Property levy

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The property levy is a tax on assets , which are generally high on the assets of natural or legal persons. It differs from the wealth tax in that it is not recurring but is levied once. In the political discussion, various parties are proposing to introduce a property tax.

Germany

There are historically different examples of a property tax in Germany. The so-called military contribution was levied to finance the armaments expenditure before the First World War . In the defeated German Reich of the Weimar Republic there was the so-called Reichsnotopfer . In both cases, large amounts of assets were encumbered by natural and legal persons. Another tax was the Jewish property tax that discriminated against Jews during the Nazi era .

After the Second World War , a property tax was levied in the Federal Republic of Germany on the basis of the Burden Equalization Act.

requirements

  • The Bundestag parliamentary group Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen (Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen) introduced a bill on the property levy to the Bundestag in September 2012 under Lisa Paus . They demand that there be a one-time solidarity contribution in Germany, which is made by all people with assets of more than 1 million euros. The wealth is taxed at a rate of 1.5% over a period of 10 years. The proceeds will serve to reduce debt. The draft law was rejected by the Bundestag on June 27, 2013. At the beginning of the year, in January 2012, the Greens published a position paper on the Green Property Tax.
  • In July 2012, the DIW in Berlin proposed to levy a one-off wealth tax on higher private wealth (see below - literature). According to the DIW, this could be used to refinance and reduce national debt in Europe without fear of dampening consumer demand. For Germany, a revenue of around 230 billion euros is to be expected with a tax of 10% on private assets over 250,000 euros.
  • The property tax is also supported by the Die Linke party . They are calling for the Europe-wide introduction of a property levy and a "real haircut". The wealthy initiative for a wealth tax is a group of wealthy people who appeal to politicians to burden the rich with a wealth tax. They demand a property tax of 5% for assets of 500,000 euros or more. According to this, an annual wealth tax of 1% is to be levied.
  • The IG Metall has also supported a property tax. She denounces the unequal distribution of wealth in Germany and demands an annual property tax of 2% on all monetary and tangible assets of more than 1,000,000 euros for 20 years.
  • The Boston Consulting Group , a global management consultancy, also advised in September 2011 to levy assets in the wake of the euro crisis. For most European countries, a property tax of 11% to 30% should be sufficient.

Constitutionality

The question of whether a property tax is compatible with the Basic Law depends on the specific design of such a property tax. Art. 14 para. 1 of the Basic Law guarantees the right to property and prohibits uncompensated expropriations in para. 3 However, one-time capital levies, according to the case law of the Federal Constitutional Court of the assets for load balancing law under certain conditions because of social accountability possible. The prerequisite is first of all an emergency or exceptional situation to justify a one-time encumbrance of assets. Such a situation existed after the Second World War and displacement in the 1950s, according to the opinion of the Federal Constitutional Court, whether such an exceptional situation existed after the euro crisis is disputed. Furthermore, a one-time fee potentially violates the principle of equality standardized in Art. 3 GG and the benefit principle derived from it : A tax citizen who has assets at the time of collection is liable to the tax, whereas people who have acquired the same assets after the reference date are not. This conflict can be reduced by means of exception regulations that take into account the individual situation of the taxpayer. Confiscatory or excessive tax burdens are not compatible with the Basic Law. In order to take this aspect into account, for example, the obligation to pay under the Burden Equalization Act was stretched over decades to prevent citizens from having to sell real estate, for example, in order to be able to pay taxes.

Switzerland

In Switzerland in 1922 the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland launched a federal popular initiative “for the one-off property levy” to repay war debts . The initiative provided for a one-off property levy of over 80,000 francs on the total assets of natural and legal persons as of December 31, 1922. According to estimates, the levy would have affected around 0.6% of the population. The initiative was rejected in a referendum with 87.0% no votes. The highest voter turnout ever achieved in Switzerland was 86.3%.

literature

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dieter Cansier: Finanzwissenschaftliche Steuerlehre, UTB 2004, p. 33.
  2. ↑ BT-Drs. 17/10770
  3. ↑ Green position paper: Group decision
  4. ↑ Die Linke: Property levy is the best debt brake
  5. ↑ http://www.appell-vermoegensabgabe.de/index.php5?show=start
  6. ↑ IG Metall: Archived copy ( memento of the original dated February 16, 2015 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.igmetall.de
  7. ↑ Study by the Boston Consulting Group: http://www.bcg.com/documents/file87307.pdf
  8. ^ Paul Kirchhof : Germany in debt suction: The way from guarantor back to citizen, 2012, ISBN 9783406643545 , Chapter VI "One-off property tax" online
  9. ↑ Simon Loretz and David Stadelmann: On the social acceptance of one-off property taxes, IHS Policy Brief, No. 6, May 2014, Institute for Higher Studies, Vienna online ( Memento of the original from June 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was used automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Accessed June 5, 2014; PDF; 950 kB) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ihs.ac.at