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German restaurant in hot water over giant schnitzels

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BERLIN | Wed Sep 22, 2010 12:02pm EDT

BERLIN (Reuters) - A German restaurant operator has run into trouble with local tax authorities because he makes larger-than-average schnitzels -- or veal cutlets -- for his customers in a working class section of Saxony.

Gerhard Kaltscheuer said his giant schnitzels are popular in the town of Hammerbruecke and he sells about 70 dishes per day. He said tax officials told him they believe he sells 200 portions daily based on the amount of raw material he purchases.

"If I served the customers smaller portions at the normal price like that, I wouldn't have any customers because that wouldn't fill them up," Kaltscheuer told Reuters. He said he makes his portions large because his customers are laborers.

Kaltscheuer said he is protesting a demand from the tax authorities to pay more tax based on a higher number of food sales. His story has been reported widely in the German media and there was a rally on his behalf on Monday.

A spokesman for the tax office, asked about Kaltscheuer's case, said that he was not able to discuss it.

(Writing by Michelle Martin; editing by Paul Casciato)
Oddly Enough
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Comments (6)
billychan wrote:
Germans are taxed by quantity sold, not by sales?

Sep 22, 2010 2:09pm EDT  --  Report as abuse
JimBoot wrote:
Yes, it is a weird concept. The best way to explain it is a 2 litre bottle of Coke. You purchase a bottle but the tax department assumes you sell by the glass. Therefore for every bottle you buy you sell 20 100mm glasses, one glass sells for $1.00 therefore a $3.00 bottle earns you $20.00. Tax on $17.00 profit = (whatever).

The assumption is that you never sell the bottle as a bottle and if you declare less than $17.00 profit in the above example you must be cheating on your tax. Oh what a wonderful world. Now you know why we got out of Europe and went back to Australia.

Sep 22, 2010 4:37pm EDT  --  Report as abuse
WRL wrote:
The United States is not so different in one particular area: gasoline and diesel. When we buy our petroleum, the states assess a per-gallon tax. Some of the more conservative states still won’t raise the gas tax and instead try to get by on handouts from the federal government, but it isn’t a very reliable or efficient revenue stream.

This has gotten a many of them into a bind because the trend towards more efficient cars and more efficient use of petroleum due to inflated prices has hurt the revenue stream that they use for highways, bridges, tunnels, etc. The worst of it is that a lot of these infrastructure pieces, especially the bridges, are coming to the point where they are in dire need of maintenance, repair, or replacement.

Sep 23, 2010 8:45am EDT  --  Report as abuse
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