Zee Bill

A bill arrived this week related to our wedding. Now, I'm a little bit unsure about what exactly this bill is for. I think it's the cost of for the local government to issue us a paper saying we don't need a Familienbuch (family book) for use foreigners. Germans normally have a family book, which states who married who and who their children were, nice and official-like. The kids hand this over when they get married, and it supposedly reduces the paperwork. Since we don't have a nice and official-like book, we have to pay a fee for the Bavarian government to grudgingly say, "Okay okay, we'll let them get married here anyways. Even if they don't have a family book."

We are paying €260 for this privilege and honour. This is based on our yearly income. So, in a way, fair enough, rich people should pay more. But, it's not like they actually ask for any proof. The woman behind the desk just asks how much you make, types in whatever number you say, and then they base it on that. So if you were slightly unscrupulous or felt that it was a silly way to tax people or felt you has already paid enough in Germany taxes without the right to vote for anyone in control of how they use that money, you could possibly, perhaps be tempted to say a number a bit lower than the actual amount you earnt...

But of course we didn't do that. No sir.