Social VAT

The taxation of consumption to finance social insurance is called social value added tax . When such a tax is introduced, the employer's contribution is usually reduced. The concept was developed by the Swiss economist Hans Christoph Binswanger ( Friends of Ecological Tax Reform ).

Implementation in different countries

Denmark

A VAT-like levy to finance social services was introduced in Denmark at the end of the 1980s as arbejdsmarkedsbidrag (AMBI), at the same time employers' contributions to unemployment insurance were abolished. The tax was later merged with VAT.

Germany

The sales tax, which was increased from 16% to 19% in 2007, can be understood as social value added tax because at the same time the contribution to unemployment insurance was reduced from 6.5% to 4.2%.

Hungary

In June 2009 Hungary passed a tax reform package, whereby non-wage costs were reduced by 5 percentage points from 32% to 27% and at the same time the value added tax was increased from 20% to 25%.

France

In France, a social value added tax ( TVA sociale ) has been discussed for several years . At the beginning of 2012, President Sarkozy announced concrete steps to reduce non-wage labor costs and increase VAT in order to strengthen the competitiveness of the French economy. With a 1.6 point increase in VAT, the government wants to abolish employers' social contributions of 5.4% for wages below € 2,237. In July 2012, however, the new President Hollande prevented the regulation. In 1994 a similar reform of non-wage labor costs was introduced in the French overseas departments of Martinique, Guadeloupe and Reunion.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/id/ipa/06899.pdf
2. ↑ http://www.handwerk-magazin.de/es-bleibt-hoffnung/150/3/20353
3. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from July 7, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
4. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from July 20, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
5. ↑ http://www.dna.fr/actualite/2012/01/04/einfuhrung-sozialer-mehrwertsteuer
6. ^ France increases VAT In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . January 30, 2012, accessed February 19, 2012
7. ↑ Hollandes majority votes against Sarkozy's "social value added tax"  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Stuttgarter Nachrichten . July 17, 2012, accessed August 1, 2012