Matriculation fee
Matriculation contribution is a historical term for financial contributions to be paid by sub-areas to a higher state authority .
Origin and development
The payments of the imperial estates recorded in the imperial registers to the Holy Roman Empire during the early modern period were initially referred to as matriculation contributions . They were part of the imperial taxes . The (originally exceptional, purposeful and voluntary) “Charitativsubsidien” of the imperial knighthood , which did not count among the imperial estates, also developed into such .
Similar payment obligations existed in the time of the German Confederation in the 19th century for its member states.
Significance during the German Empire
The financial contributions of the federal states to the budget of the German Empire from 1871 to 1918 were also referred to as matriculation contributions. These initially formed the basis for the empire's income. In addition, there were the customs duties flowing directly to the Reich , some common consumption taxes and income, for example from the post and telegraph system. The amount of the matriculation fees to be paid by the individual countries was measured primarily according to the number of inhabitants, not according to the economic strength of the individual states.
Due to the matriculation fees, the empire was initially dependent on the federal states. The urge for own income was a reason for the introduction of (protective) tariffs after 1878 as well as for the introduction of a number of indirect taxes such as the tobacco tax. While the proportion of matriculation contributions in the first years of the German Empire was around 15 to 20 percent of the Reich's income, after 1879 it was only 4.5 percent.
Abolition of matriculation fees
In the course of the Erzberger financial and tax reform of 1919/20, u. a. a uniform Reich tax code . Thus, the matriculation fees were abolished, whereby the central state was no longer “boarder of the states”.
Use of the term in National Socialism
Following on from this conceptual tradition, the National Socialist regime levied matriculation fees in some occupied territories for economic exploitation. The Reich Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia had to transfer 42 billion crowns to the German Reich between 1940 and 1945 for the "protection" of the Reich.
Usage today
Even today, financial contributions are sometimes referred to as matriculation contributions.
literature
- Hans-Ulrich Wehler: German history of society. Vol. 3: From the German double revolution to the beginning of the First World War. 1849-1914. Munich 1995, ISBN 3-406-32490-8 . P. 886f.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Understanding history. Development of German-Czech relations 1848-1949 ( Memento from January 11, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Registration fee for the social work of the German book trade
