The Reichsabgabe was a

tax A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, or n ...

on the postal traffic, levied in the

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. It was introduced to finance the war expenses. The tax was announced in the ‘Tariff Law’ (''Gebührengesetz'') of 21 June 1916 and became effective with the new postal rates of 1 August 1916. In practice the Reichsabgabe meant a raising of the postal rates, the revenues of which streamed into the treasury of the State instead of the treasury of the ''Deutsche

Reichspost ''Reichspost'' (; "Imperial Mail") was the name of the postal service of Germany from 1866 to 1945. ''Deutsche Reichspost'' Upon the out break of the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 and the break-up of the German Confederation in the Peace of ...

'', the German postal service. The increase of the postal rates was confined to domestic letters and

postcard A postcard or post card is a piece of thick paper or thin cardboard, typically rectangular, intended for writing and mailing without an envelope. Non-rectangular shapes may also be used but are rare. There are novelty exceptions, such as wood ...

s; international mail and

printed matter Printed matter is a term, mostly used by mailing systems, normally used to describe mechanically printed materials for which reduced fees are paid which are lower than first-class mail. Each postal administration has it own rules for what may be p ...

s were excepted. On 1 October 1918 the Reichsabgabe was raised. Now the printed matter rate was not excepted. The effects of the Reichsabgabe are illustrated in the following table: Apart from Germany the Reichsabgabe also applied to the parts of

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

and the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

occupied by Germany and to the occupied Grand Duchy of

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

, but not to the occupied part of

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. The Reichsabgabe was ended on 1 October 1919 in conformance to a law of 8 September 1919. However, the raisings of the postal rates were not reversed.

References

*Jeroen van de Weide and Ton Welvaart, ‘Eerste inflatieperiode in het Generaalgouvernement Warschau en bezet Rusland; enkele woorden over de Duitse inflatie voor Polenfilatelisten’, in: ''Inflatieperioden en geldhervormingen in Oost Europa'', Filatelistische Contactgroep Oost Europa, 2007 (in Dutch). *Jeroen van de Weide and Ton Welvaart, ‘Erste Inflationsperiode im Generalgouvernement Warschau und im besetzten Russland; einige Worte über die Deutsche Inflation für Polenphilatelisten’, in: ''Inflationsperioden und Währungsreformen in Ost-Europa'', Filatelistische Contactgroep Oost Europa, 2007 (the same article in German). *''Michel Postgebühren-Handbuch Deutschland'', Schwaneberger Verlag, München, 2001 and 2004 (in German). {{DEFAULTSORT:Reichsabgabe History of taxation German Empire in World War I Postal history Abolished taxes