Im American and that mixture of church & state does me in too. BUT I understand the concept of the Swiss. The churches here do seem to help their parishioners far more than in the U.S. And as many others said, it is VOLUNTARY! If you pay the tax, you have the church resources. If you choose not to then you cannot.

My Swiss boyfriend last year had to pay back taxes to the Catholic church. However, he is non-believer. Never attends services. So, after he paid this. He wrote a letter to the church wanting out. This is because if you dont and your stop paying the taxes owed, they will come after you for those monies owed...