I would like a new tax would like to propose. Before you throw your beloved magazine aside, I would like to ask you to read on. I do not want to incur further fiscal costs, but rather appeal to your good heart. It may still be a bit early in the year, and the Indian summer does not yet remind us of the end-of-year festivities, but I would still like to take you into the Christmas spirit.
Traditionally, the public broadcaster organizes VRT in the week before Christmas The Warmest Week. This is also the case this year. The theme is ‘Growing up without worries’, with the aim of creating more safe places for children and young people. Numerous actions are being organized again: buying flames, baking cookies, requesting records on the radio… The hopefully massive proceeds will support 287 projects that will provide more safety at home, at school, in your free time and online.
To my own shame and shame admit that, just like in previous years, I may have to forfeit De Warmste Week. I know, I know, it’s not clean. And it’s not that I don’t want to get involved, far from it, but I don’t have time. The culprits are the federal and Flemish governments, which traditionally keep many tax specialists working overtime in December with all kinds of end-of-year laws and decrees to familiarize themselves with the finer points of the latest tax measures. I can assure you, that is usually not a Christmas present.
That frustration got me thinking and raise the question whether we can involve more people in The Warmest Week. When I was brainstorming with a few people a few weeks ago about a new tax world, it occurred to me: why don’t we introduce a Christmas Transaction Tax, along the lines of the Financial Transaction Tax? Who could be against paying a little extra on all end-of-year purchases, as ‘tax for charity’?
That would have a lot of potential. An investigation by the Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad shows that Belgian households spend an average of 596 euros on Christmas expenses. According to the latest figures, total Christmas purchases online in Belgium amounted to 2.74 billion euros (2017). Just take all the sales of Christmas trees. Unfortunately there are no figures in Belgium, but in the Netherlands 2.8 million pine trees are sold every year during the Christmas period. Taking the number of inhabitants into account, a small calculation shows that around 1.8 million Christmas trees are sold in Belgium.
What if we let a little extra go to charity on all our Christmas purchases?
What if we now look at all these Christmas purchases Would you like to donate a little extra to charity? That could have enormous potential for The Warmest Week. Just 1 euro extra on the purchase of a Christmas tree can yield 1.8 million euros. It is also technically perfectly feasible. An app like Peaks makes it possible to round up all your purchases to the higher euro and invest that change. If we can use change like that, we can also give it to charity.
It goes without saying that the Christmas Transaction Tax can only be without obligation, which also fits with the spirit of Christmas. Each of us can decide for ourselves whether to pay taxes or not, and how much tax to pay. If you are still in doubt, realize that, unlike a real tax, at least you know where the Christmas Transaction Tax ends up: on those in our society who really need it. That is why I am making a warm appeal to launch the Christmas Transaction Tax. Because remember, those who don’t have the spirit of Christmas in their hearts won’t find it under the Christmas tree.
The author is a lawyer and professor of tax law at the VUB