The Government today struck at the practice of local tax authorities of requiring Jews suspected of contemplating emigration to post 25 per cent of their holdings as security for the “flight tax.”
Tax authorities have no right to demand security from any one residing in Germany and owning a home, the Reichsfinanzhof, supreme tax authority, declared in a ruling published in the Frankfurter Zeitung.
The largest number of victims of the local authorities’ actions — the Jews who give up their homes to reside in hotels and boarding houses — are not covered by the order. Jews selling their homes are the chief objects of the security requirement, since local authorities fear they may emigrate without paying the required 25 per cent tax.
It was pointed out that 25 per cent of a going business amounts to much more than 25 per cent of the proceeds of liquidation, and, in many cases, the demands on the Jew for a quarter of his capital investment make it almost impossible for him to remain in business.
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