An Italian priest has prompted much debate this week after proposing a 'decency tax' on brides who wear revealing wedding dresses.

Venice-based priest Fr Cristiano Bobbo has suggested that some brides have been showing too much cleavage on their wedding day.

The priest wrote in the local parish magazine to say brides should be charged for turning up in dresses “inappropriate for the circumstances” of a church wedding.

He proposed a tax based on the decency of the bride’s dress, saying: “We could set up a sort of offering to be levied in proportion to the decency of the dress of the bride, who often present themselves looking coarse and vulgar, so the most undressed pay the most.”

Fr Bobbo said weddings have become more glamorous rather than spiritual events and suggested that brides should wear plainer gowns.

Italian news service ANSA reports that Father Bobbo later clarified the remark as being intended as ‘jocular provocation’ but added that it was something that he would like to do.

What do you think about this proposal? Do you think wedding dresses have become too ‘glamorous’? Share your views in the comments below.