Salt tax
The salt tax refers to a consumption tax on table salt . Another instrument was the import tax on salt.
history
The salt tax is probably the oldest tax of all. Since it concerns a vital good and salt is mainly needed by physically hard-working (and at the same time mostly low-income) people for physiological reasons, it was considered by Günter Schmölders as a prototype of an anti-social tax.
Salt taxes were already levied in ancient Egypt , the Babylonian and Persian empires . This was most likely possible where there was a salt-mining monopoly; elsewhere it was levied as a duty. In the Ptolemaic Empire and, based on the Persian model, probably also in the Seleucid Empire , the salt tax was similar to a poll tax : The population paid it to maintain the salt pans owned by the king and received salt at a price set by the government.
In ancient China too , salt production was in the hands of the emperor. The salt tax was an important source of income for the state.
In France , the salt tax first introduced in 1286 and renewed in 1342, the so-called Gabelle , an indirect tax , was particularly unpopular. It obliged the citizens to buy a minimum amount of salt at the monopoly price . In 1382 their reintroduction led to a popular uprising. The tax, along with the waistline, was therefore a prime example of the unjust tax system of the ancien régime , which is one of the main causes of the outbreak of the French Revolution . The evasion ( defraudation ) of the salt tax was punished with nine years galley penalty and a heavy fine. However, the salt tax, which was abolished in 1794, was reintroduced after the Napoleonic era . Salt works were still not allowed to operate without state approval, and tax evasion was punished again. An example of government sales outlets is the Hôtel de la gabelle in La Roche-Guyon .
In the 19th century, high import duties for salt were imposed in Europe in order to protect the state salt pans and salt mines. B. in Austria-Hungary . This often had a detrimental effect on those branches of the food industry that relied on salt as a preservative . Therefore z. B. in Schleswig-Holstein . who lived for the most part from the export of salted foods such as butter , herring , meat or bacon , reimbursed the import duties on salt when exporting food. France followed in 1868 and reimbursed a reverse tariff with the aim of promoting the export of butter. In England , the effect of the salt tax was felt to be an obstacle to many branches of the economy, especially cattle breeding . Therefore the salt tax was abolished there in 1825; Sweden and Norway followed in 1844. In other countries, at least table salt for feeding cattle was exempted from the tax, for example in Prussia in 1838. In 1867 there was a salt tax reform in the North German Confederation , in which the state salt monopolies were replaced by a uniform salt tax.
In India , the programmatic evasion of the salt tax by extracting salt from the sea played a decisive role in Gandhi's resistance movement against the British occupation. In the 19th century, the British had established the Domestic Customs Line to collect tariffs on salt.
In Thailand a salt tax was introduced under King Rama III. (ruled 1824 to 1851) introduced between 1824 and 1827. By 1839 the tax on salt was about nine times its value.
In Germany , the salt tax has been due to the Reich since the establishment of the Reich . In the first fiscal year of 1872 it was the most important tax revenue of the empire alongside customs duties; At the time of its abolition by the federal government, tax revenue of 53 million German marks in 1991 was a minor tax . The tax rate was 12 German marks per 100 kilograms of net weight. It was repealed with effect from January 1, 1993.
Similar to alcohol , the use of salt for purposes other than personal enjoyment, such as use as road salt , in the technical or scientific field or as feed for cattle (hence the name cattle salt ) was tax-free or tax-reduced if the salt was denatured beforehand .
Current situation in DACH
In Germany, the salt tax was lifted with effect from January 1, 1993. It had previously been lifted once in 1926 at the same time as the luxury tax .
In Austria , the salt tax was abolished after joining the EC in 1995.
In Switzerland there is a salt monopoly of the cantons . 25 of the 26 cantons assigned their salt shelves to the Swiss Rhine Saltworks in 1973 in a concordat . The canton of Vaud can only be supplied with salt from the Saline de Bex. The cantons also levy a tax on the salt, the shelf fee. For the Rhine saltworks, this fee is currently 175 francs per ton of table salt or 17.5 cents per kilo pack, and for road salt 1 franc per ton.
Individual evidence
- ^ Michael Rostovtzeff: Social and economic history of the Hellenistic world. Vol. 1, Darmstadt 1998, p. 366 f.
- ↑ Holzer: Indirect taxes , ca. 1886, pp 273 et seq. Digitalisat (pdf)
- ^ Jürgen Kühl: Handbook of customs legislation in the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein. Volume 2. 2nd edition, Copenhagen 1844, p. 15.
- ^ BJ Terwiel: Through travelers' eyes - an approach to early nineteenth-century Thai history. Duang Kamol, Bangkok 1989, pp. 84f.
- ↑ http://www.digizeitschriften.de/dms/img/?PID=PPN514401303_1880%7Clog21&physid=phys166#navi
- ↑ http://wirtschaftslexikon.gabler.de/Definition/salzsteuer.html
- ↑ Draft law of the federal government for a law to adapt the sales tax law and other legal provisions to the EU internal market (sales tax internal market law), Bundestag printed matter 12/2463, p. 41
- ↑ § 2 Paragraph 1 of the Salt Tax Act in the version published on January 25, 1960 ( Federal Law Gazette I p. 50 ).
- ↑ Article 5 number 2 of the Sales Tax Internal Market Act of 25 August 1992 ( Federal Law Gazette I p. 1548 ).
- ↑ https://www.nzz.ch/salz-salzmonopol-und-salzsteuer-1.16615850
