 'family members'. The woman present was holding a newborn and was pregnant herself. The father was told he had to send his son to school and had seen the school bus and told his son to get on it and go to school.

When I was working for a huge accounting firm there were 2 Cambodians who were sponsored to come here by the Mormon church. The sister took a western name, Denise, but the brother kept his name, Su Meng. They had nothing to do with the church but were still on it's member listing. I suspect many of these immigrants are not financially supported by the churches but end up on welfare.

As I have said many times before the immigration systems (world-wide) are far more complicated and impact the communities more than most understand. BTW, my late partner immigrated to the US from Iran when she was 24. She understood the problems with our immigration system and fought for awareness, change and a reduction in numbers.

@JackPedigo Yes. The churches bring misery and the welfare system paid by us must cover the expenses! Great!

The catholic church is probably the world's richest entity. For the Germany catholic church the estimate was just 25 billion dollars. That would only amount to about 5 years church tax. Alone in real estate it would be worth hundreds of billions worldwide. When you see McDonald's in China, you know it's just a franchise. When you see a catholic church it's their property.

@PontifexMarximus It maybe their property but it is still a franchise of The Vatican.