Reichsnotopfer

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The Reichsnotopfer was in the Weimar Republic , an extraordinary tax on assets, which as a result of state financial problems after the First World War, was raised in 1919 to the 1922nd Legal basis was the Reichsnotopfergesetz (RNOG) on 31 December 1919 ( RGBl. 1919, p 2189). It was the most controversial law of Matthias Erzberger's financial reform .

Content and effect

The Reichsnotopfer was a real wealth tax. Natural and legal persons were required to pay the fee . The tax exemption was 5,000 marks (10,000 marks for married people). Tangible and real assets such as cash, bank balances, receivables, securities, stocks , bonds , real estate and machines were taxed progressively . The tax rates started at 10% and rose to 65% for assets over 2 million marks.

Due to the increasing inflation, the law, including the maximum rates, was amended several times until 1922 . Originally, the entire tax could be extended to interest in partial payments over 30 years and / or in the case of tax burdens on real estate over 50 years. With the law on the accelerated assessment and collection of the Reichsnotopfer of December 22, 1920 (RGBl. 1920, p. 2114), certain reliefs arose. On the one hand, it was made clear that it was a one-off property levy, on the other hand, partial amounts should now be paid immediately in three stages on March 1, 1921 and May 1, 1922.

The implementation of the taxation had unforeseen, socially undesirable consequences. The small wealthy owners who paid the burdens imposed on them without paying installments were badly affected, contrary to the intentions of the legislature , while larger wealthy owners were able to evade a large part of the tax through capital flight and installment payments when inflation rose . In the course of inflation, the collection of the imperial sacrifice in the tax offices caused a lot of extra work: As soon as the amount of the tax was determined in the tax assessment, it was already out of date.

The implementation of the law largely failed. On the one hand, it was difficult for the financial administration at the time to comprehensively determine the assets. In addition, the high taxes triggered outrage, resistance, tax and capital flight . As a result, the collection of the Reichsnotopers was stopped in 1922, officially justified "because of technical difficulties", but replaced from 1923 by the wealth tax , which was then levied in Germany until 1996.

In the same period and under the same name, an imperial victim was raised in Austria to rehabilitate the budget. The delivery also proved to be a failure here.

literature

  • Heinrich Höpker: The Reichsnotopfer . C. Heymanns 1920.
  • FK Mann: Reichsnotopfer . in: Concise Dictionary of Political Science , Vol. 6. Jena 1925.
  • Heinrich August Winkler : Weimar 1918–1933: the history of the first German democracy . CH Beck 1998.
  • Heinrich Becker: Room for maneuver in agricultural policy in the Weimar Republic between 1923 and 1929 . Franz Steiner Verlag 1990.
  • Reiner Sahm: From the riot tax to tithing . Springer-Verlag 2014.
  • Joe Weingarten: Income Tax and Income Tax Administration in Germany: A Historical and Administrative Overview . Springer-Verlag 2013.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Heinrich August Winkler, Weimar, 1918–1933. The history of the first German democracy, Munich 1993.
  2. ↑ Manfred OE Hennies, General Economics for Business Economists: Fundamentals, Economic Systems, Economic Cycle, Agricultural Science. Vol. 1. BWV Verlag, 2003; P. 160
  3. ↑ cf. § 6 RNOG
  4. ↑ § 24 RNOG as amended on December 31, 1919.
  5. ↑ Gerold Ambrosius: The adjustment to inflation. Walter de Gruyter, 1986; P. 52.
  6. ↑ http://www.bundesarchiv.de/aktenreichskanzlei/1919-1933/01a/feh/feh1p/kap1_2/kap2_130/para3_9.html Paragraph 14 Federal Archive Files Reich Chancellery 1919.
  7. ↑ § 1 Law on the Accelerated Assessment and Collection of the Reich Emergency Sacrifice.
  8. ^ Heinrich Becker: Scope of action of agricultural policy in the Weimar Republic between 1923 and 1929. Franz Steiner Verlag 1990; P. 120
  9. ↑ Reichsnotopfer in Germany . Focus, November 6, 2013.
  10. ^ Reinhold Sellien, Helmut Sellien, Gabler's Economic Lexicon. Springer-Verlag 2013; see there property tax p. 1891.
  11. ↑ Property taxes - a contribution to the restructuring of public finances in Europe . Report by Stefan Bach on the euro crisis, national debt and private wealth (PDF; 818 kB), DIW weekly report 28.2012, p. 6.
  12. ↑ Walter Euchner, Helga Grebing, F.-J. Stegmann, Peter Langhorst, Traugott Jähnichen, Norbert Friedrich: History of social ideas in Germany: Socialism, Catholic social teaching, Protestant social ethics. A manual. Springer-Verlag. 2015; P. 284.

Web links

See also