Peace Tax Network

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The Peace Tax Network is an initiative that seeks a legal regulation according to which a taxpayer can decide that the taxes he has paid do not flow into armaments. It was founded in 1983 under the name Peace Tax Initiative . In 1993 she received the Aachen Peace Prize . The network has been a registered association based in Munich since 2003 . The association is recognized as a non-profit organization, its 1st chairman is Jan Birk . According to its own information, the association has around 400 active supporters in 2019.

"Peace Tax" concept

The “peace tax ” (also known as “civil tax” or negatively referred to as war tax refusal ) is a proposal to reformulate tax law . Each individual citizen should be able to determine that the direct and indirect taxes he pays to the state may only be used for non-military purposes. The idea of ​​the peace tax comes from the peace movement and is represented in at least ten countries by different groups (e.g. the Quakers ). Since 1986, the organizations hold the "International Conference on Military Tax Refusal and Peace Tax Initiatives" every two years in different countries. In Germany, the proposal is largely supported by the initiative "Netzwerk Friedenssteuer e.V." carried. The umbrella organization Conscience and Peace Tax International (CPTI) has existed since 1996 and regularly takes part in the annual meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Council . She has special advisory status to the United Nations Economic and Social Council and is a member of CONGO (the conference of NGOs with advisory status ), the CONGO Committee on Freedom of Conscience or Belief and founder of the Working Group on Conscientious Objection - a sub-group of NGO committees for human rights.

The Peace Tax Network also issues an individually designed postage stamp with a face value of 80 euro cents as a peace tax stamp to draw attention to its concerns. This peace tax stamp can be purchased from the network by anyone and used for regular franking.

Reason

The advocates of the peace tax in Germany refer to the freedom of conscience laid down in the Basic Law and the right to refuse military service . They argue that in view of modern war technology , the rights laid down in the Basic Law can only be satisfied by the option of refusing to finance the military for tax purposes. They see themselves in a number of historical role models (including the Hutterites and Henry David Thoreau ), who also refused to pay taxes to finance war and the military in their day .

Concept proposal

The network developed a concept for a civil tax law in Germany in order to enable a fiscally consistent separation into military and civil expenditure by the state. It is suggested, among other things:

  • The "Federal Military Fund" is to be financed solely from the income tax of citizens who have not determined the use of their taxes for exclusively civilian purposes in accordance with the peace tax. The level of this percentage is redefined annually by the Bundestag through the budget law.

Legal situation in Germany

A tax refusal for reasons of conscience and thus also the required peace tax is not permitted in Germany. In the opinion of the Federal Constitutional Court, it contradicts the principle of total coverage and thus the principle of democracy .

Bills

In Germany, four bills (all by the parliamentary group of the Greens between 1986 and 1994) were introduced to the Bundestag to resolve the peace tax. Similar bills have already been introduced in the parliaments of Australia , Belgium , Great Britain , Italy , Canada , the Netherlands and the USA . The bills introduced so far have been rejected in all countries.

literature

  • Wolfgang Krauss (Ed.): What belongs to the emperor? The problem of war taxes , Agape-Verlag, 127 p., Weisenheim am Berg 1984, ISBN 978-3887440039 .
  • Jan-Pieter Naujok: Freedom of conscience and tax liability , Verlag für Wissenschaft und Kultur Dr. Stein, Berlin 2003, ISBN 978-3936749885 .
  • Paul Tiedemann: "The right to refuse taxes for reasons of conscience", Georg Olms Verlag, Hildesheim 1991, 230 pages, ISBN 3-487-09486-X .
  • Numbers for war? Freedom of conscience versus tax liability. Military tax refusal as a legal problem in the democratic tax state, epd documentation No. 20/2014, ISSN 1619-5809.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Board NWFS: Protocols annual meetings. Retrieved October 2, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Position papers of the Quaker Council for European Affairs on the Peace Tax ( Memento from January 15, 2014 in the web archive archive.today )
  3. ↑ Individual stamps
  4. ↑ Peace tax stamp
  5. ↑ Compare: BVerfG of August 26, 1992 Az .: 2 BvR 478/92
  6. ↑ BVerfG, 2 BvR 1775/02 of June 2, 2003, paragraph no. (1 - 6)
  7. ↑ Bills introduced:
    1. Law on the establishment and financing of a peace fund ( Bundestag printed paper No. 10/5420 (PDF; 273 kB), April 29, 1986),
    2. Law on the exemption from military taxes (     Bundestag printed paper No. 11/8393 (PDF; 349 kB), October 31, 1990),
    3rd law on exemption from military taxes (     Bundestag printed paper No. 12/74 (PDF; 424 kB), February 4, 1991),
    4th law on constitutional reform ( Bundestag printed paper No. 12/6686 ( PDF; 751 kB), January 27, 1994)