bishop at the maximum of his biennial increments (2007 figures). Choices expressed by taxpayers For the first fifteen years of the system there was a gradual increase of the percentage of those who chose their contributions to go to the Catholic Church and a corresponding diminution of those who chose the State as beneficiary. Of those who exercised a choice, 76.17% opted for the Catholic Church in 1990, increasing to 89.81% in 2004 and falling to 86.05% in 2006 and 85.01% in 2007. Since in 2007, for instance, only 43.50% of those who declared their incomes expressed a choice, those who did indicate the Catholic Church as beneficiary were less than 37% of the taxpayers, a figure much lower than the proportion of Italians who declare themselves Catholics, which corresponded rather to the proportion opting for the Church among those who did indicate a choice. Declarations in favour of the State, which were 22.31% in 1990, dropped to their lowest ever level of 7.60% in 2005, recovering later and reaching 11.95% in 2007. The eight-per-thousand tax has significantly helped the Piedmontese Waldensians, a Protestant community whose origins predate the Reformation, the Waldensians have only about 25,000 enlisted members but about 412,000 Italians support them and their charitable works. See also Church tax Tithe References External links Silvestri P., Chiadò S., Lo Presti, A., Il dono del 5x1000. Sussidiarietà fiscale e Terzo settore, Quaderni della Fondazione CRC, 39, 1/2020 ISBN 978-88-98005-27-7. Silvestri P., “Percentage Tax Designation Institutions. On Sugden’s Contractarian Account”, International Review of Economics – Journal of Civil Economy, 68, pp. 101–130, 2021. DOI: Percentage tax designation institutions. On Sugden’s contractarian account. Government of Italy Taxation in Italy Religion and politics Religion in Italy