Third (tax)

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The Terz , also called Turkenterz , was a tax in 1524 to finance the battles against the Turks ( Turkish Tax ). It was levied in the Austrian lands of the Habsburgs . The income ( validity , beneficence ) of the Catholic Church was taxed at a third of its annual amount. The name of the tax is derived from this amount ( lat. "Tertia pars" in the linguistic usage at the time ).

background

In the 16th century, tax collection in the countries of the Habsburgs was essentially not based on general rules (tax laws), but was largely dependent on resolutions of the state parliaments (sometimes referred to as ordinances), and the state parliaments also had the right to approve taxes. Furthermore, such resolutions did not apply to property rights of the Catholic Church - church property was tax-free, taxes on it were tied to the consent of the Pope . It was not until 1452 that the Pope agreed to tax the Austrian clergy in an emergency.

Since this approval could not always be achieved quickly, if at all, there had already been massive disputes about the contributions of the Catholic Church to state tasks, in particular the defense against the Turks, to the confiscation of funds from indulgences and crusade collections and to break open the collection boxes of church donations. Property that was dedicated to ecclesiastical purposes was sometimes viewed by the Habsburg rulers as a form of personal property that could be used for other purposes (for defense purposes) in an emergency. This view was not new: as early as 1236, the Babenberg Duke Friedrich II had used the holdings of the treasuries of Austrian monasteries to finance his fight against Emperor Friedrich II . In this context, the saying “ Pfaffenhab is my chamber property ” is attributed to Emperor Maximilian I.

The Inner Austrian countries had from 1415 to bear the brunt of the Turkish defense. They were considered to be "the yard fence of the German Empire." The high financial requirements of the Turkish defense forced a "most ruthless taxation of church property and the clergy".

This made it advisable ("for reasons of expediency") to put the financial participation of church organizations on a better formal basis: In March 1523 Archduke Ferdinand received the permission of Pope Hadrian VI. to confiscate a third of the clergy's income for one year. This concession was canceled after the Pope's death (September 14, 1523) by his successor Pope Clement VII on November 28, 1523, but ultimately on January 19, despite massive protests from the clergy , which were even carried in front of the Reichstag Confirmed in 1524. The Pope appointed Bishop Bernhard of Trient to be the highest levy body. He was empowered to punish disobedience and resistance to the collection of the tax.

The resistance of the clergy, which was also supported by the Archbishop of Salzburg , remained ineffective, although it was claimed that the tax would encourage apostasy to Lutheranism , that many parishes were already vacant and that the existence of the Catholic clergy would be endangered. This resulted in a delay of only three months and due to the protests from areas that belonged to Bavaria, a "Turk quint" was planned there. Furthermore, Ferdinand I promised to use the income from the tax only to fight the Turks. May 15th (Pentecost) and St. Martin's Day (November 11th) 1524 were set as payment dates.

Yield

No information is available about the yield of the third. The tax was only collected slowly, and whether and which payments there were is not documented. They did not reach the treasurer's office to which they should have been handed over. One of the reasons was that the papal confirmation of the measure was formally available, but in the course of 1524 the Pope's interest in strengthening the House of Austria diminished and this new attitude did not remain hidden from the clergy.

The low yield of the third and the consistently high financial requirements of the Turkish wars led to further special taxes in the following years, such as the confiscation of church jewels and the quart .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Franz Mensi: History of direct taxes in Styria up to Maria Theresa's accession to government, Part II. In: Research on the constitutional and administrative history of Styria. Edited by the Historical State Commission for Styria. Volume IX, Graz-Vienna, Verlag Styria 1912. pp. 273-276.
  2. ↑ Burkhard Seuffert, Gottfriede Kogler: The oldest Styrian state parliament files 1396-1519. Part I 1396-1452. In the series: Sources on the constitutional and administrative history of Styria. Edited by the Historical State Commission for Styria. Volume III. Verlag Stiasny Graz 1953. p. 22.
  3. ↑ a b Othmar Pickl : Treasury, Church and State in Inner Austria in the Age of Reformation and Counter-Reformation (16th / 17th century). In: Hermann Kellenbenz , Paolo Prodi: Treasury, Church and State in the Confessional Age. Writings of the Italian-German Historical Institute in Trento . Volume 7. 27. Study week 21. – 25. September 1987. Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1994. ISBN 3-428-08250-8 , p. 94 and p. 106.
  4. ^ Alfred Kohler : Karl V .: 1500–1558. A biography. Verlag Beck, Munich 1999. ISBN 3-406-52823-6 . P. 141.
  5. ^ Hermann Baltl : Austrian legal history. Leykam Verlag Graz 1972. ISBN 3-7011-7025-8 . P. 109.
  6. ^ A b Hermann Wiesflecker : Maximilian I .: The Empire, Austria and Europe at the turn of the modern age. Volume V .: The emperor and his environment: court, state, economy, society and culture. Oldenbourg Verlag, Munich 1986. ISBN 3-486-49891-6 . (Parallel edition: Verlag für Geschichte und Politik, Vienna 1986, ISBN 3-7028-0236-3 ) p. 171.
  7. ↑ Hermann Wiesflecker: Maximilian I. S. 156.
  8. ^ Baltl: Rechtsgeschichte, pp. 105, 109.
  9. ^ Dieter A. Binder: Heimatsuchen. Attempts at the cultural history of a federal state. In: Alfred Ableitinger, Dieter A. Binder (Hrsg.): Steiermark. Overcoming the periphery. In: Herbert Dachs, Ernst Hanisch, Robert Kriechbaumer (eds.): History of the Austrian federal states since 1945. Volume 7. Böhlau Verlag Vienna 2002. ISBN 3-205-99217-2 . P. 568.
  10. ↑ Pickl: Treasury. Pp. 92-93.
  11. ^ Mensi: Taxes. P. 274.
  12. ^ Gerhard Rill: Prince and Court in Austria: from the Habsburg partition treaties to the Battle of Mohács (1521/22 to 1526). Volume 2: Gabriel of Salamanca, Central Administration and Finance . Vienna 2003, Böhlau publishing house. ISBN 3-205-98895-7 . P. 296.
  13. ↑ a b Mensi: Taxes. P. 276.
  14. ↑ Franz Pichler: The tax burden on the Styrian population through the state defense against the Turks. In: Communications from the Styrian regional archive MStLA Volume 35/36, year 1985/1986 p. 94. Pichler, tax burden  ( 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. (PDF; 3.2 MB).@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.verwaltung.steiermark.at  
  15. ^ Rill: Prince and court . P. 295.
  16. ↑ Pickl: Treasury. P. 101.
  17. ^ Rill: Prince and court . P. 297.