Financial Transaction Tax - Private investors will foot the bill (in German)

Deutsches Aktieninstitut rejects the bill on the financial transaction tax recently presented by the German Minister of Finance. The planned stock market tax makes the purchase of shares more expensive and thus less attractive. This makes it more difficult for people in Germany to accumulate wealth and provide for their old age.

"A large part of the estimated revenue from the share tax amounting to 1.5 billion euros annually will be paid by private investors. Not the financial sector, as Mr. Scholz claims, but the customer bears the tax", Dr. Christine Bortenlänger, Executive Member of the Board of Deutsches Aktieninstitut, criticises the bill to introduce a financial transaction tax on shares. "The planned stock market tax sends the wrong signal to people who want to save with shares and provide for their old age.

The market tax also harms companies. Liquidity on the stock markets will decrease because the tax will make the purchase of shares more expensive and thus less attractive. This leads to higher transaction costs and thus higher financing costs for companies and lower returns for private investors.

If Germany should not use the option of the bill of being able to exempt old age provision products from the share tax, this would not only have negative effects for the private investors. Pension funds of listed companies would also be significantly deprived of funds. As long-term investors, pension funds invest heavily in shares of German and European companies. In view of the ongoing low-interest phase, investment in equities is also indispensable in order to ensure that the pension commitment is fulfilled. The introduction of a stock market tax will lead to a reduction in share yields. The financial transaction tax would thus have a direct impact on the pension of employees in Germany.

The generally weak shareholder culture in Germany threatens to deteriorate further as a result. "The Federal Minister of Finance's reference to the fact that Great Britain, for example, also has a stamp duty as a financial transaction tax is not convincing. Instead, he compares apples with oranges," notes Bortenlänger. "The willingness of the British population to save more in shares is mainly due to the share-friendly tax environment. For example, the British can save up to 20,000 pounds per year tax-free in shares within the framework of an Individual Savings Account. These accounts have the advantage that interest and compound interest on the deposited funds remain permanently tax-free. Neither income nor capital gains tax is levied when the funds are withdrawn from the Individual Saving Accounts. The British stamp tax is thereby more than compensated. We in Germany are very far away from such framework conditions."