Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1944, Blaðsíða 285
PROLEMS OF TAXATION IN DENMARK 251
centages of tax thus were as follows in the fiscal years of
1913—14 and 1943—44 (the fiscal year runs from the ist of
April to the 3ist of March):
Income Tax to State and Municipality, etc., in All
1913—1914 1943—1944
Percentage
about
2,000 Kr. 2.6 5,000 Kr.
3,750 - 3.9 10,000 -
17,500 - 5.3 50,000 -
Gross Income
Gross Income
Percentage
about
8.0
15.0
27.5
It holds good of all the three tax-payers that the rise is very
great from the first to the last year, and the percentage rate ac-
cording to which the particularly wealthy person is now taxed
is five times as high as that applied 30 years ago to the actual
gross income corresponding to his present income.
This agrees very well with the fact that the total ordinary
taxation on income and capital (including tax on companies, etc.),
which in 1943—44 amounted to about 1,026 million Kr., en-
grosses about 73 or 16 per cent. of the national income as against
about 4 or 5 per cent. in 1913—14. Add to this the rest of
the taxation, which, as regards the State, plays an immense role
(particularly the indirect taxes). This amount is about 925 million
Kr., and thus the final result of this calculation is that about 30
per cent. of the total earnings of the citizens must be given up
to the public purse. The old writers on the science of finance,
who firmly warned against driving taxes higher than an amount
corresponding to some 10 or 12 per cent. of the total income,
in an emergency 15 per cent., obviously underestimated the yield-
ing capacity of the population, but they were not absolutely
wrong when referring to the danger of defraudations of the
revenue and emigration of wealthy tax-payers. The latter factor
under present circumstances can be disregarded, but the former
undeniably gives considerable difficulties to the taxation author-
ities. A few years ago it was revealed that the national income
which in an established manner (but not quite adequately) is
calculated by adding up all the taxable incomes, was considerably
lower than that made up on the basis of ‘production statistics”
by starting from the productive value in all trades (and de-
ducting expenditure on materials, writing off, etc.). The deficit
17*