PLATTEN. 
411 
On the same floor is a precisely similar dwelling with the windows looking into 
the back yard, in consideration of which, and of the fact that the garret is too 
small to be used as a bedroom, a lower rent is asked (3s. per week). 
It will be understood that the rents quoted above include the water rate. ' 
but comprise no other element of local taxation. 
The bulk of the money required to meet such local expenditure, as is 
defrayed out of local rates in English towns, is raised by a municipal 
income tax in German towns. The municipality collects the State income tax 
and the municipal income tax simultaneously. The proportion which the latter 
bears to the former varies from town to town. In Plauen it represents an 
additional 80 per cent, and is levied on all incomes of over £15 per annum. 
(In the case of the State tax incomes up to £20 are exempt.) The amount of 
the municipal income tax payable in Plauen in the various income classes within 
which the workpeople of that town would fall are shown below :— 
Class. 
Yearly Income. 
Amount of Tax. 
1 
2 
3 
4 
5 
6 
7 
8 
9 
10 
11 
12 
13 
14 
15 
16 
17 
Over £15 
„ £20 
„ £2% 
„ £30 
„ £35 
„ £10 
„ £45 
» £50 
„ £55 
„ £00 
» £65 
» £70 
„ £75 
„ £80 
„ £85 
„ £90 
„ £95 
to £20 . 
» £25. 
„ £30 . 
» £35. 
„ £40. 
„ £45. 
» £50., 
» £55.. 
„ £60 .. 
„ £65 .. 
„ £70.. 
„ £75.. 
„ £80 .. 
„ £85.. 
» £90.. 
„ £95.. 
„ £100 
d. 
i? 
10 
10 
11 
1 
5 
8 10 
10 4 
11 10 
13 5 
15 1 
16 11 
18 9 
20 7 
22 6 
24 7 
Retail Prices. 
Practically the whole of the provision-dealing businesses of Plauen are 
organised in three camps—that of the working-class co-operative distributive 
society, that of a rival middle-class society of the same kind, and that of the 
association of private shopkeepers for the protection of their own class-interests 
against what they regard as the unfair competition of the cooperative societies. 
The working-class co-operative society has been in existence for 15 years, and 
had on September 30th, 1905, a membership of 7,065 and 18 branch shops ; 
the opposition middle-class society, after six years’ existence, had 7,815 members 
and 16 branch shops on the same date. The sales of the two societies in the 
year ended September 30th, 1905, were as follows :— 
Amount of Sales. 
Total 
Per Member 
87,447 
9U,388 
£ s. d. 
12 7 0 
11. 11 0 
Working-class Co-operative society 
Middle-class Co-operative society 
Of the two societies, that composed of middle-class members paid the 
larger dividend on purchases in the year under review, viz., 21J per cent., as 
against 14& per cent, paid by the working-class society. The shopkeepers’ 
association has an arrangement with the Municipal Savings Bank whereby the 
latter supplies exclusively to the members of the association stamps of the nominal 
value of either 20 pfennige (2%d.) or 1 mark (1&.) at a cost corresponding to 
3 F 2 
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