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1 Tax L. Rev. 409 (1945-1946)
Outline of War Profit Taxes and Capital Levies in Liberated European Countries

handle is hein.journals/taxlr1 and id is 415 raw text is: Outline Of War Profit Taxes And Capital Levies In Liberated European Countries MITCHELL B. CARROLL FOLLOWING their liberation in the fall of 1944 and spring of 1945, the Western European nations were in an economic condition which required prompt fiscal measures to provide relief. Each nation was forced to enact heavy taxation programs designed to reconstruct properties damaged by the war, finance the costs of enemy occupation and assist in controlling inflationary tendencies. In addition, there was strong political pressure upon the new governments, or governments returned from exile, to prosecute war profiteers and confiscate their gains. Inasmuch as economic conditions and political pressures were much the same in all the liberated countries of Western Europe, it was to be expected that the fiscal measures adopted by their governments subsequent to the departure of enemy troops should follow a pattern. The most urgent measures, and the first passed, were those aimed at the confiscation of profits resulting from trading with the enemy or other illegal trans- actions. Such profits were distinguished from exceptional gains, profits and incomes realized during the war due to the economic condition of the country, but which did not arise from supplies or services rendered to the enemy. Such exceptional gains, profits and incomes were taxed at rates ranging in some instances to 90 per cent but were not confiscated. Aside from confiscation or taxes designed to recoup these two types of war profits, the liberated countries enacted capital levies, proportional in some cases, progressive in others, intended to distribute the burden as widely as possible. In France the capital levy is progressive for individuals, at rates ranging from 3 to 20 per cent, and proportional for corporations at the rate of 5 per cent of the capital stock; in Belgium the capital levy for individuals and corporations alike is proportional at the rate of 5 per cent. While the new tax measures of the liberated MITCHELL B. CARROLL (Licenci6 en Droit, Univ. of Paris; Dr. Juris, Univ. of Bonn, Germany; B.A., Johns Hopkins University; LL.B., Geo. Washington University) is a member of the New York and District of Columbia Bars; formerly Chairman, Committee on International Double Taxation, Section of International and Comparative Law, American Bar Association; member, Committee on Taxation, Inter-American Bar Association; member, Fiscal Committee, League of Nations, Chairman, 1938-39. The author acknowledges the valuable assistance of RAYMOND L. BRITTENHAM, Esq., in the preparation of this article. 409 Imaged with the Permission of N.Y.U. Tax Law Review

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