Stock exchange sales tax

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The stock exchange tax (historically also: Stock Exchange tax ) is a tax on capital movements and the revenue from the trading of securities charged if the transactions by a resident to be completed abroad in Germany or involving at least. Bonds (fixed-income securities), shares and investment certificates (investment savings) are considered securities in the sense of tax law .

History of stock exchange sales tax in Germany

Following the British example of the stamp tax , with the Reichsstempelgesetz of 1881, the documents of certain securities purchases were subject to a stamp duty uniformly across the country. From 1885, the securities transactions were subject to taxation base and percentage tax rates. The Capital Movement Tax Act of 1922 introduced the term stock exchange sales tax. The old stamp tax was combined with the company and securities tax. From September 1944 the stock exchange tax was suspended, but reintroduced in 1948. From 1949 it was a tax that the federal states were entitled to. Since the constitutional amendment of 1969, the federal government has been entitled to the revenue.

The stock exchange sales tax in Germany was calculated at 1 ‰ for public bonds and 2.5 ‰ of the market value for other fixed-income securities and for shares, depending on the type of security, and shown separately on the securities statements. In special cases such as B. However, it was not calculated for subscription orders.

In 1991 this tax was abolished by the first Financial Market Promotion Act in Germany.

Situation in other countries

The earliest example is the introduction in the Netherlands in 1624.

In the United States there was a stock exchange tax of 0.4% last until 1966 and was then abolished. Since then, there has only been a state-dependent property transfer tax, for example in New York, of 5 cents per share and a maximum of 350 US dollars per transaction.

Stock exchange taxes were also abolished in other countries, for example in Luxembourg in 1987, in Spain in 1988, in the Netherlands in 1990, in Denmark in 1999, in Japan in 1999, in Austria in 2000 through the Capital Market Offensive Act, in France in 2008 and in Italy in 2008.

In the UK there is the stamp duty reserve tax (SDRT) , one since 1986 existing stamp duty for the trading of the shares of domestic companies on the stock exchange; the British government received 6.1 billion euros from this in 2007–2008. Due to the financial crisis, tax revenues fell to around 4 billion euros in 2008–2009.

The introduction of the stock exchange tax in Sweden in 1985 was a fiasco. Instead of the estimated income of 165 million euros per year, no more than 9 million euros were earned. The reason for this was the collapse of trading turnover by 85% in fixed-income securities and futures and options trading to almost zero. In 1992 the tax was abolished.

Switzerland levies a sales tax of 1.5 ‰ for domestic securities and 3.0 ‰ for foreign securities for the purchase and sale of securities , with numerous exceptions and exemptions for institutional investors, funds and insurers excluding comprehensive taxation.

In Belgium, there is a stock exchange tax of 0.17% on buying / selling Belgian or foreign listed stocks, bonds and other securities, up to a maximum of 500 euros. In addition, there is a special tax rate of 0.7% on the purchase / sale of Belgian government debt.

In Greece there is a stock exchange sales tax of 0.15% on the purchase or sale of Greek or foreign listed shares.

Since October 2009, foreign investments in stocks and bonds in Brazil have been subject to a flat rate of 2% capital transfer tax in order to counteract a further appreciation of their own currency through influx of foreign capital .

Since January 1, 1994, the People's Republic of China has had a stock exchange tax or stamp tax as a regulatory instrument on Chinese stocks of 0.1%, which increased to 0.3% in May 2007 and decreased again to 0.1% in April 2008 has been. In October 2008, the stamp duty burden on buyers was completely abolished.

European law situation

Directive 2008/7 / EC of February 12, 2008 specifies in Article 5 Paragraph 2 the free movement of capital , one of the four fundamental freedoms of the EU. A stock exchange tax is expressly permitted under the conditions set out in Article 6 (1) of the Directive.

Political discussion

Reintroduction is always the subject of political discussions. According to the Austrian Institute for Economic Research, a tax rate of 0.1% would generate tax revenues of around 35 billion euros in Germany .

Oskar Lafontaine demanded a tax of 1% in November 2008, which, according to him, would generate tax revenues of around € 70 billion, which would correspond to 13% of the total tax revenue of around € 538 billion (2007). The turnover of all stock exchanges in Germany amounted to 1.3 trillion euros in 2009 (2008: 2.47 trillion euros).

All these calculations are based on the assumption that the stock exchange turnover would remain unchanged through the introduction of a stock exchange sales tax. However, this assumption is not economically plausible. The isolated introduction of a stock exchange tax in one country probably led to the relocation of parts of trading to countries without stock exchange tax. Even if such shifts could be prevented, part of the arbitrage trade would inevitably cease to exist, as its costs would be higher than the revenues due to the tax.

For these reasons, total capital transfer taxes contribute only about 0.5% to total tax revenue in the UK and less than 0.5% in the US.

The SPD chancellor candidate Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Federal Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück proposed in February 2009 the reintroduction of the stock exchange tax of 0.5% based on the British model.

In January 2010, the North Rhine-Westphalian Prime Minister Jürgen Rüttgers (CDU) also called for the introduction of a stock exchange tax.

