Ignition goods tax

The ignition goods tax was a consumption tax that was levied in Germany from 1909.

The Finance Directorate of the Reichstag appealed to France and Russia , where the taxation of igniters served to supplement the tobacco tax . Initially, the tax liability in Germany was limited to matches and chips, and from 1919 it was extended to lighters and flints .

As a result of the increasing spread of automatic central heating and disposable lighters, tax revenue fell significantly. In 1981 the ignition goods tax was abolished as a trivial tax in order to simplify the tax and because of its high administrative costs in relation to the low income (around the same time as the ignition goods monopoly expired in 1983).

Web links

Wikisource: Ignition Tax Law  - Sources and full texts