Ostmark exchange tax

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Ostmarkexchange levy was a tax in West Berlin that was levied from 1952 to 1967. Exchange offices had to pay 1% of the amount exchanged as a kind of sales tax .

background

The division of Berlin hit the various economic ties in the greater Berlin area hard. This was intensified by the separation of the currency into western and eastern marks and the introduction of contrary economic systems, the social market economy in the west and the central administration economy in the east. The situation is described in detail in article Berlin Wall . Cross-border commuters , in particular , meant that people earned their living in the other part of the city and were thus also paid in the other currency. However, since the export of the East German Mark was not permitted, a black market immediately formed in West Berlin (black market only from the GDR perspective; in the West, possession and trade in the East German Mark was legal).

Since the supply of Eastern Marks exceeded demand, the black market rate for the Eastern Mark was a fraction of the official value. The exchange offices that operated this business were therefore sometimes judged by the public to be currency speculators and had a corresponding reputation.

The Ostmark exchange tax

The Berlin House of Representatives introduced the Ostmark exchange tax with the “Law on the Exchange of Eastern Marks of December 21, 1951” (VOBl Berlin p. 1189). The law came into force on January 1, 1952. The buying and selling rate now had to be set every working day by a committee of exchange office operators. He had to adjust to supply and demand. Falling below or exceeding the mean price was only allowed by up to 3 percent. Banks and exchange offices had to pay 1% of the amount exchanged as tax. The DM amount of the exchange was decisive, the tax also had to be paid in D-Marks. According to the implementing ordinance of March 24, 1952, the taxpayer had to record these sales, determine the taxes himself and pay them monthly to the tax office . The tax offices had to check the taxable companies at least once every three years.

In the House of Representatives debate, the Senator for Credit , Paul Hertz , stated that the monthly gross profit of the 50 approved exchange offices was around DM 600,000. After deducting the operating costs, an exchange office generates a net profit of 6,000 DM per month.

The tax resulted in a slightly different rate for the East Mark in West Berlin and West Germany (no comparable tax was levied outside Berlin). From a fiscal point of view, the levy was not very significant.

With the Blitz campaign in 1957, the GDR canceled the banknotes in circulation, resulting in a large loss of exchange offices and a significant decline in exchanges. The construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 caused the business to collapse. Most of the exchange offices closed their business. The Ostmark exchange tax continued to exist and earned 171,000 DM in 1966. In 1967 the Ostmark exchange tax was repealed.

literature

  • Klaus Franzen: The tax legislation of the post-war period in West Germany (1945–1961); 1994, ISBN 3-980 3077-1-9 , pp. 83-84.
  • Hans J. Reichhardt, J. Drogmann and HU Treutler: Berlin. Chronicle of the years 1951-1954 . Heinz Spitzing, Berlin 1968, p. 252