Cost of living in German towns

Bibliographic data

Monograph

Identifikator:: 866449027

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-93831

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: Cost of living in German towns

Place of publication:: London

Publisher:: Stat. Off.

Year of publication:: 1908

Scope:: 1 Online-Ressource (LXI, 548 Seiten)

Collection:: Economics Books

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322 MAGDEBURG. annum or about 3s. Id. per week. Where a small lumber room in the attics is let with the flat the rent charged is 174 marks or 3s. 4d. per week. It has to be noted that beyond the water rate no element of local rates is comprised in any of the rents stated. In Magdeburg as in other Prussian (and indeed practically all German) towns taxation for local purposes bears no relation to the rental value of the dwelling occupied, and is levied mainly in the form of a tax on income, supplementary to the State income tax and bearing a fixed proportion to the latter. All persons earning over £45 per annum are assessed for State income tax and pay an additional income tax to the municipality amounting to 140 per cent, of the State income tax. The amount of the former payable in Magdeburg on the various income classes, within which the bulk of the occupied working classes would fall, is shown below. Amount of Local Income Tax. 8s. 5d. 12s. 7d. 16s. 10 d. 22s. 5d. 29s. 5d. 36s. 5fï. 43s. 5d. Annual Income. Over £45 to £52 10s. „ £52 10s. „ £60 ... „ £60 „ £67 10s. „ £67 10s. „ £75 ... „ £75 „ £82 10s. „ £82 10s. ,, £90 ... „ £90 „ £105... Even at the time when the pressure of the housing question must have been greatest—as, for example, in the period 1898-9, when the proportion of all dwellings vacant was less than 1 per cent.—no steps for relieving that pressure were taken by the local authority. A society was, however, formed about that time by a number of working men {Mieter-Bau- und Sparverein) for the purpose of “ procuring cheap and healthy dwellings for working-class families of small means, and taking charge of the savings of members, at interest.” Originally each share was of the value of 30a. (acquired by weekly payments of 6<A), but the Society appears to have made no great progress until the value of the share was raised to £3, for it was not until this change had been made that the Society was able to acquire a suitable building site. Four tenement houses have now been erected, containing in all 38 dwellings, which are let to members at lower rents than those usually charged in Magdeburg for similar accommo dation. Thus two-roomed tenements are let at 120 marks, and three-roomed tenements at 135 to 165 marks per annum—i.e., at rents corresponding to 2s. 4A per week for the former and 2s. Id. to 3a. for the latter. In a certain sense the Society may be said to be assisted out of public funds, for, like similar societies all over Germany, it obtains loans on mortgage at 3 per cent, from the Old Age and Infirmity Insurance Institution. Requirements concerning light and air and the provision of separate w.cs. have to be fulfilled in all dwellings on which loans are made, and stringent rules have to be observed by tenants with regard to the taking of lodgers. Retail Prices. In Magdeburg, as in many other of the more industrial towns in Germany, the general body of retail dealers in household necessaries complain that their existence is threatened by competition with large aggregations of capital, as represented by the co-operative store, the " universal provider,” and the u multiple ” concern. With a view to meeting this competition, and especially that of the local co-operative society, the tradespeople have formed an association called a Rabattsparverein, the members of which undertake to give a discount of 5 per cent, on all cash purchases in the manner described in the reports on other German towns (see, e.g., Barmen, Düsseldorf, Plauen, Stuttgart). Owing to the representations of this Society the Provincial Governor, acting on the instructions of the Prussian Minister of the Interior, has issued an order prohibiting persons who hold official positions (including, for example, postmen and rail way men) from joining the local co-operative society. That Society, which is registered under the title of Consumverein Neustadt, has some 14,000 members, of whom about 11,000 are workpeople, and carries on the sale of groceries, bread, and fuel at 30 branch establishments in different parts of the town. That a considerable proportion of the household provisions used by working-class families is supplied by the co-operative society may be

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