House interest tax
The house interest tax , also known as the building discharge tax , was an income tax levied from 1924 to 1943 in the Weimar Republic and the Nazi state on residential property created before July 1918 . The basis was the "Law on Compensation for Money Devaluation in Developed Properties" .
The tax was based on a proposal by the Berlin City Councilor Martin Wagner for a burden sharing, with which the owners of real estate should share in the costs of the publicly subsidized housing construction after the First World War . The depreciation of mortgages due to hyperinflation up to 1923 had practically completely discharged property owners, while their property had not depreciated due to inflation.
Parts of the Burden Equalization Act had comparable goals after the Second World War .
history
After the hyperinflation of 1923, the house interest tax was levied from 1924 by the German states , which were able to decide independently on the structure. Income amounted to around 850 million Reichsmarks three years after its introduction and remained roughly constant in the following years. In particular during the period between 1924 and 1931, known as the “house interest tax era”, the tax actually contributed to housing production, as significantly fewer loans had to be taken out for subsidized housing construction by housing associations and other non-profit housing companies due to the tax revenue . At this time, publicly subsidized housing construction clearly outweighed the privately financed creation of housing; between 1926 and 1930 the share of house interest tax in government investment in this area was about a third. The revenue from the tax, which accounted for around 10% to 20% of the tax revenue of the federal states and municipalities, was used, however, about half and later with the beginning of the global economic crisis to a significantly higher extent for general financial needs. In addition, due to the tax, the rents for apartments in old buildings rose significantly, as the tax-related additional costs were usually passed on to the rents by the homeowners.
On April 1, 1932, the house interest tax was reduced significantly; further reductions were planned for April 1, 1935 and 1937, respectively. In addition, it was no longer earmarked for residential construction, and the tax was to be abolished from 1940. As a result, government spending on housing fell between 1930 and 1932 from 2.4 billion to 800 million Reichsmarks. The share of the house interest tax in this decreased from 29% to 6.3%, the use of the tax for other budget items increased accordingly. The Nazi propaganda initially promised the abolition of the tax. However, it was not actually canceled until January 1, 1943, with the homeowners concerned having to pay ten times the annual tax burden as a transfer fee. The corresponding one-off revenue amounted to about 8.1 billion Reichsmarks and was used to finance the Second World War , whereby the tax, which was actually designed as a state tax, flowed into the Reich budget. The share of house interest tax in the war-related special tax revenue was thus around 18% in the 1942/1943 budget year.
literature
- Ulrike Haerendel: Municipal housing policy in the Third Reich. Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-48-656389-0 , pp. 104-161
- Hartmut Häussermann, Walter Siebel: Sociology of Living: An Introduction to Change and Differentiation of Living. Juventa, Weinheim 2000, ISBN 3-77-990395-4 , pp. 112-130
- Law on monetary compensation for developed properties of June 1, 1926. Reichsgesetzblatt 1926, pp. 251ff.
- Ordinance on the repeal of the building discharge tax of July 31, 1942. Reichsgesetzblatt 1942, p. 501ff.
