In one of his recent streams, the German Twitch streamer Zarbex reports that he continues to receive invoices for church tax, even though he left the church three years ago.
Who is this streamer? Behind the name Zarbex is 25-year-old Maik from Schleswig-Holstein. His career began in April 2019 on Twitch, where he made content for games like League of Legends, Minecraft, and Rust.
He becomes truly known only in the course of 2024. While he averages 781 viewers in January 2024, this number rises to an impressive 6887 by July 2024.
The streamer makes a name for himself mainly through his open and direct demeanor. He doesn’t shy away from sharing intimate and often quirky details from his life, making him both fascinating and controversial. He also humorously comments on everyday situations, such as the current church tax issue.
Trymacs also started from the bottom and is now one of the most well-known German streamers:
“I had to learn this the hard way”
Why is he upset about the church tax? In one of his recent streams, Zarbex talks about the challenges he has faced since becoming self-employed in 2019, particularly regarding the church tax. “I didn’t know this beforehand, I had to learn this the hard way. […] The more you earn, the more church tax you have to pay,” he explains.
After his first tax return and the unpleasant experience associated with it, he decides to leave the church. However, this process is more complicated than expected.
To confirm his exit, he has to go to the office and pay a fee of 20 euros. “In order to leave the church and not have to pay overpriced church tax anymore, you have to cough up another 20 € on the table,” he recounts while symbolically banging on the table.
What bothers him despite his exit? Even after his departure, Zarbex finds no peace. Although this happened about three years ago, the church continues to contact him.
“I left the church three years ago, […] they regularly come to me and want money from me, and each time I have to say: ‘Dude, damn it, I left three years ago. Here is the receipt. I’m out!” he reports, annoyed.
He adds that the church still wants money from him to this day and that he has to call someone every time to clarify that he is no longer a member. “If I hadn’t kept the receipt, they would still be ripping me off – like a Christmas goose,” he adds.
The community reports their experiences
How does the community react? Many from his community support him by sharing their own experiences. Numerous viewers report similar problems with church tax and other bureaucratic hurdles.
- Tobias.2312 writes: ‘I still pay church tax because the effort is too high for me’
- Lukas Metzer writes: ‘And it goes even further. If you and your spouse are of different denominations, meaning you are Catholic and she is Protestant, then you still pay taxes for her after leaving.’
- marcelschmidt8870 writes: ‘I have never been in the church or was baptized and had to go to the office and pay to be out.’
- Sailence writes: ‘I know that too. I even left twice. When changing employers, I was registered again.’
- Flitzpipe writes: ‘I paid 50 € to leave. Do they set the prices however they want?’
Many German influencers are moving to Madeira at the end of 2023 to take advantage of tax breaks. Despite these savings, the well-known LoL streamer NoWay remains in Germany and explains his reasons. You can find more about this here: Twitch: NoWay speaks openly about tax flight to Madeira – ‘If you don’t do it, you’re stupid’
