Funding of religions in Belgium: implementing a “tax assignmentsystem” to reach more equality and democracy?

Since its beginning, the Belgian Constitution forms the basis for the funding of religions in Belgium. More precisely, article 181 specifies that “the salaries and pensions of ministers of religion are paid for by the State”. In 1831, more than 99% of the Belgian population were catholic. Therefore, at that time, the amount of the funding of Catholic Church was based on the number of inhabitants per municipality, while it was based on the number of believers for other recognised religions. Nowadays, the Belgian legislator still uses this same “administrative custom”, which means that nearly all the budget goes to Catholics. However, recent sociological studies have shown that today only 50% of the population are Catholic, while one person on three does not believe in any god. To correct this unfair distribution and reach more democracy, one solution could be to use “tax assignment system”, such as it exists in Spain and Italy. The aim of my oral presentation is to evaluate the arguments “for” and “against” that technique of funding but also, more fundamentally, to analyse the constitutionality of such an alternative solution in Belgian Law