Following the proposal of the EU at the G20 meeting in June 2011 on a global financial transaction tax and the decision at the Franco-German economic summit in August 2011, the introduction of a Europe-wide stock exchange tax is fierce.

Economic effect

In economics , stock exchange sales taxes are often viewed critically, as these, as transaction costs, reduce the efficiency of the securities markets. Karl Friedrich Habermeier and Andrei Pawlowitsch Kirilenko found in a study by the IMF that transaction taxes have negative effects on the volatility and liquidity of markets and lead to a lower information efficiency. In a study of changes in Finnish and Swedish stock exchange sales tax, Peter Swan and Joakim Westerholm found that reducing transaction costs leads to significantly lower volatility.

Rüdiger von Rosen , head of the Deutsches Aktieninstitut , warns of negative effects for "direct and indirect investors, for example in equity funds as well as 2.4 million contractual partners of Riester share savings contracts and many millions of policyholders". However, this group must be "expanded and strengthened for reasons of necessary private pension provision". In addition, the withholding tax in Germany already has a very high taxation on share income by international comparison.

Proponents oppose this as a positive contribution to reducing speculative investments, because short-term asset shifts are more expensive relative to long-term investments, in contrast to a withholding tax, in which dividends and capital gains are taxed equally. This consideration is based on the assumption made by John Maynard Keynes that an investment made with the aim of an anticipated dividend is more useful for the economy as a whole than an investment made on the basis of anticipated price gains .

To this end, the profit margin on stock trading is to be reduced, which is an intended reduction in efficiency of the stock markets. Keynes assumes that then speculation , which he describes as predictions of market psychology , can be reduced. This should also prevent market overreactions, for example after a terrorist attack, since investors invested long-term beforehand and with a view to stock dividends.

See also

literature

  • Alfred Meyer: The German stock exchange taxes 1881-1900. Their history and influence on banking. Cotta, Stuttgart 1902.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Stock exchange tax - eLexicon. In: peterhug.ch. Retrieved November 7, 2017 .
  2. ↑ Article 4 of the Act to Improve the Framework Conditions for Financial Markets; Federal Law Gazette I 1990, 266
  3. ↑ On the theory of stamp taxes on JSTOR. In: jstor.org. Retrieved November 7, 2017 .
  4. ^ German Bundestag: Georg Fahrenschon: Stock exchange sales tax is a relic from the 19th century
  5. ↑ German Trade Union Federation (DGB): Overview of the taxation of securities transactions in selected countries ( Memento of May 8, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ↑ COMMISSION STAFF WORKING PAPER: IMPACT ASSESSMENT - Accompanying the document: Proposal for a Council Directive on a common system of financial transaction tax and amending Directive 2008/7 / EC (SEC / 2011/1102 final) , accessed on December 2, 2011 . Vol. 9: Annex 8: Country Experiences, pp. 4-6.
  7. ↑ BT-Drs. 16/12571 , the description being based on the following source: Steven R. Umlauf: Transaction Taxes and the Behavior of the Swedish Stock Market . In: Journal of Financial Economics . tape 33 , no. 2 , April 1993, p. 227-240 , doi : 10.1016 / 0304-405X (93) 90005-V (English).
  8. ↑ Directive 2008/7 / EC . In: Official Journal of the European Union . L, No. 46, February 21, 2008, pp. 11-22.
  9. ↑ Reintroduction of stock exchange sales tax planned. ( Memento from February 12, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), boerse.ARD.de, February 11, 2009
  10. ↑ Source: Ruhrnachrichten
  11. ↑ Trading turnover in December and 2009 as a whole ( memento from May 26, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), Deutsche Börse AG
  12. ↑ [1]  ( page no longer available , search in web archives ), p. 19@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.spd.de
  13. ↑ http://www.stern.de/politik/deutschland/stern-interview-ruettgers-will-banken-bluten- Lassen- 1535125.html
  14. ↑ Brussels: EU wants to advertise financial transaction tax at G20 . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , June 17, 2010. Retrieved October 29, 2011. 
  15. ^ Franco-German summit: Merkel and Sarkozy want European economic government . In: Financial Times Deutschland , August 16, 2011. Archived from the original on September 11, 2011. Retrieved on October 29, 2011. 
  16. ^ Karl Friedrich Habermeier / Andrei Kirilenko: Securities Transaction Taxes and Financial Markets , IMF Working Paper 01/51 (Engl.)
  17. ^ Peter Swan / Joakim Westerholm: The Impact Of Transaction Costs On Turnover And Asset Prices; The Cases Of Sweden'S And Finland'S Security Transaction Tax Reductions , CEIS Working Paper 144, archive link ( Memento of October 11, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  18. ↑ Euro on Sunday March 7th, 2003, Do we need a stock exchange tax?
  19. ↑ John Maynard Keynes, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money , 1936, Chapter 12, Paragraph 6 .
  20. ^ John Maynard Keynes, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money , 1936, Chapter 12, Paragraph 6