In Slovakia, the issue of a new system of collection and registration of data required from churches should be addressed. According to data from the population census, the number of believers in Slovakia is decreasing, while the amount of the state’s contribution to the functioning of churches and religious societies, on the contrary, has an increasing trend. In the years 2019 to 2023, 14 churches registered in Slovakia received an operating allowance, four churches did not apply for it.
The Department of Culture paid them over 261 million euros in the five years under review. This follows from the control of the Supreme Audit Office (NAO) of the Slovak Republic on the financing of churches and religious societies from the chapter of the Ministry of Culture (MK) of the Slovak Republic. TASR was informed about this by the spokeswoman of the SAO, Daniela Bolech Dobáková.
Starting this year, the amount of the contribution is changing, which is now linked to the increase in the minimum wage. The national auditors remind the importance of carrying out the control of the use of the financial contribution.
Until 2020, churches and religious societies in Slovakia were financed on the basis of an adjustment valid since 1949. Based on the amendment of the law, the amount of the contribution changed in 2020, as well as its use. It was calculated from the amount from the previous year increased by valorization. The Department of Culture proceeded according to the findings of the inspection in calculating and providing the state contribution in accordance with the law. More than 97% of the contributions were used for salaries. Salaries of clergy are paid not only from the state contribution, but also from own resources.
The law regulates the change in the amount of the contribution in the event of an increase or decrease in the number of believers by more than 10% determined during the population census. The number of people who signed up to a church or religious society receiving an allowance fell by 8.48% in the last census in 2021 compared to the previous census in 2011, so there was no adjustment to the allowance. When comparing data from the population census in 2021 and 2001, i.e. within 20 years, a decrease in the number of believers by 17.4% was recorded.
Records of church legal entities are kept at the Department of Culture in Excel and Word files. According to the SAO, this is an outdated way of keeping information on 3,000 entities. He therefore recommends the Ministry of Culture to create a user-friendly software environment for the church department.
The state also supports churches and religious societies by providing subsidies. The Department of Culture, for example, provides subsidies under the Obnovme si se dom program intended for the reconstruction of monuments. The Monuments Office of the Slovak Republic registers approximately 10,000 immovable and 16,000 movable national cultural monuments, about 26% of which are owned by churches. Between 2019 and 2023, churches and religious societies were provided with special-purpose subsidies for the restoration of monuments in the amount of more than 26 million euros from the Ministry of Justice.
Another form of support for churches and religious societies is exemptions and reliefs from taxes and fees. Income from church collections, church activities and contributions to registered churches and religious societies are exempt from tax. Land and buildings or their parts owned by churches that are used for education, scientific research purposes or for the performance of religious ceremonies are exempt from real estate tax. Own sources of funding for churches and religious societies are member church contributions, donations, church collections, revenues from public collections, revenues from own property or from own activities.
Source: spravy.pravda.sk
