Beer money

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Collector of beer money on a chest for the surcharge (1611), Traunstein City Museum

The beer money , in Vienna also Taz, was one of the most important consumption taxes that were levied in the Holy Roman Empire from the 16th century .

meaning

Beer was one of the staple foods in the Middle Ages, so the municipal excise taxes on it were varied. An annual beer consumption of 300 to 400 liters per capita was not unusual. For comparison: The European statistics for 2014 led the Czech Republic with 144 liters per capita.

The beer money was of particular importance for the financing of the state where more beer than wine was consumed. In the territories of the Holy Roman Empire , the beer money was a levy in favor of the sovereign , less often the media cities . The emperor was not entitled to this tax. Correspondingly, income and accounting were organized in a class or sovereign direction.

The regularity of the survey, the amount and the group of taxpayers differed from country to country. In some countries the estates had the right to approve, in other territories the sovereign could levy the tax at his own discretion, e.g. B. Ferdinand I. through the Bohemian Chamber since 1546. The income from this was the second most important for the royal court chamber after the property tax , house tax and chimney tax . Initially, a groschen per barrel was charged. By the end of the 16th century, the beer money in Bohemia rose to five or even six groschen per barrel. In other countries the development was similar.

In the 18th century the beer money was replaced by the so-called excise . A beer tax is still levied in Germany today .

literature

  • Otto Kriegk : The history of beer money in the Kurmark Brandenburg (= research on Brandenburg and Prussian history . Volume 28). Göttingen 1915, DNB 570494656 ( digitized version ).
  • Reiner Sahm: To hell with the tax! 5000 years of taxes - a long path of suffering for mankind. Springer Fachmedien, Wiesbaden 2012, ISBN 978-3-8349-4190-9 , p. 84; 249; Appendix Part II: Register or sample roll of the editions occurring up to the beginning of the 16th century and other sub-issues.
  • Walter Schomburg: Lexicon of German tax and customs history. Duties, services, fees, taxes and duties from the beginning to 1806 . Verlag C. H. Beck, Munich 1992, ISBN 3-406-36777-1 , Biergeld, pp. 45-46.

Web links

Wiktionary: Beer money  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Taz in the Vienna History Wiki of the City of Vienna
  2. ↑ Reinhard Güll: Beer Statistical Monthly Bulletin Baden-Württemberg 1/2011, pp. 51–54
  3. ↑ Brigitta Ullrich: The Empty Bag website of the city of Regensburg , 2003
  4. ↑ Per capita consumption of beer in Europe by country in 2014 (in liters) Statistics portal "statista", accessed on June 19, 2016